Cell Biology Education Research Articles

The migrasome as a developmental learning paradigm in cell biology.

Migrasome is a newly discovered organelle composed of small vesicular structures enclosed in membrane structures. Since its discovery in 2014, migrasome has attracted increasing attention in cell biology due to its critical role in multiple disease processes. Its pivotal role in various disease processes, including cell migration, intercellular communication, removal of damaged mitochondria, embryogenesis localization, immune cell chemotaxis, and virus transmission, underscores its significance in biological systems. With research on migrasome steadily increasing, it becomes a unique resource for undergraduate cell biology education. For deeper understanding of migrasome, we applied a bibliometric approach. Here we conducted a comprehensive analysis of migrasome research by retrieving relevant literature from databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed using the keywords "migrasome" or "migrasomes."Employing CiteSpace software and Prism, we analyzed annual publication trends, identified core authors and institutions, assessed national contributions, examined keywords, and scrutinized highly cited literature related to migrasome research. This study presents a comprehensive overview of migrasome research, elucidating its literature characteristics, key contributors, research hotspots, and emerging trends. By shedding light on the current status and future trajectories of migrasome research, we aim to provide valuable insights for teachers in cell biology education. We propose for the integration of migrasome research into undergraduate curricula to enhance the understanding of cell biology among premedical, medical, and biomedical students, thereby fostering a deeper appreciation for the intricate mechanisms governing cellular behavior and disease processes.

Using Arts-Based Methodologies: Facilitating First-Year Pre-Service Teachers' Collaborative Teaching of Cell Biology

Even with well-prepared lectures, some of my students still struggled to understand some of the concepts of cell biology. I therefore wondered if an exploration of teaching methods involving the arts would help them to engage with the subject content in ways that made it more accessible, and help them to understand the concepts better. Building on earlier approaches of using collaborative learning, I requested students to discuss, plan, and present to each other on cell biology concepts using arts-based teaching methods. In groups of 4-6 members, they could use any strategy such as dance, drama, music, poetry, and drawing to teach the concepts. The students collaboratively prepared content for a concept of their choice and presented it using their chosen and developed teaching strategy. Some of the strategies that students seemed to enjoy using included rapping the concepts, songs, dance, role play, and poetry. A few students resorted to individual PowerPoint presentations. The hope was that the enjoyment would translate into students' familiarisation with and understanding of the concepts better than through traditional teaching. Although the approach demonstrated that students could teach these concepts in versatile and fun ways, it did not assess their understanding of the concepts presented.

Using Arts-Based Methodologies: Facilitating First-Year Pre-Service Teachers' Collaborative Teaching of Cell Biology

Using Arts-Based Methodologies: Facilitating First-Year Pre-Service Teachers' Collaborative Teaching of Cell Biology

Integrating Clinical and Research Perspectives in Postgraduate Tumor Cell Biology Education: A "Small Class-Seminar" Model

Integrating Clinical and Research Perspectives in Postgraduate Tumor Cell Biology Education: A "Small Class-Seminar" Model

Driving Innovation in Cell Biology Education: The Cell Biology Education Consortium

Driving Innovation in Cell Biology Education: The Cell Biology Education Consortium

Way Back Home - An Auxiliary Teaching Tools in Biology Education in Colleges

In undergraduate biology education, especially in cell biology, it has been a challenge for students to integrate images well to memorize the complex and scattered expertise. In traditional biology teaching, the teacher's way of explaining with images is not good enough to show the connection between cell structure and function directly. Biology students need to spend long extra time to memorize these very essential points, which not only reduces students' interest in learning, but also is a very painful process for students with poor spatial imagination. However, the newly emerged VR game technology, which is visual, playful, and interactive, can be a good solution to the problem of students' interest in learning and their lack of spatial imagination. According to this situation, this paper designs a VR game as a supplementary teaching tool for cell biology and examines it from seven aspects: game mechanics, visual aesthetics, narrative, motivation, music score, learning objectives, and relevant. With using this VR game, biological related specialized student can directly see the changes in structure and remember them with pleasure, and teachers with similar teaching needs could also use them to improve learning effects. Finally, the advantages and limitations of this teaching aid are evaluated, aiming at broadening the current means of teaching undergraduate biology and providing new ideas for future higher education teaching of cell biology.

