Building our future, a collaborative, participatory and motivating experience for undergraduates in chemistry

One of the aspects that best captures the interest of students, and the most neglected, is the possibility of offering the practical application of what is learned, favoring experiences that make this possible. Promoting interrelation and involvement with reality is one of the most motivating elements. For all these reasons, we present the action developed in which we are committed to participatory techniques, more specifically, to the development of projects related to the professional interests of the first-year students of the Degree in Chemistry. According to the surveys we carried out with our students, the main orientations were Research, Teaching and Bio-Entrepreneurship. The specific teaching objectives were: i) to strengthen the group, integrate, disinhibit, encourage; ii) to stimulate the exchange of experiences, ideas and opinions; iii) to develop divergent and creative thinking; iv) to quickly promote student participation, capturing their interest and involving them in the teaching/learning process; and v) to promote the learning of diverse knowledge and its collective construction, among others. The experience was carried out by all the students of the Biology subject, who were distributed in work teams of 4-6 students. The groups chose a topic from among the orientations requested by the students: i) Research (Support Centres); ii) Teaching (Institute of Education Sciences); iii) Bio-Entrepreneurship (Office for the Transfer of Research Results); iv) Forensic Science Police. The dynamic of the action is based on three main phases: - Initial session. In this session, objectives, methodology and evaluation criteria were clarified. The instructors involved provided the working groups with the corresponding contact. At this point, the enquiry of the group members began. - Development sessions. Throughout several meetings with the instructors, the members of the teams had to undertake the following objectives: i) search for information from the contact provided (description of the services studied, equipment, function and applications); ii) interview with experts; iii) contextualization according to their professional interests; iv) organization of the information and preparation of communications (posters). All this was supervised by the instructors involved. They were also presented with the "digital" portfolio that they had to prepare during the course of the action. - Final session. The students presented their work in a public event at the Building our Future Conference. Assessment for learning was carried out, taking into account the influence of this one on the motivation and self-esteem of the student; and the assessment of competences, having as indicators communication skills, teamwork and responsibility, among others. The development of a "digital" portfolio per team was used: i) to improve reflection on learning, ii) to stimulate student motivation, iii) to incorporate students in the evaluation and focus it on performance, and iv) to bring the learning achieved closer to the professional tasks of the discipline. We .can conclude that the action implemented had an impact on teaching practice to the extent that what was "investigated" was motivated by the reality of professional practice, putting into context all the subjects being reviewed in the Degree and contributing to the improvement of the quality of face-to-face teaching.Universidad de Alcal

Integra BioFis 5.0. A collaborative, participatory and interdisciplinary experience for undergraduates in nursing

The pandemic has forced us to reinvent ourselves and to consider new strategies in education. Motivation, fundamental to student performance, has been seriously compromised. In this sense, the type of motivation we are interested in "fostering" is intrinsic motivation, closely linked to the concept of learning-centered goals and objectives. The action implemented is committed to the approach to challenge-based learning-gamification in the Degree in Nursing (UAH), in order to develop an integrative training with an interdisciplinary focus. Biochemistry and Physiology came together in Integra BioFis 5.0 and through participatory and collaborative techniques we pursued meaningful learning. All the students of the Biochemistry and Physiology subjects (n = 120) took part in the learning experience, organized in 12 teams. The action was carried out online through the virtual platform: - An initial session, in which the objectives, methodology, timetable and evaluation criteria were clarified. Topics that aroused the students? interest were randomly assigned (https://bit.ly/3tfJaCi). The assigned tutors guided the students in overcoming the challenges of each stage. - The development of the action consisted of a series of phases: i) documentation and literature search; ii) integration of objectives and choice of presentation format; iii) elaboration of the graphical document; iv) peer review of presentations and voting for the best contribution. The students' papers, as well as the rubrics with comments and suggestions from each of the instructors, were returned to the teams immediately. - A final session, in which they reflected on the activity they had carried out, highlighting the positive aspects of the training for the development of competences and skills: i) search for information from quality sources; ii) synthesis of contents; iii) work as a team; iv) elaboration of an original and own work. Voting was then shown for the papers presented, revealing the names of the three teams with the most votes, finalists and winners. Learning assessment was conducted by taking into account the influence of learning on motivation and the student's self-esteem and competences, with indicators such as progress, content, sources, graphical document production, teamwork and responsibility, among others. As an important element that makes gamification work, a reward for participation (awarding of a participation diploma) and for the best Integra BioFis 5.0 graphic document presented (awarding of diplomas and prizes-gifts to the members of the winning team) was considered as an important element that makes gamification work. From this educational strategy, it can be concluded that gamification is a constructive experience, taking advantage of all the benefits of implementing the overcoming of challenges in the educational environment. This has had an impact on teaching practice, to the extent that what has been "reflected" and "worked" in Integra BioFis 5.0 has contributed to improving the quality of virtual teaching, "fostering" intrinsic motivation in students.Universidad de Alcal

