Proposal Title
Box of lessons: An open educational resource for exploring biomolecular structural data to learn biology
Session Type
Presentation
Room
Somerville House, room 3315
Start Date
13-7-2023 11:00 AM
End Date
13-7-2023 11:20 AM
Keywords
biomolecular visualization, structure-function relationships, bioinformatics, authentic assessment, open educational resource
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
Structure and function is a core concept in many community-determined educational standards across STEM disciplines. While most curricula introduce students to the building blocks and principles of assembly of biological molecules in introductory courses, only a few engage students in actively visualizing and exploring their shapes, interactions, and functions. The Molecular CaseNet, provides a collection of molecular case studies designed to engage students in exploring biomolecular structure-function relationships. Many faculty members are unfamiliar with the vast amounts of bioinformatics data, three-dimensional structural data, and rapidly evolving tools for exploring them. Learning to use these data and tools, then developing suitable lessons focused on structure-function relationships can be time-consuming and challenging. Faculty who are developing and using molecular case studies shared the need for professional development for educators and new resources to prepare and support students in the early stages of biomolecular structure-function explorations. In Spring 2022, participants in the BioQuest Faculty Mentoring Network gathered resources and lessons they had independently developed to address this need. They collaboratively expand this "Box of Lessons" to help introduce students to the structures of biological macromolecules, their building blocks, and various small molecule ligands that interact with them. These resources were reviewed by 34 undergraduate educators, revised, and then pilot tested by eight faculty across 11 courses in three countries. This talk will provide an overview of the resource and share lessons learned from piloting them. Participants are encouraged to bring their own device (smartphone, laptop, tablet) to interact with the resource and participate in the talk.
Funding for Molecular CaseNet: NSF DBI-1827011 and 2018884
Elements of Engagement
Participants will be invited to 1) reflect on their own practice of engaging students in authentic exploration of biomolecular structure and function and 2) discuss strategies that can be taken to incorporate these resources into their course context using active learning approaches.
Participants of this session will also be invited to explore and pilot the current beta version of the resource and provide feedback before the lessons are made freely available to the public. The hands-on molecular visualization and exploration lessons, and their answer keys are expected to be formally released as an open educational resource (OER) by early 2024.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Box of lessons: An open educational resource for exploring biomolecular structural data to learn biology
Somerville House, room 3315
Structure and function is a core concept in many community-determined educational standards across STEM disciplines. While most curricula introduce students to the building blocks and principles of assembly of biological molecules in introductory courses, only a few engage students in actively visualizing and exploring their shapes, interactions, and functions. The Molecular CaseNet, provides a collection of molecular case studies designed to engage students in exploring biomolecular structure-function relationships. Many faculty members are unfamiliar with the vast amounts of bioinformatics data, three-dimensional structural data, and rapidly evolving tools for exploring them. Learning to use these data and tools, then developing suitable lessons focused on structure-function relationships can be time-consuming and challenging. Faculty who are developing and using molecular case studies shared the need for professional development for educators and new resources to prepare and support students in the early stages of biomolecular structure-function explorations. In Spring 2022, participants in the BioQuest Faculty Mentoring Network gathered resources and lessons they had independently developed to address this need. They collaboratively expand this "Box of Lessons" to help introduce students to the structures of biological macromolecules, their building blocks, and various small molecule ligands that interact with them. These resources were reviewed by 34 undergraduate educators, revised, and then pilot tested by eight faculty across 11 courses in three countries. This talk will provide an overview of the resource and share lessons learned from piloting them. Participants are encouraged to bring their own device (smartphone, laptop, tablet) to interact with the resource and participate in the talk.
Funding for Molecular CaseNet: NSF DBI-1827011 and 2018884