Physical models in teaching structure and function of biological macromolecules to undergraduates

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Biological Sciences (61) This project is adapting technology for producing three-dimensional physical models, developed at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, to the teaching of macromolecular structure and function to undergraduates and graduate students in biology, biochemistry, and chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The PI team is creating a new honors course in which undergraduates work with researcher-mentors to produce both a physical model and a computer-based tutorial that illustrate some aspect of the function of a macromolecule of interest. The models and tutorials created by these mentor-student teams are then introduced into the classroom in five undergraduate and three graduate courses that cover macromolecular structure and function at several levels. The efficacy of the model-tutorial combination in teaching structure and function of macromolecules to different student audiences with different levels of chemical sophistication is being evaluated.