We present here two accessible ways for enhanced understanding of complex biological structures and their function in undergraduate Biology and Biochemistry classrooms. These methods can be applied for in-class instruction as well as for remote lessons, as they are cheap, easily available and easy to implement. LEGO® bricks and MERGE CUBE based…

Eleven different laboratory experiments were designed and executed throughout a semester to provide a meaningful research experience for 23 undergraduate biochemistry majors at UTSA. The topic of the semester was based on the idea of exploring new aspects to enhance our understanding of how the human body uses cytochrome P450 enzymes to metabolize…

Understanding metabolic function requires knowledge of the dynamics, interdependence, and regulation of metabolic networks. However, multiple professional societies have recognized that most undergraduate biochemistry students acquire only a surface-level understanding of metabolism. We hypothesized that guiding students through interactive…

The COVID-19 outbreak has altered chemistry laboratory instruction and forced us to reconsider the balance between face-to-face and online teaching. Our students preferred face-to-face teaching (score 4.1/5 on a Likert-like scale) to virtual laboratory exercises (3.4/5) despite the fact that their performance score was actually lower in…

At the University of South Australia (UniSA), Biochemistry is a second year undergraduate course. The student cohort is diverse, with students enrolled in courses with a laboratory focus, such as Laboratory Medicine, Medical Science, Nutrition and Food Science and Pharmaceutical Science. The course is taught in a traditional manner, with weekly…

Faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at the University of New England (UNE) have recently transformed introductory and advanced chemistry curricula by embedding the high impact practice of undergraduate research. Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have provided experiential learning opportunities for over 272…

Research shows that computer-based simulations and animations are especially helpful in fields such as chemistry where concepts are abstract and cannot be directly observed. Bio-Organic Reaction Animations (BioORA) is a freely available 3D visualization software program developed to help students understand the chemistry of biomolecular events.…