Enhancing the Biochemistry Curriculum Through Project-based Laboratories

生物科学（61）由于生物学的重大进展，现在正在取得的生化水平，我们已经创建了一个生物化学专业，这已经加强了最近增加了一个发育生物学家谁研究基因表达的发展驱动的变化。生物化学专业内的课程设计，使学生通过专业的进展，他们变得更少依赖于他们的教科书和更舒适的主要文献来源。渐渐地，学生成为真正的参与者，而不仅仅是消费者，在课堂上，直到最后，在他们的顶点研讨会课程，学生和教师一起合作学习。这门课程为学生和教师带来了新的兴奋水平。目前的项目旨在改变生物化学专业的实验室设计和仪器，使这些学生在实验室中达到类似的高水平的好奇心，独立性和信心。我们正在整合三个基于项目的实验室体验，让学生在实验室中调查他们在课堂上发现令人兴奋的相同问题。一个项目延伸通过几门课程，并展示了几个学科如何共同促进对一个单一的生物过程的理解。另一个项目揭示了新的生物化学工具如何被用来回答发育生物学中的古老问题。第三个项目展示了有机化学如何对我们理解生物体中的调节过程变得越来越重要。高灵敏度的非放射性分析在基础研究中得到广泛应用。这些正在适应和被引入到生物化学本科实验室的新的调查领域。获得最先进的研究和致力于教师的状态，使学生能够发展沟通和团队合作能力，这将是在他们的研究生职业生涯高度重视。

Biological Sciences (61) Because of the significant advances in biology now being made at the biochemical level we have created a Biochemistry Major, which has been enhanced recently with the addition of a developmental biologist who studies developmentally-driven changes in gene expression. The courses within the biochemistry major are designed so that as students progress through the major they become less dependent on their textbooks and more comfortable with primary literature sources. Gradually, students become genuine participants, not just consumers, in the classroom until finally, in their capstone seminar course, students and faculty are cooperative learners together. This course has brought a new level of excitement for both students and faculty. The current project aims to change the laboratory design and instrumentation available to Biochemistry majors so that these students achieve a similar high level of curiosity, independence, and confidence in the laboratory. We are incorporating three project-based laboratory experiences that allow students to investigate the same questions in the laboratory that they find exciting in the classroom. One project extends through several courses and demonstrates how several disciplines collectively contribute to the understanding of a single biological process. Another project reveals how new biochemical tools are being employed to answer age-old questions in developmental biology. A third project demonstrates how organic chemistry has become increasingly important to our understanding of regulatory processes in organisms. Highly sensitive non-radioactive assays are being widely used in basic research. These are being adapted and being introduced into new areas of investigation for undergraduate laboratories in biochemistry. Access to state of the art research and committed faculty enables students to develop communication and teamwork skills that will be highly valued in their postgraduate careers.