Structures of 10 proteins from the Protein Data Bank were 3D printed as part of an undergraduate biochemistry teaching laboratory. All structures were successfully printed in either a space filling surface representation or a cartoon representation that traces the Ca carbon atoms of each amino acid residue. All structures were printed using…

The goal of undergraduate chemistry laboratories is to allow students to learn about chemical systems and key laboratory skills. They should then apply this knowledge to solve problems and connect macroscopic observations in the laboratory with those occurring at the submicroscopic level. Unfortunately, these needs are not met through traditional…

As one approach to moving beyond transmitting "inert" ideas to chemistry students, we use the term "teaching from rich contexts" to describe implementations of case studies or context-based learning based on systems thinking that provide deep and rich opportunities for learning crosscutting concepts through contexts. This…

Decades of research have demonstrated the correlation of spatial abilities to chemistry achievement and career selection. Nonetheless, reviews have highlighted the need and scarcity of explicit spatial instruction to promote spatial skills. Therefore, the goal of this literature review is to summarize what has been done during the past decade in…

Currently not many people would doubt that computers play an essential role in both public and private life in many countries. However, somewhat surprisingly, evidence of computer use is difficult to find in German state schools although other countries have managed to implement computer-based teaching and learning in their schools. This paper…

Cognitive science research shows that the brain has two systems for processing visual information, one specialized for spatial information such as position, orientation, and trajectory, and the other specialized for information used to identify objects, such as color, shape and texture. Some individuals seem to be more facile with the spatial…

One of the difficulties in teaching basic molecular biology concepts to the students with little biological background is the lack of hands-on exercises that combines the challenges of the concepts with visualization and immediate feedback. BIOPS Interactive is a web-based interactive learning environment for molecular biology that complements…

This study measures changes in teachers' attitudes, content knowledge, and spatial ability following a two-year visualization workshop experience. The workshop involved intensive, half-day sessions over three weeks for two consecutive summers, in which the participants worked with three-dimensional models and computer-generated images. No changes…

White and group used a two question, open-ended tests to separately evaluate students' learning of specific biochemical concepts in the general biology lecture and laboratory, in the first performance assessment of molecular visualization in teaching biochemistry. Two studies were devoted to protein structure using globins followed by one…

Researchers in the field of bioinformatics have developed a number of analytical programs and databases that are increasingly important for advancing biological research. Because bioinformatics programs are used to analyze, visualize, and/or compare biological data, it is likely that the use of these programs will have a positive impact on biology…

Computerized simulation of physical phenomena is a growing area of high-performance computing, providing a new approach to scientific discovery and offering creative, efficient, and effective alternatives to laboratory experiments for teaching graduate and undergraduate science. The technique is a very important scientific and instructional tool.…