{"title":"Design and Practice of Experimental Teaching for Research Methods and Technologies in Cell Biology Based on Demand-Oriented Education.","authors":"Jixiang Cao, Qing Song, Hua Yang, Yun Bai","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell biology research methods and techniques is one of the training courses for graduate students before enter the laboratory in many universities. However, due to the limited time of experimental teaching while the teaching contents are increasing, choosing suitable teaching content has always been a challenge faced by experimental teaching. Here, we introduce a demand-oriented experimental teaching design and its application to solve this problem. Firstly, we referred to cell biology-related journals, counted the frequency of cell biology experiments used in these journals, and modularly classified these experiments according to their detection purposes, from which we selected high-frequency experiments as teaching content. Secondly, we adopted a problem-driven approach to cultivate students' experimental design and problem-solving abilities. For other experiments in the module, students are encouraged to engage in self-study through the \"Internet + Education\" platform to enhance their independent learning ability. Moreover, the teacher conducted on-site assessment of students' operational skills, experimental results, and data analysis abilities. Finally, its effectiveness was evaluated through questionnaire analyses and focus group discussion. Students reported that the experimental skills learned in the course were widely used in their research, which helped them adapt to graduate research more quickly and gain confidence in future research. Student feedback also showed that they had significantly improved their experimental operations, design skills, and data analysis. In summary, this study confirms that demand-oriented experimental teaching design and practice are effective and provide a reliable model for experimental teaching reform in other educational institutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144752225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bridget Owusu, Laurie Stargell, Josie Otto, Meena M Balgopal
{"title":"Undergraduate Students' Misconceptions About Protein Structure and Function Stem From Challenges in Visuospatial Reasoning.","authors":"Bridget Owusu, Laurie Stargell, Josie Otto, Meena M Balgopal","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the structure and function of proteins is crucial for students as it provides fundamental insights into one of the central building blocks of life. Yet, undergraduate students struggle to make sense of proteins and apply knowledge about why structure affects function. Here, we expand on an existing typology of common protein misconceptions (Robic, 2010). We recruited participants from a large, lecture-based non-major biochemistry course to participate in a series of assessments that allowed us to qualitatively examine their responses. We found that the common misconceptions included: protein stability based on orientation, confusions about the dynamic properties of proteins, and protein structure related to function. We surmise that all three of these newly reported, nuanced misconceptions are the product of difficulties with visuospatial reasoning.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144752226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrating a Sugar Inhibition Experiment With a Cell Agglutination Experiment to Enhance Conceptual Understanding.","authors":"Fang Ma, Ruilin Ma","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study expanded the \"cell agglutination reaction\" experiment in undergraduate cell biology teaching by integrating a sugar inhibition component. Lectins bind to specific sugars. In the traditional cell agglutination reaction, lectin is used to cause cells to aggregate via binding to sugars present on the cell surface. Here, various small sugars were added to red blood cell agglutination reactions. If the lectin binds to the added sugar that inhibits cellular aggregation. The degree of cellular aggregation was measured for each added sugar and controls, and hence used to assess the binding of the lectin to each sugar type. The experiment allows students to observe cell adhesion under the influence of lectin, deepening their understanding of glycosyl groups, lectin binding to sugar sites, inhibition of lectin binding, and the glycosyl composition of cell surfaces. The experimental approach cultivates students' problem-solving skills and enhances teaching effectiveness. By incorporating current real-world issues, students' interest in independent learning is increased.