Storytelling as a Tool to Enhance Conceptual Knowledge in Cell Biology.

ABSTRACTResearch in a range of disciplines shows that many undergraduate students struggle with aggregating complex knowledge components into a complete picture and incorporating research literature into the learning process. To build and improve on the practice of project-based approaches to teaching cell biology, we transformed an undergraduate cell biology class by introducing the concept of storylines that are selected by groups of students for development throughout the semester. Each storyline integrates molecular and organellar concepts discussed during the semester into the cell- and tissue-level functions, conditions, or diseases shared and discussed during online poster sessions. Three semester-long studies conducted with an undergraduate cell biology class utilized pre- and postassignment assessments of self-efficacy and content knowledge (administered three times during the semester), and these studies showed that both parameters were significantly improved following each assignment. Specifically, student self-efficacy showed large gains, preassignment to postassignment (pre-post) [F(1,13) = 47.8, P < .001], and content knowledge showed moderate pre-post gains [F(1,12) = 14.5, P < 0.002]. Attitude surveys administered at the end of the semester suggest that the approach is seen as beneficial and enriching. We conclude that it is possible to integrate multiple levels of material in a complicated class by using storytelling and that such integration is positive and useful.

Bingo Celular: O lúdico no processo de ensino e aprendizagem

The teaching of Cell Biology constitutes an innovative educational path in the acquisition of knowledge about the importance of animal and plant cells. Thus, this work aimed to report the application of a didactic game to stimulate the teaching and learning process of higher education students on the basic principles of functions, transport of biological membranes and morphological structures of cellular cytoplasmic organelles. To support this research, the application of the ludic game entitled Bingo Celular was used as didactic material. This research was carried out at the Institute of Education, Agriculture and Environment (IEAA) of the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) in the city of Humaitá-AM in the Degree Course in Sciences: Biology and Chemistry and involved students of the 1st period in the discipline of Cell Biology. At first, there were a total of 29 students of the course in question. Bibliographic research and action research were used, focusing on the dialectical method of investigation, Historical and Dialectical Materialism. The data collection techniques used were: 1) Theoretical class; 2) Application of playfulness. The results show that when it comes to the subjects involved in the research, it was evident that the students' difficulty in relating the concepts of the organelles present in the cytoplasm comes from a growing phase of basic education and permeates higher education. In this logic, cellular bingo appears to reinforce the discussion on the aforementioned subject, and, in addition, we sought to avoid the configuration of the theoretical regency as being something simplistic and limiting.

A Cooperative Learning Approach towards Cell Biology

The problems in educational field are not new, many educators and researchers are continually seeking ways and effective approaches to increase student achievement and outcomes. The biology education is however a crucial problem that needs to be solved, the problems in science education are amplified where educational and teaching approach plays critical role. In this paper, cooperative learning approach has been utilized to solve the problem of cell biology teaching, because it motivates students in ways that traditional approach does not. The cooperative learning provides an opportunity to students to enhance communication, social, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The reason this approach is suitable for effective teaching is that it provides active learning roles to students, rather than traditional learning where students have passive-learner role to fulfill. A step-by-step implementation plan for cooperative learning in cell biology teaching has been presented in this excerpt which is beneficial for teachers and educational leaders in the field of science.

The effectiveness of the problem-based learning in medical cell biology education: A systematic meta-analysis.

Background:Problem-based learning (PBL) was widely adopted in medical cell biology education for Chinese student; however, there was no systematic analysis to prove PBL was much more effective than lecture-based learning (LBL). Our aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of PBL on cell biology curriculum compared with LBL.Method:We systematically searched the publications related to PBL teaching approach in cell biology curriculum for medical education from databases until to February 2021. Pooled standard mean differences (SMDs) and risk ratios with their 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the effectiveness of PBL and the satisfaction of students to PBL compared to LBL in meta-analysis. The heterogeneity of the included studies was assessed by statistical I2 of heterogeneity. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were performed to analyze the source of heterogeneity. Funnel plots and Egger tests were performed to assess publication bias.Result:After initial searching and selection, 9 studies were included for meta-analysis. All of these 9 studies were in high quality. The SMDs (95% confidence intervals) of total examination scores and comprehensive examination scores between PBL and LBL curriculum in cell biology teaching was calculated to be 0.89 (0.52, 1.26) and 0.53 (0.29, 0.78). Meanwhile, the risk ratios of the satisfaction of PBL vs LBL were calculated to be 1.18 (0.96, 1.46). However, there was a heterogeneity among the pooled SMDs of 10 studies with I2 = 89.7%, P < .001. The factors including the different teachers, the similar or same examination paper and over 100 student numbers among PBL and LBL groups raised the heterogeneity in the pooled SMDs. There is no publication bias in these 10 publications after Egger and Begg test.Conclusion:The result indicated PBL was better than LBL in improvement of examination scores and comprehensive examination scores in cell biology curriculum to some extent. However, the satisfaction of students to PBL and LBL had no difference. The factors, including the different teachers, the similar or same examination papers and over 100 student numbers, affected the effectiveness of PBL and raised the heterogeneity of the pooled SMDs.

