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Topics in enzyme and fermentation biotechnology. volume 3
100
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
history, philosophy and social studies o f science provide opportunities for (f) explaining, and therefore understanding, the nature of advanced technological societies, the complex interaction between science and society, and the contribution science makes to our cultural heritage. Clearly aims o f this last sort are more socially-oriented and again their realization would represent a significant contribution to general education. They would, furthermore, enable science teachers to redress the balan ce o f curricular activities in favour o f the aspects o f general scientific literacy and understanding of science as a cultural as well as instrumental activity that have been highlighted in our earlier analysis of the current approach to syllabus definition and implementation. This broader definition o f the purposes o f science education would also meet Lord Bullock's assertion that All I am sure of is that the more it is possible, legitimately, to move away from a monolithic, mechanistic, dehumanized image of science; to establish a view of it as a humane study, deeply concerned both with man and society; providing scope for imagination and compassion as well as observation and analysis; and calling, in those who succeed in it, for outstanding personal qualities, the easier it will be to overcome the sense o f alienation which turns many young people awa.v from it. They would like to introduce science for the under-thirteens with a curriculum based on the following essential characteristics. (a) That what is undertaken under the heading o f sc&nce "should arise out o f the spontaneous interests o f the children and should not be imposed upon them with the aim o f laying foundations ", in a formal sense, for future science studies. (b) That elementary scientific ideas should be derived from the exploration o f the immediate environment and should involve "the application of an attitude of enquiry and the establishment o f personal patterns o f understanding from first-hand experien ce ' '. (c) That pupils should be encouraged through the careful management of their learning environment to make emergent generalizations o f a temporary nature, and be given the confidence to accept that these will have to be modified in the light o f further experience. {d) That pupils, through individual and small-group work, should be encouraged to speculate freely and creatively on the nature o f objects and phenomena. In particular, a strong emphasis should be placed on the pupils' talking about, and discussing, science and on encouraging the creative expression o f personal meaning in their own language and through modes other than form al writing. (e) That all scientific work should arise within the context o f an integrated curriculum. Science should not be separately timetabled, or be taught in a specialist room. Existing course materials should be available in all classrooms as part o f the general stock o f accessible resources. (f) Finally, scientific phenomena should be freely used as the starting point for a wide range of creative work, e.g. poetry, story writing, drama, painting, model making, as part o f the process o f establishing a confident and open approach to science st u dies. They then produce three model curricula for the older children. Essentially these go from a factual curriculum in Model 1 to a generalized approach in Model 3 dealing with Environmental Science, Experimental Science, Applied Science, Science and Society and Independent Studies developing through the years. I am of course a bit fearful of Model 3 but it is interesting and challenging. Nowhere do I see a mention of the fact that the more fundamental the subject the earlier it must be studied. Thus the basis of maths and physics must be understood before chemistry and that before biology. The more descriptive the subject the later it can be left. 1 am convinced that any biochemist who is interested in science education will find this fascinaling reading and I urge you to read it and enter the debale. P N Campbell
October 1979 vol 7 no 4
Topics in Enzyme and Fermentation Biotechnology. Volume 3 E d i t e d by A l a n W i s e m a n . p p 294. P u b l i s h e d by Ellis H o r w o o d L i m i t e d , C h i c h e s t e r , U K a n d d i s t r i b u t e d by J o h n W i l e y a n d S o n s L t d , C h i c h e s t e r a n d New Y o r k . 1979. £19.50 The third volume in this series follows the pattern of the second in reviewing aspects of enzyme technology in five of the six chapters. The first review, by S A Barker and P J Somers, is of the uses of oxyanions in displacing the equilibrium of enzyme catalyzed reactions. This subject has gained technological importance principally because of the possibility of driving the equilibrium for the enzymic isomerization of glucose to fructose further in the direction of high fructose yields. Though blocked by the EEC beet sugar lobby in Europe, the use of fructose-enriched glucose as a cheap sweetener has made a dramatic impact in the USA and is attractive economically to hard-pressed food manufacturers elsewhere. The potential food hazards of using borates and germanates to displace the equilibrium are such that this particular use may be hard to justify but the more general discussion of the interaction of oxyanions with enzymes which are glycoproteins and with cofactors such as NAD is valuable. It suggests other potential uses and at the