We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Known structure, unknown function: An inquiry-based undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course.
- Authors
Gray, Cynthia; Price, Carol W.; Lee, Christopher T.; Dewald, Alison H.; Cline, Matthew A.; McAnany, Charles E.; Columbus, Linda; Mura, Cameron
- Abstract
Undergraduate biochemistry laboratory courses often do not provide students with an authentic research experience, particularly when the express purpose of the laboratory is purely instructional. However, an instructional laboratory course that is inquiry- and research-based could simultaneously impart scientific knowledge and foster a student's research expertise and confidence. We have developed a year-long undergraduate biochemistry laboratory curriculum wherein students determine, via experiment and computation, the function of a protein of known three-dimensional structure. The first half of the course is inquiry-based and modular in design; students learn general biochemical techniques while gaining preparation for research experiments in the second semester. Having learned standard biochemical methods in the first semester, students independently pursue their own (original) research projects in the second semester. This new curriculum has yielded an improvement in student performance and confidence as assessed by various metrics. To disseminate teaching resources to students and instructors alike, a freely accessible Biochemistry Laboratory Education resource is available at . © 2015 The Authors Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43(4):245-262, 2015.
- Subjects
BIOCHEMISTRY education; CHEMICAL laboratories; UNDERGRADUATES; PROTEINS; SEMESTER system in education; UNIVERSITIES &; colleges; ATTITUDE (Psychology)
- Publication
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Education, 2015, Vol 43, Issue 4, p245
- ISSN
1470-8175
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/bmb.20873