Homage to George E. Palade Cell Protein Secretion in Vascular Biology: Overview and Updates

Abstract This short overview and updates expresses our brain-and-heart homage to George Emil Palade, “the most influential cell biologist ever”. In his 1971 paper Palade wrote for Albert Claude, the founder of biological electron microscopic method: “Seldom has a field owed so much to a single man”. Herein, we articulate the same words for George Palade, the Teacher of many generations in cell biology research and education. Accordingly, we focus on two paradigm shifts in the cell biology, namely (i) the transition from light to transmission electron microscopy in studying cell protein secretion made by George Palade, and (ii) the transition from contractile to secretory phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells made by Maria Daria Haust followed and developed by our research group. Altogether, we argue that one of the present challenges in vascular biology is to cultivate secreto-centric thinking and thus further focusing on how we could make the vascular muscle’s secretory pathways work for the benefit of human’s cardiovascular health.

O uso de expressões artísticas no ensino de Biologia Celular: Uma proposta combinando metodologias ativas e interdisciplinaridade

Neste artigo propõe-se uma estratégia interdisciplinar para o ensino de Biologia Celular no ensino médio a partir do uso de expressões artísticas e das metodologias ativas. Para isso, turmas controle e experimental de alunos do 1° ano do Ensino Médio da rede pública do Distrito Federal foram selecionadas para receber aulas do conteúdo de Biologia Celular. Na turma controle, o conteúdo foi abordado de maneira expositiva e com a organização dos alunos em seminários – da maneira como já estavam acostumados cotidianamente no contexto escolar das aulas de Biologia. Na turma experimental, houve o trabalho com projetos em grupos com o uso de expressões artísticas e desenvolvimento de produtos educacionais como fruto de suas aprendizagens dos temas relacionados à Biologia Celular. A produção artística incluiu paródias, maquetes, histórias em quadrinhos e desenhos. Um teste avaliativo aplicado em ambos os grupos revelou resultados promissores e estatisticamente significativos para o aprendizado dos alunos da turma experimental em relação à turma controle. Ainda, um questionário respondido por eles permitiu verificar que o uso das expressões artísticas motivou e despertou o interesse, além de envolver e unir todos os alunos em torno da produção.

Transitioning Cell Culture CURE Labs from Campus to Online: Novel Strategies for a Novel Time.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide a way for students to gain research experience in a classroom setting. Few examples of cell culture CUREs or online CUREs exist in the literature. The Cell Biology Education Consortium (CBEC) provides a network and resources for instructors working to incorporate cell-culture based research into the classroom. In this article, we provide examples from six instructors from the CBEC network on how they structure their cell-culture CUREs and how they transitioned the labs to online in the spring semester of 2020. We intend for these examples to provide instructors with ideas for strategies to set up cell culture CUREs, how to change that design mid-term, and for creating online CUREs in the future.

Pandemic Teaching: Creating and teaching cell biology labs online during COVID-19.

The year 2020 will forever be remembered as a season of pandemic teaching due to rising COVID-19 infections. Institutions of higher learning abruptly changed from in-person to online in attempts to minimize COVID-19 spread. Due to this, we created and taught online cell biology labs in response to the COVID-19 campus shutdown. Our virtual cell biology lab course emphasized molecular and cellular biology methods that can be used to study cells. Our report includes cell biology lab descriptions, learning outcomes, skills learned, lab set up and format, virtual tools used, lab sources, and lessons learned. We show how creative online lab alternatives can provide students valuable scientific learning experiences when in-person learning is not possible.

