Biochemistry Classes Research Articles

Bio‐organic reaction animations (BioORA): Student performance, student perceptions, and instructor feedback

Research shows that computer animations are especially helpful in fields such as chemistry and in this mixed-methods study, we investigate the educational effectiveness of Bio-Organic Reaction Animations (BioORA), a 3-D software, in four undergraduate biochemistry classes at different universities. Statistically significant findings indicate that students performed better on a quiz completed after a lesson with BioORA than after a lesson with regular teaching methods in three out of four classes. Ratings on several survey items completed after experiencing BioORA, including items related to interest, value, and ability, were higher in two classes. Surveys and one-on-one interviews reveal instructor and student experiences with the software as well as the utility of various software features, which can be adopted in other programs. Instructors and students provide suggestions to maximize BioORA's benefits as an educational tool and findings suggest the importance of multiple forms of information to enhance student understanding and reach students with various learning preferences.

A Learner-Centered Molecular Modeling Exercise for Allied Health Majors in a Biochemistry Class

A Learner-Centered Molecular Modeling Exercise for Allied Health Majors in a Biochemistry Class

Case Study of How Turkish University Students Improve Their Biochemistry Achievement

Biochemistry courses have an important place as a common subject in faculties of medicine, food engineering, biology and chemistry. MSLQ, Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Learning Approach Questionnaire were used. The study also involves repeated observations of the same instructor in a biochemistry class over eight weeks to describe students’ academic performance, instructor practice, teaching methods and generally, learning environment in the biochemistry class. Students achieving the two highest scores, two average scores and the two lowest scores from biochemistry exams were selected for in-depth interviews and results demonstrated that self-efficacy, intrinsic goal orientation, task-value, cognitive strategies such as critical thinking ability and elaboration, metacognitive self-regulated strategies and effort regulation may have a considerable importance in students’ biochemistry achievement. Results of the study also revealed that levels of students’ awareness of what and how they monitor in their biochemistry learning process has an important effect on their biochemistry success.

Nutrition as a platform for reform in biochemistry education

Reform in biochemistry education centers on 1) replacing rote memorization with a more analytical approach and 2) enabling students (especially future health practitioners) to understand nutritional therapies. We previously described how the glucose‐insulin axis can be used as a heuristic device in teaching metabolism (Pogozelski, et al 2005; Feinman and Makowske, 2003). We have further developed our approach to develop critical thinking skills and apply principles from nutrition and exercise physiology in our biochemistry classes. The need for this training is great, given the persistence of obesity and diabetes epidemics and the insufficient critical evaluation of some standard practices. Integration of nutrition with biochemistry increases student interest and helps empower physicians and researchers to make informed decisions.

Learner differences and learning outcomes in an introductory biochemistry class: Attitude toward images, visual cognitive skills, and learning approach

The practice of using images in teaching is widespread, and in science education images are used so extensively that some have argued they are now the "main vehicle of communication" (C. Ferreira, A. Arroio Problems Educ. 21st Century 2009, 16, 48-53). Although this phenomenon is especially notable in the field of biochemistry, we know little about the role and importance of images in communicating concepts to students in the classroom. This study reports the development of a scale to assess students' attitude toward biochemical images, particularly their willingness and ability to use the images to support their learning. In addition, because it is argued that images are central in the communication of biochemical concepts, we investigated three "learner differences" which might impact learning outcomes in this kind of classroom environment: attitude toward images, visual cognitive skills, and learning approach. Overall, the students reported a positive attitude toward the images, the majority agreeing that they liked images and considered them useful. However, the participants also reported that verbal explanations were more important than images in helping them to understand the concepts. In keeping with this we found that there was no relationship between learning outcomes and the students' self-reported attitude toward images or visual cognitive skills. In contrast, learning outcomes were significantly correlated with the students' self-reported approach to learning. These findings suggest that images are not necessarily the main vehicle of communication in a biochemistry classroom and that verbal explanations and encouragement of a deep learning approach are important considerations in improving our pedagogical approach.