practical level is a reminder to take care in the selection of buffers. A review of developments in microbial extracellular enzymes, by W M Fogarty and C J Kelly, is heavily referenced but does seem to cover too m u c h ground too superficially. Today three pages on cellulases hardly does justice to their importance or the amount of research upon them. Similarly, a general treatment of enzyme and cell immobilization seems out of place and fails to deal with the central problem of steric hindrance and diffusional restriction which is particular to most extracellular enzymes acting upon macromolecular reactants. The more promising industrial process for removal of raffinose from beet sugar using pellets of a mould excreting a-galactosidase is not described (McGinnis, Sugar J, July 1975, pp 8-13). A chapter on enzymic aspects of cheese production, by R Scott, illustrates the advantage of a more detailed account of a single topic. The description of the milk substrate involved is an excellent introduction for academic students to the interesting biochemical and physical problems associated with this seemingly simple everyday material. The complexity of milk and the action of endogenous enzymes and micro-organisms which can influence curd formation in cheese-making justifies the large part of the chapter devoted to these matters. The remainder devoted to rennin and its plant and microbial enzyme substitutes is brief but adequate and the concludin~ remarks on the problems which remain to be studied are stimulating. The last of the chapters on enzyme technology is by the editor and is devoted to invertase and its immobilization and stabilization. This was the first enzyme immobilized to a support, in 1908, and the first industrial process using an immobilized enzyme was with invertase, in the 1940s. Whereas the chapters on enzyme technology are research reviews of interest to biochemists, the remaining chapter, which occupies a third of this volume, is a teaching text directed to fermentation technologists. It concerns the scale-up of fermentation processes commencing with a discussion of inoculum development based on G T Banks's considerable experience. This is followed by a discussion of the problems which can occur at intermediate scale through to the production level. The chapler then deals in detail with medium sterilization and with aeration and agitation. The author covered some aspects of the latter previously in Volume 1 of the series but here focuses particularly on scale-up. The third volume of this series, like its predecessors, is variable in style and depth of treatment but the topics chosen do iudicate lhc intrinsic interest of biological science seeking very practical goals. P Dunnill Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering University College l~mdon Torrington Place. London WC1E 7JE, UK
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
history, philosophy and social studies o f science provide opportunities for (f) explaining, and therefore understanding, the nature of advanced technological societies, the complex interaction between science and society, and the contribution science makes to our cultural heritage. Clearly aims o f this last sort are more socially-oriented and again their realization would represent a significant contribution to general education. They would, furthermore, enable science teachers to redress the balan ce o f curricular activities in favour o f the aspects o f general scientific literacy and understanding of science as a cultural as well as instrumental activity that have been highlighted in our earlier analysis of the current approach to syllabus definition and implementation. This broader definition o f the purposes o f science education would also meet Lord Bullock's assertion that All I am sure of is that the more it is possible, legitimately, to move away from a monolithic, mechanistic, dehumanized image of science; to establish a view of it as a humane study, deeply concerned both with man and society; providing scope for imagination and compassion as well as observation and analysis; and calling, in those who succeed in it, for outstanding personal qualities, the easier it will be to overcome the sense o f alienation which turns many young people awa.v from it. They would like to introduce science for the under-thirteens with a curriculum based on the following essential characteristics. (a) That what is undertaken under the heading o f sc&nce "should arise out o f the spontaneous interests o f the children and should not be imposed upon them with the aim o f laying foundations ", in a formal sense, for future science studies. (b) That elementary scientific ideas should be derived from the exploration o f the immediate environment and should involve "the application of an attitude of enquiry and the establishment o f personal patterns o f understanding from first-hand experien ce ' '. (c) That pupils should be encouraged through the careful management of their learning environment to make emergent generalizations o f a temporary nature, and be given the confidence to accept that these will have to be modified in the light o f further experience. {d) That pupils, through individual and small-group work, should be encouraged to speculate freely and creatively on the nature o f objects and phenomena. In particular, a strong emphasis should be placed on the pupils' talking about, and discussing, science and on encouraging the creative expression o f personal meaning in their own language and through modes other than form al writing. (e) That all