Doing the Molecular Splits: Hands-On Demonstration Tips to Promote Student Engagement Using Split Inteins in Molecular Biology

Engaging undergraduates in the mechanisms of post-translational modifications lies at the heart of molecular and cell biology education. An important challenge for science educators is developing inclusive and equitable approaches and hands-on demonstrations to clarify post-translational modification mechanisms, such as the protein-splicing mechanism called split inteins. Here, we describe step-by-step assembly of recycled materials to help clarify the molecular action of split inteins in inclusive classroom teaching settings.

Construction and application of Wetchat public account in Cell Biology teaching

With the development of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, as well as the popularity of smart phones, information-based and intelligent teaching becomes a new hotspot in the reform of teaching methods. This article made full use of the WeChat public account platform to assist the teaching of Cell Biology; constructed an interactive program including pre-course, in-class and after-class activities by optimizing the content and frequency of the articles, and adjusting the timing of posting the articles; then described how to apply the program to Cell Biology teaching, so as to constantly perfect it in practice. The results of questionnaire survey concluded that students were more willing to read the content of the article posted by the public account when it is presented as picture + text, the frequency of the articles that meet the students' needs was considered appropriate and the article was popular and well-received if it was posted after class and related to the content of the class. After using Wechat public account in teaching, the teaching effect had been improved and the overall effect was relatively good. In the following courses, on the application of WeChat public account in teaching should be strongly promoted. Key words: Wechat; Teaching public account; Cell Biology

Building Three Dimensional Didactic Templates of the Mitosis Phases: A Resource for The Teaching of Cell Biology

Building Three Dimensional Didactic Templates of the Mitosis Phases: A Resource for The Teaching of Cell Biology

PROPOSTA DIDÁTICA PARA O ENSINO DE BIOLOGIA CELULAR NO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL: A HISTÓRIA DA CIÊNCIA, EXPERIMENTAÇÃO E INCLUSÃO

The first general competence described in the National Curricular Common Base emphasizes the importance of the valorization and use of historically constructed knowledge about the world, recognizing the importance of teaching about the History and Nature of Science. These are fundamental components for a scientific school formation, where along aspects related to the theme of inclusion, potentiate the teaching process, allowing a greater interaction between science - classroom - students. In this proposal our objective is to guide, collaborate and facilitate the teaching of Cell Biology in the final years of elementary school, through a didactic sequence called "Knowing the history of cell discovery", "Knowing cells through didactic models" and "Building a Microscope", the methodology used was based on the researches developed by the authors in their dissertations in the area of Science Education, seeking to answer the following research problem "How to make scientific concepts about the teaching of cellular biology exceed the students' ability to abstract and become understandable?". Since many times the teaching of Cell Biology happens in a theoretical way and without contextualization, and because it is difficult to understand due to the high degree of abstraction of the students, we propose the didactic sequences to facilitate the teaching and learning of this subject. Each of these actions will be developed through active learning methodologies, valuing student participation and making them think about what they are learning. The use of the didactic sequence proposed in the teaching of Cell Biology uses the active methodologies, providing the students to awaken through the microscopic world, in a playful and fun way, providing students with active agents in their teaching and learning process.

Ready, Cell, Go! Guided Movement Exercises in an Introductory Cell Biology Course.

Cells and dance are each dynamic manifestations of energy, shape, time, and space. Here we present a novel application of movement learning in cell biology education. “Ready, Cell, Go!” is a set of movement exercises for introductory cell biology students designed to teach concepts of fluidity, crowding, and chaos. These aspects of cells are difficult to glean from two-dimensional illustrations in textbooks or animations where necessary simplification abstracts processes from their full cellular context. Forty-four undergraduate biology students were guided to move using three sets of cues in a dance studio setting where each exercise aimed to experientially highlight and deepen understanding of a different aspect of cellular structure and function. Students described their experiences and personal learning outcomes in written reflections. The movement-based exercises we describe provided a means of discovery, inquiry, and interest for introductory cell biology students and serve as a template to teach other central concepts in cell biology.

Effectiveness of the Standardized Patient (SP) and Case-Based Learning (CBL) in Teaching Cell Biology to College Students Majoring in Medical Laboratory Technology

Effectiveness of the Standardized Patient (SP) and Case-Based Learning (CBL) in Teaching Cell Biology to College Students Majoring in Medical Laboratory Technology