Construção de fonte e cuba de eletroforese horizontal e sua aplicação em aulas práticas de bioquímica

This paper presents a model of electrophoresis for biochemistry classes, were the comprehension of this technique is better absorbed by the students. The aim of this type of electrophoresis is to offer access to this technique with low costs than conventional equipment. The power and the tub were built with electronic parts simple and easy to access, with the same theoretical efficiency of conventional power and tub.

Capturing essential understandings of the urban science learning environment

This research is distinctive in that a mixed-methods approach, employing both cogenerative dialogues and student responses from the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), was used to help to understand 9th grade urban students’ experiences in their biochemistry class in New York City. Factor analyses of student responses demonstrated that empirically there were four robust scales rather than five. Qualitative analyses, using cogenerative dialogues and informal interviewing, demonstrated that more adaptable forms of teaching, learning and assessing could support a variety of students. Shared with students, the contents of the CLES and cogenerative dialogues created opportunities for understanding ontologies and helped to create, access and appropriate resources that assist in bringing about success in the science classroom.

The effectiveness of images in the development of conceptual understanding in undergraduate biochemistry classes: What do we know?

Many students who are required to take biochemistry find it difficult to understand. One factor which may contribute to this is the abstract nature of the subject, which is understood almost entirely through representations, analogies, models, and maps. An enormous selection of images representing biochemical concepts is available on the internet, and in text books, yet we know very little about how, or whether, they work in communicating important concepts accurately. This presentation starts by exploring general aspects of visual literacy and then reviews the few investigations of student comprehension and interpretation of biochemical images reported in the literature. The contribution of images to difficulties in conceptual understanding is discussed, and a possible role for students’ cognitive differences is considered. It is argued that we need to know much more about how and whether the images we use in communicating biochemical concepts ‘work,’ and some implications for educational practice in biochemistry are raised.

Is the undergraduate research experience (URE) always best?: The power of choice in a bifurcated practical stream for a large introductory biochemistry class

AbstractScience undergraduate courses typically cater to a mixed‐learner cohort, with a diversity of motivations and skills. This diversity introduces pressure for designers of the practical laboratory curriculum. Students who are struggling with the course need a series of tasks that begin simply, and transition to more conceptually difficult material. More capable students need opportunities for conceptual extension and creative activity. In this report, we examine an approach we have used to address this problem in the context of a large introductory biochemistry undergraduate class. Rather than attempting to compromise on a single practical series for our 470 students, we devised two parallel but equivalent practical streams and offered students their choice of laboratory experience. One stream (called Laboratory Experience for Acquiring Practical Skills) was designed to allow acquisition of a range of common biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory skills. The other (called Active Learning Laboratory Undergraduate Research Experience) was designed to offer an authentic (but scaffolded) undergraduate research project. We discuss the ramifications and implications of our approach in terms of funding, staffing, and assessment while also examining student motivation, satisfaction, and skills acquisition. We present data supporting the practical and pedagogical value of laboratory exercise streaming to meet the diverse needs of students. We suggest a framework that can be used to pre‐emptively identify and address problems associated with a bifurcated practical series and increase the sustainability of the approach.

Is sucralose too good to be true?

AbstractStudent interest in artificial sweeteners can enhance the biochemistry classroom learning experience. This in class, guided‐inquiry activity focuses on sucralose and fits into a 50‐min biochemistry class for undergraduate science majors. Background knowledge of carbohydrate structure, function, and metabolism as well as familiarity with interpretation of primary literature is assumed. This activity uses short answer questions that stimulate small group discussion. BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, 2012

Impact of problem-based learning in a large classroom setting: student perception and problem-solving skills

