2011. A study of morphology and histology of the alimentary tract of Glyptosternum maculatum (Sisoridae, Siluriformes). -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92: 161-169.The structure of alimentary tract has been studied in a cold water fish Glyptosternum maculatum, an endemic teleost species of notable economic importance and with high potential for controlled rearing of the species in Tibet, by light and electron microscope. Glyptosternum maculatum has short oesophagus, large caecal-type stomach and short intestine, and the digestive tract with four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and serosa. Taste buds were found in the epithelium of lips, buccopharynx and oesophagus. The stratified epithelium of buccopharynx and oesophagus was located with numerous goblet cells. The U-shaped stomach has three parts, corresponding to mammalian cardiac, fundus and pyloric portion, lined with a single-layered columnar epithelium, and tubular gastric glands are present in cardiac and fundic portion, but absent in pyloric portion. No pyloric caeca was detected. The intestine is separated from the stomach by a loop valve. The intestine epithelium is composed of simple columnar cells with a distinct microvillus brush border and many goblet cells. Meanwhile, the intestinal coefficient was 0.898. At the ultrastuctural level, three type cells (mucous, glandular and endocrine cell) were found in the stomach, and glandular cell with a great amount of pepsinogen granules. The enterocytes of the intestinal mucosa display abundant endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and well-developed microvilli.

Evolutionary trees are powerful tools used in modern biological research, and commonly used in textbooks and classroom instruction. Studies have shown that K-14 students have difficulties interpreting evolutionary trees. To improve student learning about this topic, it is essential to teach them how to understand and use trees like professional biologists. Unfortunately, few currently used teaching frameworks for evolution instruction are designed for this purpose. In this study we developed the Model of the Use of Evolutionary Trees (MUET), a conceptual model that characterizes how evolutionary trees were used by professional biologists as represented in their research publications. The development of the MUET was guided by the Concept-Reasoning Mode of representation (CRM) model as well as a “model of modeling” framework. The MUET was then used to review instructional and assessment material for K-14 classrooms. Future studies with the MUET may inform the development of teaching materials for K-14 classrooms aimed at improving students’ understanding of and learning about evolutionary trees.

Her work centers on the development and validation of instruments, particularly useful for P-16 STEM education settings (e.g., the Revised PSVT:R and the TESS), the evaluation of engineering teacher professional development programs, and the investigation of P-16 students' spatial ability to understand its association with their academic performance and talents in STEM fields.

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Kelsey Rodgers is a graduate student at Purdue University in the School of Engineering Education. Her research focus is investigating how engineers' understand, develop, and use mathematical models and simulations. Her research also focuses on feedback. She is currently conducting research in first-year engineering on the Network for Nanotechnology (NCN Since 1999, she has been a faculty member within the FirstYear Engineering Program, teaching and guiding the design of one of the required first-year engineering courses that engages students in open-ended problem solving and design. Her research focuses on the development, implementation, and assessment of modeling and design activities with authentic engineering contexts. She is currently a member of the educational team for the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). Yi Kong, Purdue University, West LafayetteYi Kong is a doctoral student in biology education and a graduate research assistant for the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) education research team at Purdue University. She received her M.S. in agriculture in Fishery Resources from Huazhong Agricultural University and B.S. in Biological Science from Shaanxi Normal University in China. Her research includes evaluating first-year engineering students' communication of nanoscience concepts through project-based-learning activities.Krishna Madhavan, Purdue University, West Lafayette Dr. Krishna Madhavan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. He is Co-PI and Education Director of the NSF-funded Network for Computational Nanotechnology (nanoHUB.org which serves over 330,000 global researchers and learners annually). Dr. Madhavan was the Chair of the IEEE/ACM Supercomputing Education Program 2006. In January 2008, he was awarded the US National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for work on learner-centric, adaptive cybertools and cyber-environments. He was one of 49 faculty members selected as the nation's top engineering educators and researchers by the US National Academy of Engineering to the Frontiers in Engineering Education symposium. Dr. Madhavan leads a major NSF funded effort called Deep Insights Anytime, Anywhere (DIA2) that attempts to characterize the impact of NSF and other federal investments in the area of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education using interactive knowledge mining and visual analytics for non-experts in data mining. DIA2 is currently deployed inside the NSF and is already starting to affect federal funding policy. Dr. Framework for Evaluating Simulations: Analysis of Student Developed Interactive Computer Tools AbstractComputer simulations are used in educational setting either to teach students targeted concepts or to teach students how to build them. This study focuses on the later use and investigates the nature of student teams' simulations that were developed through a design challenge that required them to create their own nanotechnology-based simulation tools. In this study, 30 t...