Development of a Bite-Sized Visual Interactive Study Aid for Carbohydrate Metabolism

Abstract

Studying biochemical pathways can be challenging. Frequently, students rely on rote memorization to memorize the steps in metabolic pathways instead of having a deeper understanding of their functions, the reactions involved, and the inter-relationship between different metabolic pathways. In our project, we developed various bite-sized e-learning modules to facilitate students’ learning of carbohydrate metabolism. These modules were presented using different methods, including animations, manga, and interactive exercises. Students spent less than 5 min completing each module to allow them to be more focused and engaged. Memory cues were used to improve students’ understanding of the chemical reactions involved and thus facilitated memorization. Additionally, the pathways of carbohydrate, protein, and nucleotide metabolism were grouped together in a metro map to facilitate knowledge integration. This representation enabled students to correlate pathways in carbohydrate metabolism to other metabolic pathways and to get an overview of how common metabolites were involved in multiple pathways.

Blended learning in biochemistry: The development of pre‐class and post‐class learning aids for electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation

“…The revision mode is a new feature in the Metabolism Metro. In our previous projects, we had focused on the design of preclass learning materials of carbohydrate metabolism (the Sweetieland), amino acid metabolism (the L-aminolegoland), 18,19 and nucleotide metabolism (AG city). 9 In the current phase, an additional new function, the Revision Mode was introduced.…”

Adoption of the ADDIE Approach in an Agile Way for the Development of Biochemistry Courseware for Learning Metabolism

“…In our previous projects, we had launched the phases one by one for students learning different metabolic pathways. ,,, After the completion of the last phase, all the teaching and learning materials, which contained both pre-class and post-class learning activities developed previously, were grouped together as a complete package in Metabolism Metro . Story Mode, Revision Mode, and Adventure Mode in the courseware were introduced by the teacher during class.…”

“…Glucose is the major biomolecule involved in carbohydrate metabolism and tastes sweet. Thus, metabolic pathways involved in carbohydrate metabolism were grouped together in “Sweetieland” . “Power” means “energy”; we used “Powerland” as the name of the island to represent pathways responsible for energy production, i.e., electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation .…”

“…Additionally, a new component of interactive mini-exercise was added. Students were required to use the drag and drop function for answering the questions in the interactive exercise (Figure B) …”

“…In Story Mode, animations and interactive exercises were used to explain chemical reactions involved in metabolic pathways. A ticket vending machine was designed for students to choose the pathway that they would like to study ,,, (Figure ). A metro map was carefully designed for students to gain an overview of metabolism as a whole and study the interactions of different metabolic pathways (Figure ).…”