Transcript Using In-Class Activities in Biochemistry

Integrating Biology and
Chemistry Into the Biochemistry
Class Through Student-Centered
Instruction
Christina Miller
Adams State College
Alamosa, CO
Outline
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My class and school demographics
Student-centered instruction
In-class activities
Material for the Activities
Student evaluations of the activities
Student learning outcomes and course satisfaction
Conclusions
School and Course
Demographics
• Adams State College is a four-year liberal arts
institution of about 2500 students in rural southern
Colorado.
• Biochemistry I and II (CHEM 401 and 402) are
required for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
degrees. They can be used for other Chemistry
and Biology degrees.
• In the past five years at Adams State I have
educated 71 students; 11 biochemistry, 9
chemistry, and 51 biology majors. This year I had
17 students; 6 biochemistry, 1 chemistry, 10
biology majors.
Student-Centered Instruction
• This is the third year that I have used active
learning in my course.
• Give individual/group blue-book quizzes at
start of class.
• Stop during lecture to ask questions of
individuals, sometimes after small group
discussion.
• Use graded in-class activities.
In-class Activities
• Students may be assigned to read material outside
of class.
• They are assigned different groups each time.
• They answer graded questions in their groups.
They may use their notes and their textbooks.
• This material appears on their lecture exams.
Material for the Activities
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Articles from Chemical and Engineering
News (for the chemists)
- “Supersize Enzymes Come into Focus” March 13,
2006
- “How is this low-resolution structure
different/like the structure shown in
our textbook? What are we still
waiting to find out?”
- “Vesicle Talk” October 28, 2002
-“What do the red parts of this molecule
look like?”
•Medical Case Studies from a Clinical Companion to
our text (For the biologists)
- “Citric Acid Cycle: Danger of 2carbon fragments”
-“Explain why any time this
alcoholic eats, his lactate levels
soar.”
- “Carbohydrates: Nothing to Sneeze at”
-“Mucus is a heavily glycosylated
family of proteins lining your airways.
How might this help avert infection?”
Saltsman, Berg, Tomaselli (2002) A Clinical Companion to Accompany Biochemistry,
Fifth Edition. W.H Freeman and Co, NY.
Difficult Questions Posed (For the biochemists)
- “Why are some Sugars Reducing?”
-“You saw the demo. Why are all
monosaccharides reducing? Why are
some disaccharides not reducing?”
-“A Hemoglobin Dilemma” Kendrew and Priestly, 1935
-“Why does CO poisoning at 50%
saturation kill you while anemia does not?”
Question
1. I feel that the in-class activities are more
fun than just listening to lecture
2. I feel that I learn a great deal from the inclass activities
3. I feel that I understand biochemistry better
because of the in-class activities
4. I do better on the exams because of
information learned in the in-class activities
5. I enjoy working in groups to answer
questions concerning activities
6. I would rather be given these activities as
homework to do individually
7. I would prefer not to do in-class activities
and spend more time in lecture
Strongly
Agree
(4)
Agree
Disagree
(3)
(2)
Strongly
Disagree
(1)
Evaluation of the Activities; the
Questions
Q1:
Fun
Q2:
Q3:
Learn Under
a lot stand
more
3.23 3.18
3.06
Q4:
Better
on
Exam
Q5:
Group
is
helpful
Q6:
Do it
home
-work
2.53
3.35
1.76
Q7:
Drop
and
lecture
1.94
Evaluation of the Activities;
comments on what students like
best
• “The activities offer valuable information
that the text book does not.”
• “Makes material relevant.”
• “I like it that we are able to talk in groups
and work through difficult concepts.”
• “Seeing how biochemistry is intertwined
with clinical problems.”
• “A nice break from lecture.”
What they like least
• “Not everyone in the group contributes their
fair share.”
• “I always have to write.”
• “Dominant person will steer the group
down a bad path to the wrong answer.”
• “Questions are tough.”
• “The activities take too long.”
• “Can’t pick my own group.”
How they would use the activities
if they were the teacher
• “I would do things just as you have done.”
• “Get into groups for discussion and then
answer the questions as homework.”
• “Add an end-of-class-discussion to the
activity.”
Statistics from Exams
“Explain why consumption of alcohol inhibits
the citric acid cycle and leads to fatty liver.”
(From Exam 2)
-Correct- 4, incorrect-2, Did not choose- 11
“What does the fatty acid synthase look like
in the low-resolution structure now
available?” (From Exam 3)
-Correct- 10, incorrect- 1, Did not choose- 6
Did they help students from the
three disciplines enjoy the class?
• My course evaluations have risen steadily
since I began using active-learning in my
courses.
• Before using, my course average for
Biochemistry was 3.95/5.00 (n=5). After
using, my average was 4.50/5.00 (n=4).
• The number of biochemistry majors has
risen from 4 to 12.
Conclusions
• The students like the activities, as evidenced by
student evaluations.
• They had to learn the hard way to study the
material we did as activities for exams.
• The use of activities has increased student
satisfaction with the course and with biochemistry.
• Based on student evaluations I will make some
changes to the activities.