Student Understanding of Biomolecules: An Investigation of Student's Representational Competence

本项目由三个相关研究组成，旨在建立学生对生物化学视觉表征理解的模型。两项研究的重点是探究学生对单糖和蛋白质的理解。当学生们解释如何将单糖的2D图像转换成许多生物化学家在课堂上使用的3D图像时，他们会接受采访。面试揭示了学生用来成功完成这些翻译的规则和线索。学生们还将接受有关蛋白质结构和功能的采访，同时观看可以旋转和操纵的3D计算机图像。这项研究的结果将促进发展新的和修订的理科生如何学习的模型。第三个重点是如何在一个学期的本科生物化学课堂上使用包括分子图像、图表、表格等在内的视觉表征。这项研究将增加关于科学课堂有效实践的知识体系，因为它捕捉了在一段较长时间内真实课堂中发生的事情。整个项目被放置在生物化学领域，有机会建立化学教育研究人员与从事类似或相关问题的生物化学，分子生物学和生物教育的研究人员之间的联系。

Chemistry (12)This project, composed of three related studies, seeks to build a model of student understanding of visual representations in biochemistry. Two studies focus on probing student understanding of monosaccharides and proteins. Students are interviewed as they explain how to translate 2D images of simple sugars into the 3D images that many biochemists use in their classrooms. The interviews expose the rules and cues that students use to successfully complete these translations. Students are also being interviewed about protein structure and function while viewing 3D computer images that can be rotated and manipulated. Results from this research will foster the development of new and revised models of how undergraduate science students learn. The third is focusing on how visual representations including molecular images, graphs, tables, etc. are used in an undergraduate biochemistry classroom across a semester. This study will add to the body of knowledge about effective practices in science classrooms because it captures what takes place in a real classroom for an extended period of time. The overall project is placed in the field of biochemistry, with an opportunity to build connections among and between researchers in chemical education and those engaged in similar or related issues in biochemistry, molecular biology, and biology education.