Problem-based learning (PBL) can be described as a learning environment where the problem drives the learning. This technique usually involves learning in small groups, which are supervised by tutors. It is becoming evident that PBL in a small-group setting has a robust positive effect on student learning and skills, including better problem-solving skills and an increase in overall motivation. However, very little research has been done on the educational benefits of PBL in a large classroom setting. Here, we describe a PBL approach (using tutorless groups) that was introduced as a supplement to standard didactic lectures in University of British Columbia Okanagan undergraduate biochemistry classes consisting of 45-85 students. PBL was chosen as an effective method to assist students in learning biochemical and physiological processes. By monitoring student attendance and using informal and formal surveys, we demonstrated that PBL has a significant positive impact on student motivation to attend and participate in the course work. Student responses indicated that PBL is superior to traditional lecture format with regard to the understanding of course content and retention of information. We also demonstrated that student problem-solving skills are significantly improved, but additional controlled studies are needed to determine how much PBL exercises contribute to this improvement. These preliminary data indicated several positive outcomes of using PBL in a large classroom setting, although further studies aimed at assessing student learning are needed to further justify implementation of this technique in courses delivered to large undergraduate classes.

Commentary: The meteoric rise of mobile technologies

If you follow the British science fiction series Dr. Who, then you would have seen cybermen take over hapless humans to be turned into cybermen. If you follow StarTrek, then it is the Borg that you would have seen taking over hapless humans. When I look at my fellow passengers on public transport and look at people passing by on streets and walking around my campus, I could see a transformation of Homo sapiens into subspecies, which I am unsure how to classify. Although the genus Homo still applies, the species sapiens needs a modification with subspecies communicatus and obesicus. These transformed people are recognized by reflexive texting with an agile thumb or finger moving over the screen of a current generation mobile phone, often combined with Bluetooth paraphernalia, ear buds, or headphones. They are also likely to be eating some form of fast food (often while walking) as they communicate. They may take out a tablet computer from their back pack when they want a larger screen, perhaps fleetingly resuming their reading of a downloaded eBook. Darwin taught us to look for selective pressures in evolution and this provides us with clues as to how population change is being directed through the self interest of communication corporations. In my lectures on nutrition, I look at some of the reasons for the obesity epidemic, and high on the list of contributing factors are the marketing strategies of big food corporations. The formulation of food is guided substantially by feedback from focus groups as to what is the most “give me more of this” formulation. For example, the Heinz Big Red Tomato Ketchup that I consumed in 1980 had 21% sucrose, but by responding to taste preference it is now 31% sucrose. For the in-communication generation, Google, eBay, and Facebook are some of the corporations building up profiles of individual users to the point that they know with high precision the “give me more of this” activities and products that appeal to each individual. They are honing the provision of constant communication about people and products to individuals to the point that it is becoming addictive behavior. While food companies must formulate a mass-market product, the communication companies have the advantage of serving individually crafted products to consumers. Education providers are not meeting the market in this adaptive way and the result for many of us is emptying lecture theatres. This is not a problem in practice, because our students who are absent are learning remarkably well from online recordings of the lectures. In fact, our second year science biochemistry class of 641 students at the University of Melbourne last semester turned in the best academic performance we have ever seen (32% of the class with a mark 80 or above and only 7% fail). Only nine students of 641 did not complete the semester and some had medical reasons for noncompletion. Regardless of how my baby-boomer generation may regard the mobile communicating generation, my experience is that they are performing well at university. How should we exploit mobile technologies for better teaching? This is posed as a question because although the issue has not escaped notice [1], there is a notable lack of convincing plans for the way ahead. An interesting possibility comes from Patrick Stoddart [2] who suggests that the hour lecture is a heritage format that needs to be replaced by 20 min of tightly produced multimedia exposition. Visionaries like Microsoft's Bill Gates [2] are challenging us with “the university as we know it is an endangered species. Five years from now—on the web for free—you will be able to find the best lectures in the world. This constantly expanding digital smorgasbord of educational choices will be better than any single university in the world.” Unlike universities, corporations bring a truly competitive survival imperative to keep their clients hooked on their games or services. Most of the students still walk into a physical university and are captive to that campus, so there is little imperative to change the teaching habits of a millennium. However, the practice of teaching as I know it may end in 5 years time and Google [3] will become the University of the World, delivered by mobile technologies.

