Unravelling the Central Dogma of Biology in an active way: a case study

Silveira, Lucas Fagundes; Xavier, Christian Santos; Perez, Maíra Alexandre; Bozza, Dandie Antunes; Furtado-Alle, Lupe; Hass, Iris; Tureck, Luciane Viater

doi:10.1080/00219266.2021.1877780

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There have been many efforts to create stimulating learning environments and materials to support students in learning the CD to date ( 6 , 18 – 22 ). One of the most powerful active learning strategies is the experimental module, where students actively develop hypotheses, generate data, and draw conclusions informed by evidence ( 23 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology

DeWolf,

Van den Bogaard,

Hart

et al. 2023

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The central dogma of molecular biology is a key concept for undergraduate students in the life sciences as it describes the flow of information in living systems from gene-to-gene product. However, despite often being covered in many introductory life science courses, students may still have misconceptions surrounding the central dogma even as they move on to advanced courses. Active learning strategies such as laboratory activities can be useful in addressing such misconceptions. In the laboratory exercise presented here, senior undergraduate students explore the intricacies of nonsense suppressor mutations to challenge their understanding of the central dogma. The students introduce a plasmid carrying a nonfunctional chromogenic protein gene due to a nonsense mutation in a codon encoding the chromophore to various nonsense suppressor strains of Escherichia coli . Students then observe distinct chromogenic phenotypes, depending on the suppressor strain. Students showed a moderate increase in understanding of the central dogma. While the central dogma remains a challenging concept, active learning strategies like the one presented here can help reduce conceptual errors.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology

DeWolf,

Van den Bogaard,

Hart

et al. 2023

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a result of learners' trouble with learning in STEM subjects such as biology [1][2][3][4], researchers and educators have tried to identify new methods of instruction to afford learners the best possible learning success [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. While it can certainly be helpful for learners to visualize abstract systems such as the inside of a cell with an animation or even with an augmented reality device, the question remains how learners process information, how they organize it, and how they can learn in an active and meaningful way in contrast to mere passive reception [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Strategy Training and Elaboration vs. Retrieval Settings on Learning of Cell Biology Using Concept Mapping

Becker¹,

Welter²,

Großschedl³

2021

Education Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Concept mapping (CM) can be an effective strategy to facilitate understanding-based learning of complex and abstract scientific content. In our study, we tried to answer two questions that have not yet been clarified: (1) How effective is CM if the learners do not have the textual learning material available when constructing their concept maps (retrieval setting) in contrast to when the material is available (elaboration setting)? (2) Do potential effects of the two settings depend on the intensity of a previous CM strategy training? To this end, we established a quasi-experimental four-group plan and collected data of N = 93 undergraduate students. The participants received either a detailed CM strategy training or just a short introduction and were then asked to apply CM in a retrieval or elaboration setting. The quality of constructed concept maps and content-related learning success were assessed to determine potential group differences. Overall, our results show a significantly positive but setting-independent effect of the CM strategy training on methodical CM skills. However, the different setting conditions differed neither regarding concept map quality nor content-related learning success, implying that CM in retrieval settings could be as effective as in elaboration settings.

show abstract

Unravelling the Central Dogma of Biology in an active way: a case study

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology

Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology

Effects of Strategy Training and Elaboration vs. Retrieval Settings on Learning of Cell Biology Using Concept Mapping

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About