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144727159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Undergraduate Laboratory on Recombineering and CRISPR/Cas9-Assisted Gene Editing in Escherichia coli.","authors":"Ming-Mei Chang","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Laboratory experience is vital to undergraduate science education. It allows students to observe and conduct engaging experiments to enhance their skills and literacy, helps them retain knowledge, and deepens their understanding of related content covered in lectures. This paper reports a 4-week undergraduate laboratory exercise on Escherichia coli gene editing by recombineering, recombination-mediated genetic engineering, with or without clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and their associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9). Gene editing makes precise modifications to the DNA of living organisms that influence their development and functions. As technology evolves, recombineering and CRISPR/Cas9 have replaced methods that use restriction enzymes and DNA ligase and are applied to a wide variety of research and applications. It is necessary to introduce undergraduates to these two rapidly growing technologies. Student results obtained from the lab indicate that antisense single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide (ssODN) has a 15-20 times higher recombineering efficiency than the sense strand. Treatment with a plasmid containing the crRNA target of CRISPR/Cas9 increased recombineering efficiency. Instructional assessments, based on student feedback, revealed that the lab had clear objectives, instructions, and explicit protocols, with sufficient time to complete them, and was found to be interesting and worthwhile. Student learning outcomes, assessed by comparing pre-lab questions and post-lab tests, suggested that they learned the underlying principles and detailed molecular mechanisms. Besides learning the technologies and acquiring basic laboratory skills, students practiced key components of scientific research, such as data collection, analysis, and scientific communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144706125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antonio Peña-Fernández, Manuel Higueras, Mark D Evans, Carlo Breda, María de Los Ángeles Peña
{"title":"Virtual Pathways: Transforming Medical Biochemistry Education With e-Biology During the COVID-19 Era.","authors":"Antonio Peña-Fernández, Manuel Higueras, Mark D Evans, Carlo Breda, María de Los Ángeles Peña","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Face-to-face teaching was quickly moved to remote teaching following the introduction of a national lockdown in the United Kingdom (UK) on 23 March 2020 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19). In this context, De Montfort University (DMU, UK) expanded and adapted its pre-existing open-access virtual learning environment, named e-Biology (http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/ebiology/), to better support clinical biochemistry education in a remote setting. Originally created in 2017 to assist students' transition into biomedical science programmes, e-Biology was updated with specific modules for clinical biochemistry, including theoretical, laboratory, microscope, and case study components. This package has been used to teach final-year BSc Biomedical Science students since 2020/2021. Detailed analysis of scores of two multiple choice question tests distributed at the beginning (preScore; 39.3% and 41.4% successful, for all the cohort and paired students' exams, respectively) and end of the module (postScore; 41.8% and 45.3% successful), did show an improvement in students' overall performance but without statistical significance. However, this improvement showed statistical significance for the paired exams for the last cohort (2022/2023; from 34.0% to 46.8%; p < 0.05; n = 13/146). A total of 77.9% of respondents to the feedback questionnaire concurred that the mini-games and exercises within the e-practicals facilitated their learning and aided in their preparation for the unseen practical exam, while 13.0% neither agreed nor disagreed. These findings suggest that e-Biology was an effective tool for supporting the teaching and learning of applied clinical biochemistry remotely and may serve as a useful resource for blended and online education across STEM disciplines.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144673887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Ojeda-Del Sol, Anthony Aguiar-Medina, Isel Pascual-Alonso
{"title":"An Equation-Based Approach to Estimating Enzymatic Activity From Experimental Data.","authors":"Daniel Ojeda-Del Sol, Anthony Aguiar-Medina, Isel Pascual-Alonso","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The study and analysis of enzymatic reactions are essential for characterizing various biological systems. As part of these procedures, it is important to understand how to quantify the biological activity of these proteins in terms of enzymatic activity. This work proposes a general equation for determining enzymatic activity based on experimental data, along with the theoretical elements that support it. A model exercise is included, and the methodology for calculating both enzymatic activity and specific enzymatic activity is outlined in detail, step by step. This procedure is specifically designed for undergraduate students in the biological sciences who are interested in enzyme kinetics.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144607185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bianca C Braga, William Hurst, John Barrow, John Long, Gregory C Shearer, Joanna K Hodges, Olivia Lawler, Ravi Patel, Terry Schiavone, Travis D Masterson