scientific work should arise within the context o f an integrated curriculum. Science should not be separately timetabled, or be taught in a specialist room. Existing course materials should be available in all classrooms as part o f the general stock o f accessible resources. (f) Finally, scientific phenomena should be freely used as the starting point for a wide range of creative work, e.g. poetry, story writing, drama, painting, model making, as part o f the process o f establishing a confident and open approach to science st u dies. They then produce three model curricula for the older children. Essentially these go from a factual curriculum in Model 1 to a generalized approach in Model 3 dealing with Environmental Science, Experimental Science, Applied Science, Science and Society and Independent Studies developing through the years. I am of course a bit fearful of Model 3 but it is interesting and challenging. Nowhere do I see a mention of the fact that the more fundamental the subject the earlier it must be studied. Thus the basis of maths and physics must be understood before chemistry and that before biology. The more descriptive the subject the later it can be left. 1 am convinced that any biochemist who is interested in science education will find this fascinaling reading and I urge you to read it and enter the debale. P N Campbell
October 1979 vol 7 no 4
Topics in Enzyme and Fermentation Biotechnology. Volume 3 E d i t e d by A l a n W i s e m a n . p p 294. P u b l i s h e d by Ellis H o r w o o d L i m i t e d , C h i c h e s t e r , U K a n d d i s t r i b u t e d by J o h n W i l e y a n d S o n s L t d , C h i c h e s t e r a n d New Y o r k . 1979. £19.50 The third volume in this series follows the pattern of the second in reviewing aspects of enzyme technology in five of the six chapters. The first review, by S A Barker and P J Somers, is of the uses of oxyanions in displacing the equilibrium of enzyme catalyzed reactions. This subject has gained technological importance principally because of the possibility of driving the equilibrium for the enzymic isomerization of glucose to fructose further in the direction of high fructose yields. Though blocked by the EEC beet sugar lobby in Europe, the use of fructose-enriched glucose as a cheap sweetener has made a dramatic impact in the USA and is attractive economically to hard-pressed food manufacturers elsewhere. The potential food hazards of using borates and germanates to displace the equilibrium are such that this particular use may be hard to justify but the more general discussion of the interaction of oxyanions with enzymes which are glycoproteins and with cofactors such as NAD is valuable. It suggests other potential uses and at the practical level is a reminder to take care in the selection of buffers. A review of developments in microbial extracellular enzymes, by W M Fogarty and C J Kelly, is heavily referenced but does seem to cover too m u c h ground too superficially. Today three pages on cellulases hardly does justice to their importance or the amount of research upon them. Similarly, a general treatment of enzyme and cell immobilization seems out of place and fails to deal with the central problem of steric hindrance and diffusional restriction which is particular to most extracellular enzymes acting upon macromolecular reactants. The more promising industrial process for removal of raffinose from beet sugar using pellets of a mould excreting a-galactosidase is not described (McGinnis, Sugar J, July 1975, pp 8-13). A chapter on enzymic aspects of cheese production, by R Scott, illustrates the advantage of a more detailed account of a single topic. The description of the milk substrate involved is an excellent introduction for academic students to the interesting biochemical and physical problems associated with this seemingly simple everyday material. The complexity of milk and the action of endogenous enzymes and micro-organisms which can influence curd formation in cheese-making justifies the large part of the chapter devoted to these matters. The remainder devoted to rennin and its plant and microbial enzyme substitutes is brief but adequate and the concludin~ remarks on the problems which remain to be studied are stimulating. The last of the chapters on enzyme technology is by the editor and is devoted to invertase and its immobilization and stabilization. This was the first enzyme immobilized to a support, in 1908, and the first industrial process using an immobilized enzyme was with invertase, in the 1940s. Whereas the chapters on enzyme technology are research reviews of interest to biochemists, the remaining chapter, which occupies a third of this volume, is a teaching text directed to fermentation technologists. It concerns the scale-up of fermentation processes commencing with a discussion of inoculum development based on G T Banks's considerable experience. This is followed by a discussion of the problems which can occur at intermediate scale through to the production level. The chapler then deals in detail with medium sterilization and with aeration and agitation. The author covered some aspects of the latter previously in Volume 1 of the series but here focuses particularly on scale-up. The third volume of this series, like its predecessors, is variable in style and depth of treatment but the topics chosen do iudicate lhc intrinsic interest of biological science seeking very practical goals. P Dunnill Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering University College l~mdon Torrington Place. London WC1E 7JE, UK