Recommended curriculum for a program in biochemistry and molecular biology

A strong, recent movement in tertiary education is the development of conceptual, or “big idea” teaching. The emphasis in course design is now on promoting key understandings, core competencies, and an understanding of connections between different fields. In biochemistry teaching, this radical shift from the content‐based tradition is being driven by the “omics” information explosion; we can no longer teach all the information we have available. Biochemistry is a core, enabling discipline for much of modern scientific research, and biochemistry teaching is in urgent need of a method for delivery of conceptual frameworks. In this project, we aimed to define the key concepts in biochemistry. We find that the key concepts we defined map well onto the core science concepts recommended by the Vision and Change project. We developed a new method to present biochemistry through the lenses of these concepts. This new method challenged the way we thought about biochemistry as teachers. It also stimulated the majority of the students to think more deeply about biochemistry and to make links between biochemistry and material in other courses. This method is applicable to the full spectrum of content usually taught in biochemistry. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 267–279, 2011

Section: Survey Results and Analysismentioning

confidence: 86%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept lens diagram: A new mechanism for presenting biochemistry content in terms of “big ideas”

Rowland

Smith

Gillam

et al. 2011

“…Authentic problem solving tasks, representative of the normal day-to-day operations of biochemists, are integral to the process of enculturation and hence present intellectual demands that are consistent with the intellectual demands of the environment for which we are preparing the learner [19]. The recommended curriculum by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology endorses this approach by emphasizing the inclusion of research projects [20] representative of the typical work that biochemists might do.…”

Section: Implications For Teaching Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Student understanding of pH: “i don't know what the log actually is, i only know where the button is on my calculator”

Watters¹,

Watters²

2006

In foundation biochemistry and biological chemistry courses, a major problem area that has been identified is students' lack of understanding of pH, acids, bases, and buffers and their inability to apply their knowledge in solving acid/base problems. The aim of this study was to explore students' conceptions of pH and their ability to solve problems associated with the behavior of biological acids to understand the source of student difficulties. The responses given by most students are characteristic of an atomistic approach in which they pay no attention to the structure of the problem and concentrate only on juggling the elements together until they get a solution. Many students reported difficulty in understanding what the question was asking and were unable to interpret a simple graph showing the pH activity profile of an enzyme. The most startling finding was the lack of basic understanding of logarithms and the inability of all except one student to perform a simple calculation on logs without a calculator. This deficiency in high school mathematical skills severely hampered their understanding of pH. This study has highlighted a widespread deficiency in basic mathematical skills among first year undergraduates and a fragmented understanding of acids and bases. Implications for the way in which the concepts of pH and buffers are taught are discussed.

“…The current consensus favors placing the student in the center of the learning process in the laboratory [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] so that students develop the skills to tackle real world problems [21][22][23][24][25]. Our guided approach embraces this premise and incorporates thought provoking questions into every stage of the students' laboratory work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An inquiry‐based biochemistry laboratory structure emphasizing competency in the scientific process: A guided approach with an electronic notebook format

Hall

Vardar‐Ulu

2013

The laboratory setting is an exciting and gratifying place to teach because you can actively engage the students in the learning process through hands-on activities; it is a dynamic environment amenable to collaborative work, critical thinking, problem-solving and discovery. The guided inquiry-based approach described here guides the students through their laboratory work at a steady pace that encourages them to focus on quality observations, careful data collection and thought processes surrounding the chemistry involved. It motivates students to work in a collaborative manner with frequent opportunities for feedback, reflection, and modification of their ideas. Each laboratory activity has four stages to keep the students' efforts on track: pre-lab work, an in-lab discussion, in-lab work, and a post-lab assignment. Students are guided at each stage by an instructor created template that directs their learning while giving them the opportunity and flexibility to explore new information, ideas, and questions. These templates are easily transferred into an electronic journal (termed the E-notebook) and form the basic structural framework of the final lab reports the students submit electronically, via a learning management system. The guided-inquiry based approach presented here uses a single laboratory activity for undergraduate Introductory Biochemistry as an example. After implementation of this guided learning approach student surveys reported a higher level of course satisfaction and there was a statistically significant improvement in the quality of the student work. Therefore we firmly believe the described format to be highly effective in promoting student learning and engagement. V C 2013 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 42(1):58-67, 2014.Keywords: inquiry based teaching; cooperative/collaborative education; original models for teaching and learning; teaching and learning techniques methods and approaches Overview of the Guided Inquiry-Based ApproachThe teaching science laboratories continue to provide a central and distinctive environment for teaching and learning science. In order to train a new wave of skilled scientists who can keep pace with recent advances in science and technology it is crucial that the laboratory setting encourages creative thinking and problem-solving skills that mimic real life challenges. One pedagogical approach often used to foster student curiosity and increase student engagement is to give more decision-making authority to the students. However, while there is a consensus that students need to perform activities that are more studentcentered, and investigative in their approach [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], achieving the desired learning outcome is complicated by the variable prior experiences and skills of the students. Students who have only been introduced to a traditional style of prescribed laboratory instruction are often found to follow the "recipe" in the lab manual carefully, but then do not necessarily engage in the scienti...