Instructors draw on their intentions for student learning in the enactment of curriculum, particularly in the selection and presentation of external representation of scientific phenomena. These representations both create opportunities for students to experience non-experiential biochemical phenomena, such as protein translation, and constrain…

Currently, modelling of knowledge and skills in a MOOC and the associated instructional and pedagogical engineering process is a major challenge in order to support designers and facilitate learning. This article explains how visuo-cognitive metaphors of the "metro map" and "travel" make possible the design of connections…

This short paper describes an ongoing NSF-funded project on enhancing science and engineering education using the latest technology. More specifically, the project aims at developing an interactive learning system with Microsoft Kinect™ and Unity3D game engine. This system promotes active, rather than passive, learning by employing embodied…

Giving students the opportunity to extract, manipulate and visualise DNA molecules enhances a constructivist approach to learning about modern techniques in biology and biotechnology Visualisation usually requires agarose gel electrophoresis and staining. In this article, we report on an alternative DNA stain, Nile Blue A, that may be used in the…

Today, many biology instructors use visual models to help students understand abstract concepts like cell division. For all biology instructors, dealing with student misconceptions of cell division may seem hopeless at times--even after using visual models. Although student errors in cell division are built around the three key events of cell…

The "Central Dogma" of genetics states that one gene, located in a DNA molecule, is ultimately translated into one protein. As important as this idea is, many teachers shy away from teaching the actual mechanism of gene translation, and many students find the concepts abstract and inaccessible. This article describes a unit, called Genetics…