Evaluation of Student-made Blogs in Basicand Advanced Biochemistry Classes

Preliminary results of the experience of student-made clinical biochemistry blogs were reported at SBBq-2010 (abstract K-5). Herein, five teaching-semesters and the opinion of former students were evaluated. Since the teaching-semester of 2008-1, Basic Biochemistry (BioBio) students should prepare blog-assignments on clinical issues. Students' acceptance was evaluated through 6-point Likert-type questionnaires. Positive responses were those marking 4 to 6. A total of 348 BioBio students from five teaching-semesters answered the questionnaire; 77% of them agreed that preparing blogs was enjoyable, having a positive effect on their formation. Moreover, 81% of students agreed that BioBio blogs are relevant learning tools and 78% believedthat BioBio blogs boosted interest for biochemistry. Moreover, students' acceptance 1 year after taking BioBio was evaluated. Students (n=50) were dividedin (i) those who had attended BioBio only, and (ii) those who had also taken Advanced Biochemistry, together with blog tutoring. In the first group, 72% agreed that the information acquired during blog elaboration was useful atthe time of interview; 76% judged that blog elaboration boosted interest for the discipline. For thosein the second group evaluations were 100% and 82%, respectively. Results show maintenance of acceptance over 1 year and effective interest for blog-assignment for thosein basic and advanced biochemistry classes.

The Effect of Seat Location and Movement or Permanence on Student-Initiated Participation

There is conflicting evidence on the effect of seat location on student performance and participation in the classroom. The two major hypotheses are (1) that seat location influences student behavior and (2) that seat preference and selection is associated with personality traits of students. This study evaluated both hypotheses within a 55 student senior nutritional biochemistry class. Alternating every other seat, half of the class was randomly assigned a permanent seat while the other half was randomly reassigned a different seat each class period. Students sitting in the front of the classroom in the stay group made significantly more comments per student per day than stay group students in the back, in agreement with other studies. The move group, however, showed increased overall participation with no significant difference between the front and back of the classroom. Findings suggest a more flexible explanation—that students may adopt or reject an implied social role in which seat location and personality traits are influential factors.

Websites of note

Websites of note

What Really Matters: Assessing Individual Problem-Solving Performance in the Context of Biological Sciences

The evaluation of higher-level cognitive skills can augment traditional discipline-based knowledge testing by providing timely assessment of individual student problem-solving abilities that are critical for success in any professional development program. However, the wide-spread acceptance and implementation of higher level cognitive skills analysis has been delayed by the lack of rapid, valid, and reliable quantified-scoring techniques. At the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, we have developed an examination format that can be routinely and sequentially implemented for both formative and summative assessments of individual students in large classes. Rather than providing results in terms of an individual student’s knowledge base in a single academic discipline or group of disciplines, this type of examination provides information on performance in the application of specific problem-solving skills, which we term “domains,” to a contextual clinical or scientific problem. These domains, derived from the scientific method, are tested across various academic disciplines, and are reported in terms of the following: Initial and sequential hypothesis generation, investigation of these hypotheses, evaluation of newly acquired data, integration of basic science mechanisms with new information to explain the basis of the problem, and reflection on one’s own professional development in the context of the examination. The process for criterion referenced quantified grading of the examination is outlined in this paper. This process involves relatively rapid scoring, and permits the timely use of the resulting information for individual student feedback as well as curricular improvement. Data regarding grading consistency and comparison with other measures of student performance is also presented in this paper. An analysis of the performance characteristics of this examination, which has been utilized for over 10 years in a variety of course settings, indicates that it is valid, reliable, and utilizable. As such, the methodology is now routinely used in several undergraduate and graduate level biochemistry classes to monitor the development of individual student problem-solving abilities.