Designing a biochemical escape room for undergraduate students

Gamification is increasingly used in Higher Education to foster intrinsic motivation of undergraduate students. In this sense, we designed the Biochemical Escape Room. The students, organized in teams and through the overcoming of challenges, tackled the contents reviewed in the face-to-face classes. In addition, the tests helped in the training of different soft skills such as creative thinking, deductive thinking, collaborative work, teamwork, manual dexterity, communication and time management. The activity was designed in several phases: i) setting the learning objectives; ii) adapting the physical spaces to the teams involved in the "game"; iii) acquiring the material; iv) preparing, placing the tests and the clues and general rehearsal before D-day; and v) D-day. The results obtained after the design of the Biochemical Escape Room and its implementation show that one of the objectives of the activity had been achieved: it provided an "injection" of motivation for teachers and students. And although there are certain aspects that need to be improved, designing the escape room for the biochemistry laboratories has meant a significant change both for the instructors, in the way we teach, and for the students, in the manner they learn.Universidad de Alcalá. Vicerrectorado de Innovación Docente y Transformación Digita

Induction of more aggressive tumoral phenotypes in LNCaP and PC3 cells by serum exosomes from prostate cancer patients

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequent and sixth most fatal cancer in men worldwide. Despite its high prevalence, our understanding of its etiology and the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of the disease is substantially limited. In recent years, the potential participation of exosomes in this process has been suggested. Therefore, we aim to study the effect of exosomes isolated from the serum of patients with PCa on various cellular processes associated with increased tumor aggressiveness in two PCa cell lines: LNCaP-FGC and PC3. The exosomes were isolated by filtration wand ultracentrifugation. Their presence was confirmed by immunodetection of specific markers and their size distribution was analyzed by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The results obtained demonstrated that serum exosomes from PCa patients increased migration of PC3 cells and neuroendocrine differentiation of LNCaP-FGC cells regardless of the grade of the tumor. PCa serum exosomes also enhanced the secretion of enzymes related to invasiveness and resistance to chemotherapeutics, such as extracellular matrix metalloproteases 2 and 9, and gamma-glutamyltransferase in both cell lines. Altogether, these findings support the pivotal participation of exosomes released by tumoral cells in the progression of PCa. Future studies on the molecular mechanisms involved in the observed changes could provide crucial information on this disease and help in the discovery of new therapeutic targets.Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) P118/00526, co-funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), A way to make Europe to AM

Nursing Escape Room UAH: motivation to learn in the biochemistry laboratory

In recent years, Escape Room-type games have gained popularity as a way to motivate students to become more actively involved in their learning. The overall objective of the proposed activity is to promote students' intrinsic motivation and, in turn, meaningful learning. For this purpose, we implemented the game in our laboratories. The first year students of the degree in Nursing participated in the Nursing Escape Room UAH. We chose a situation reviewed in the theoretical-practical contents of the Biochemistry subject they were studying. Our aim was to achieve significant learning through overcoming challenges and collaborative work. After the implementation of the activity, we assessed it. The participating students felt that the activity: i) had helped them to learn and understand the subject; ii) had been a fun and different experience when it came to understanding the content; iii) had been a motivating experience; and iv) they liked the fact that it was carried out in a team. In addition, these students obtained a higher average score and pass rate on the learning assessment test than those who had not participated in the game. The instructors involved also highlighted that the activity was a motivating and different way of learning and recommended its continuation. Altogether, we can conclude that the Nursing Escape Room UAH game has been a motivating experience in the Biochemistry laboratory for both students and instructors. We anticipate that the activity may improve the quality of the teaching-learning process.Universidad de Alcalá. Vicerrectorado de Innovación Docente y Transformación Digita