Crowdsourcing the Development of Assessments for Biomolecular Visual Literacy

Abstract

Biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) education is rich in images of molecular structures. Yet, as often as we use these images for instruction, we seldom assess whether our students understand choices we make in the images we show (for example, ribbon versus ball‐and‐stick). To that end, the BioMolViz group (BioMolViz.org) is designing instruments and exercises to assess the molecular visual literacy of BMB students. With support from the National Science Foundation, the BioMolViz group partnered with institutions to host regional workshops in which participants wrote and refined more than 180 assessments to address specific learning objectives in the Molecular Visualization Framework. In pre‐ and post‐workshop surveys, participants reported shifts in their approach toward their instruction of molecular visualization literacy in the classroom. Through these workshops, a network of BMB educators collaborated to develop high‐quality assessment instruments, laying the foundation for crowdsourcing molecular visualization assessment development across the BMB education community.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation under award numbers DUE‐1022793, ‐1323414, ‐1503811 and IUSE‐1712268. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.