{"title":"Efficacy and Engagement With an Immersive Virtual Learning Experience of the Citric Acid Cycle.","authors":"Bianca C Braga, William Hurst, John Barrow, John Long, Gregory C Shearer, Joanna K Hodges, Olivia Lawler, Ravi Patel, Terry Schiavone, Travis D Masterson","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This randomized controlled trial assessed the comparative effectiveness of a biochemistry education program delivered through an immersive virtual reality (iVR) experience and traditional video-based instruction. Undergraduate students enrolled in three nutrition courses from a large R1 American university participated (n = 95). Students were randomly assigned to either an iVR condition (n = 48) or a video condition (n = 47). Students either viewed a nutritional biochemistry video or participated in an interactive iVR nutritional biochemistry experience. Nutritional biochemistry quiz scores improved, with a significant difference between the video condition and iVR condition (P = 0.05). Engagement scores were higher for the iVR (mean = 4.60) compared to the video (mean = 4.33; p = 0.02). Additionally, the total heuristic evaluation was higher for the iVR group compared with the video group (p = 0.01). Delivery of biochemistry education materials through iVR technology was shown to be more engaging than traditional video-based instruction.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144607186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zachariah Bobby, V Devanatha Desikan, Z Zayapragassarazan
{"title":"Concept Mapping as a Tool for Fostering Self-Directed Learning Among Graduate Medical Students in Biochemistry: An Experimental, Analytical Study.","authors":"Zachariah Bobby, V Devanatha Desikan, Z Zayapragassarazan","doi":"10.1002/bmb.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Concept mapping is an active learning strategy promoting self-directed learning. The intellectual involvement in the preparation of concept mapping is a learning process. We tested the utility of concept mapping in improving self-directed learning among medical graduate students in Biochemistry. The study was conducted among first-year undergraduate medical students at our institute after their regular teaching modules in biochemistry. The students prepared concept maps on three topics by referring to textbooks and class notes as a home task. Pre- and posttests were conducted with MCQs to assess the gain from the exercise. Classification of the students into low, average, and high achievers was carried out to analyze the results. After the training, we took feedback from the students using a Likert scale. We conducted focus group discussions among the different groups of students to examine the factors that facilitated or hindered their learning with concept mapping. There was a significant gain in understanding the three chosen topics by the concept mapping. Although the overall gain from concept mapping was higher than the gain from self-study, it reached statistical significance only among the low achievers in this study. The students generally felt this exercise was more beneficial than self-study and enhanced their self-directed learning process. Several factors facilitated their self-directed learning by concept mapping. Concept mapping is an effective method for fostering self-directed learning among graduate medical students in Biochemistry.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144590348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Development and Analysis of a Learning Outcomes Assessment Instrument for a Single-Semester Nonmajors Biochemistry Course.","authors":"Paul J Laybourn, Brian Kalet, Aaron J Sholders","doi":"10.1002/bmb.21913","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21913","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For STEM faculty to approach teaching as a scientist, they must develop tools for data collection and analysis of student learning outcomes. Here, we report a methodology for the development of a learning outcomes assessment instrument and statistical analysis of that instrument that can be undertaken in a short amount of time by a few faculty members with little to no funding. Our team of instructors at a public land-grant university developed an instrument for our single-semester nonmajors biochemistry course. The instrument consists of eight sets of multiple true/false questions assessing learning objectives covering topics within protein structure and function, thermodynamics, and metabolism. We employed the instrument as a pre- and postcourse evaluation for several semesters. We conducted statistical analyses on overall exam scores and on individual questions. The results indicate that between the beginning and the end of the semester students achieved statistically significant increases in their cumulative scores. Finer-grained analysis revealed that students displayed little to no improvement in specific content areas and concepts. These findings point to areas in need of pedagogical interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144301040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cholesterol: My Story My Song.","authors":"Aditya Arya, Sneha Singh, Divyakant Shukla","doi":"10.1002/bmb.21912","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21912","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8830,"journal":{"name":"Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144233039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}