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

Abstract

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

Identification of Threshold Concepts for Biochemistry

“…There is precedent for including experimental approaches as a cross-cutting concept in course curriculum design. For example, Rowland and colleagues placed experimental approaches at the center of their concept lens diagram to acknowledge that they underlie all knowledge in biochemistry and that developing these skills supports student understanding of the process of science, a key component of Vision and Change (AAAS, 2011; Rowland et al. , 2011).…”

An Empirical Investigation of the Conception Focused Curriculum: The Importance of Introducing Undergraduate Business Statistics Students to the “Real World”

“…Other studies have shown that teaching at the concept level challenged the way educators thought about biochemistry, and stimulated the majority of students to think more deeply about biochemistry and make links between biochemistry and material in other courses (Rowland et al., ). Similar results were noted in a biology lab based on concept‐based teaching.…”

“…Teaching conceptually focuses on how meaning is produced, and allows students to “integrate factual information within a context, so that concepts, not only facts, become the foundation of understanding” (Hardin & Richardson, , p. 157). Concept‐based approaches are becoming more prevalent as witnessed by their implementation in nursing (Giddens & Morton, ), biology (Halme, Khodor, Mitchell, & Walker, ; Morse & Jutras, ), biochemistry (Rowland, Smith, Gillam, & Wright, ), early childhood education (Birbili, ), social studies (McCoy & Ketterlin‐Geller, ; Milligan & Wood, ), engineering (Custer, Daugherty, & Meyer, ), mathematics (Eisenhart, Borko, Underhill, Brown, Jones, & Agard, , Rittle‐Johnson & Siegler, ), and more recently in business (Burch, Kendall, & Shaw, ).…”

How Much Is Too Much Assessment? Insight into Assessment-Driven Student Learning Gains in Large-Scale Undergraduate Microbiology Courses

“…However, with the development of consensus concept frameworks for physics (8), chemistry (12), biochemistry (14), and more recently microbiology (11), science instructors can more readily define their course and program learning outcomes based on their discipline’s concept-driven curriculum and rationalize the effectiveness of this design in line with the ongoing push for evidence-based teaching (19, 1). …”