Creating a Cell Map as an Active-Learning Tool in a Biochemistry Course

Teaching metabolism to a biochemistry class with diverse academic backgrounds is a challenging task. Often students lack the global perspective that is needed to understand how different metabolic pathways are reciprocally regulated. The classroom activity presented in this article is designed to facilitate the learning of metabolism by having the students actively engaged in the process of building an integrated cell map.

Teaching energy metabolism using scientific articles

This work describes the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) applied to the biochemistry class for undergraduate, first-year medical students at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The course focused on the integration of energy metabolism, exploring metabolic adaptations in different physiological or pathological states such as starvation, diabetes, and exercise. The VLE was designed to combine online activities with traditional course content and presented guided inquiry-based activities to assist in the use of original scientific articles as educational resources. Based on the analysis of a semi-open questionnaire, the results provided evidence that the VLE encouraged students' engagement in activities and improved feedback. The results also suggested that guided inquiry-based activities were an effective way to stimulate students to critically read relevant scientific articles and to acquire skills to build and contextualize their knowledge through content association. In addition, most of the students involved in this experience considered the use of these resources important to become familiar with scientific language and to learn how to obtain up-to-date scientific information during their professional life.

Development of a laboratory project to determine human ABO genotypes—Limitations lead to further student explorations

A multiplex allele-specific PCR analysis was developed to identify six "common" genotypes: AA, AO, BB, BO, OO, and AB. This project included a pre-laboratory exercise that provided active learning experiences and developed critical thinking skills. This laboratory resulted in many successful analyses, which were verified by student knowledge of their phenotypes. However, the design was found to be deficient for the analysis of variants. The limitations in the original allied-health multiplex design were verified through a student designed problem-based laboratory project in an advanced level biochemistry class. Variants were further analyzed in an undergraduate research project using SSCP analyses. The topic of ABO genotyping provides several opportunities for student-centered explorations.

Turtles All the Way: Reflections on myo-Inositol

It has been said that retirement consists of going from “Who's who?” to “Who's he?” My invitation to contribute to the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) Reflections is an honor and timely as well in that as an emeritus professor, I have the time and an opportunity to beat the clock to “Who was he?” In a Venn diagram of biological sciences in which circles representing biochemistry and neuroscience overlap, the lens-shaped area can be defined as neurochemistry or, more recently, as molecular neuroscience and best describes my research area. My career in neuroscience is summarized in an autobiographical series recently published under the auspices of the Society for Neuroscience (1). In it, I detail my research on neuroplasticity, the ability of the nervous system to undergo change as a result of external inputs. This includes interventive studies on the role of protein synthesis in memory formation and correlative studies on optic nerve regeneration, both in teleost fish (1). This JBC Reflections article encapsulates my biochemical career, with emphasis on the neurochemical significance of myo-inositol, one of nine positional isomers of hexahydroxycyclohexane, and its phosphates. My early years are described in Ref. 1. Briefly, I was born in Detroit in 1926, graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1944, entered a Navy premedical officer training program at the University of Michigan, and received an M.D. from Wayne State Medical School. I cannot resist sharing a recollection. In 1946, as a 20-year-old freshman medical student, I found myself surrounded by returning World War II veterans who were not only older than I, but understandably a bit rustier in college chemistry. In our freshman biochemistry class, I volunteered to go to the blackboard to derive and discuss the Henderson-Hasselbach equation. I returned to my seat, satisfied that I had done a clear and concise job. The 30- or so year-old returning veteran sitting next to me whispered, “Are you going to end up as a biochemistry professor?” Fishing for a compliment, I said, “No, why?” He answered, “The way you got right up there and mumbled into the blackboard, you just can't fake that!” He became a psychiatrist, and I, a biochemist. I interned in Sayre, PA, and had a postdoctoral fellowship with F. O. Schmitt in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, until I was recalled by the Navy for a 2-year stint at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, after which I moved to the nearby National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1952.