From Sir Walter Raleigh to the mongoose: A Problem‐Based Learning (PBL) course in biochemistry centered around curare

Abstract

Problem‐Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical method in which students engage in active learning through self‐guided inquiry. Growing out from the teaching tradition of medical schools, PBL uses open‐ended problems that are often rooted in reality. The time is ripe for PBL in biochemistry education, given the emphases on critical thinking and reasoning and on integrative learning in the ASBMB core competencies, the new MCAT, and the NSF/AAAS “Vision and Change.” To meet these objectives, a senior‐level advanced biochemistry course was redesigned into a PBL format, using curare as the central theme. A potent neurotoxin, curare is a plant extract used by South American tribes in the Amazonian basin to tip their arrows for hunting and in weaponry. Drawing from the primary literature as far back as the 1500s, the course winds through the story of curare: from the first encounters of European explorers with poison‐tipped arrows during their exploration of the New World to the molecular elucidation of how the mongoose is unaffected by the venom of the cobra. Students read seminal articles from Nobel Laureates, including Otto Loewi, Henry Dale, Erwin Neher, and Bert Sakmann, with techniques including EKGs, elemental analysis, protein separation, X‐ray crystallography, and patch clamping. A learning matrix of content and skills will be presented, as well as results from attitudinal surveys. Although initially offered as an upper‐division course, the intent is to move this course into an integrated chemistry curriculum at the end of the sophomore year.