PROCESSES FOR IDENTIFYING IMPORTANT CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY CONCEPTS AND REPRESENTATIONS AND THEIR QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY COURSES

Biology has become increasingly more interdisciplinary in nature. Therefore, the Association of American Medical Colleges-Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Research Council have called for reform in biology curricula. In particular, the Vision and Change report emphasized the importance of integrating biology with physical sciences such as chemistry and biochemistry in order to help biology majors understand the importance of biochemistry and chemistry to biology. The report also stipulated the need to design assessments that are informed by learning objectives in order to assess if students have attained the targeted conceptual knowledge. Currently, meetings and workshops have, and are still being used to collect curriculum related data regarding the chemistry and biochemistry concepts to include in chemistry or biochemistry courses designed for biology majors. Furthermore, studies have reported that most of the designed assessments still do not address the intended learning objectives. Therefore, the current study was conducted in order to address the following goals: (i) Goal 1, to design and test a simple three-stage process for identifying the chemistry and biochemistry concepts, representations, and ways of reasoning important to biology courses; Goal 2, to investigate the specific acid-base content that the biology instructors consider to be important for their courses and how they expect students to use the acid-base knowledge; and Goal 3, to design a model that instructors could use for the design, evaluation, and validation of assessments. In order to address Goal 1, the following research questions were explored: (i) Which biochemistry and chemistry concepts do the biology instructors at a Midwestern university consider relevant to the courses they teach; (ii) How do these biology instructors expect students to use the identified concepts in the courses they teach; (iii) Which biochemistry and chemistry representations do the biology instructors at a Midwestern university consider relevant to the courses they teach; and (iv) How do these biology instructors expect students to use the identified representations in the courses they teach? Application of the three-stage process yielded 74 concepts which were grouped into 6 consensus themes: properties of water, chemical bonds and biomolecular structure and function; (bio)chemical reactions, enzymes, cellular processes and their regulation; thermodynamics including chemical equilibrium, ATP and membrane transport; acids and bases; solutions, mixtures and analytical techniques; and atomic theory and structure and the gas laws. Types of representations include a range of particulate models, graphs, chemical equations, and mathematical equations. Instructors also expect students to develop skills such as the ability to integrate, transfer and apply knowledge in order to develop sound explanatory frameworks, and the ability to decode representations, interpret and use them to explain and solve biological problems. To address Goal 2, the following research questions were addressed: (i) How is knowledge of concepts and ways of reasoning about acid-base used by instructors in their particular biology courses; and (ii) How are visual representations and ways of reasoning with acid-base representations used by instructors’ in their particular biology courses? The results showed that the instructors wanted the students to have both declarative and procedural knowledge. That is, the biology instructors want their students to not only know the factual knowledge related to the acid-base concepts, instead they also want them to be able to reason with the acid-base knowledge to explain how biological processes work. Regarding Goal 3, the following research questions were addressed: (i) What is an appropriate model for designing and validating assessment tasks; and (iii) Do acid-base assessments designed by an organic chemistry instructor support the validity of this model? The results suggested that using the organic chemistry acid-base assessments to validate the assessment design model was good because it revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment design model. The strengths include the fact that the model helps instructors to qualitatively validate the assessments whereas the weaknesses include the fact that the model cannot help the instructors to design assessments that explicitly reveal the reasoning and visual skills that students lack. In general, although the three-stage process and the assessment design model can be used by instructors at any institution, more studies need to be conducted to more fully establish their usefulness in the field

Insights from training a blind student in biological sciences

Higher education institutions have a constitutional obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities. Although the teaching and learning of students with blindness and low vision in STEM disciplines are well documented abroad, to date, there are no published studies in South Africa on successful teaching and learning strategies for students with blindness and low vision in STEM fields, specifically in science disciplines. Therefore, in this paper, we report on how teaching, learning, and assessment were adapted to make science disciplines accessible to John, a blind student enrolled in a biological sciences degree at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Several factors contributed towards the successful completion of John’s bachelor’s degree. These factors include the availability of tutors who committed a large amount of time to help John understand content presented in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; a well-resourced and effective Disability Unit; lecturers who ensured that John was well accommodated in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; and, finally, John’s commitment and dedication towards learning.Significance: This is the first study to report on successful teaching and learning strategies for a blind student in the natural sciences in the South African context. The study provides a guide that scholars, educators, university managers and policymakers can use to ensure that mathematics and science subjects are accessible to blind students and that teaching strategies allow them to perform to their potential

Microbiology honours students' conceptual development during a beer brewing teaching learning sequence (TLS)

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.Brewing is defined as “the combined processes of preparing beverages from the infusion of sound grains that have undergone sprouting, and the subsequent fermentation of the sugary solution produced, by yeast-whereby a proportion of the carbohydrate is converted to ethanol and carbon-dioxide.” It is a complex process that requires knowledge of concepts from disciplines such as biochemistry, chemistry, engineering, microbiology and physics. The micro-brewery apparatus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is used by the discipline of microbiology as part of a brewing exercise to introduce students to industrial microbiology with the aim of developing their conceptual understanding of the process. So far, though, no research has been conducted in order to fully establish the effectiveness of this exercise in developing such understanding of the brewing process. The aim, therefore, of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a micro-brewing Teaching-Learning Sequence (TLS) that incorporates the micro-brewery, for promoting students‟ understanding of the scientific concepts of relevance to the brewing process. The following research questions were addressed: 1) What concepts are essential for understanding the process of beer brewing? 2) Did those students with sound conceptions develop deeper understanding during the TLS? 3) Did students show any conceptual difficulties with the brewing concepts? 4) Did any remediation of such difficulties occur during the TLS? 5) Did students show retention of (mis)understanding two months after the brewing practical? 6) What were students‟ attitudes and motivational levels like during the brewing practical? 7) How well did students rate their experiences of the whole TLS? 8) How well did students‟ motivational levels and their rating of the TLS correlate with any changes in understanding? The study involved ten microbiology honours students subjected to a TLS which consisted of: i) three brewing lectures aimed at introducing students to the brewing process; ii) pre- & post tests including concept mapping tasks aimed at addressing research questions 2, 3 & 4; iii) a brewing practical aimed at facilitating students‟ development of mental models and conceptual understanding of the brewing process and their motivation and attitude to this exercise (addressing question 6 & 8); iv) a group discussion which involved a group tasting session and the evaluation and discussion of each group‟s final beer product; v) semi-structured interviews to establish the source (s) of students‟ difficulties and their retention of knowledge or difficulties (questions 2, 4, & 5 addressed); and vi) an evaluation questionnaire aimed at obtaining student opinion of the TLS (addressing question 7). The data obtained was analyzed via inductive analysis. The results revealed the following brewing difficulties: i) belief that glycolysis reactions are non-consecutively linked chemical reactions which are independent of one another; ii) confusion that whirl-pooling cools the wort; and iii) belief that the final specific gravity value is a measure of the amount of sugars converted to ethanol. Comparison between the pre- & post test responses indicated that some students‟ (B, D & K) conceptual understanding including integrated knowledge of the brewing process improved during the TLS and their brewing difficulties were remediated. In contrast, other students‟ (A, C, E, G, H, J & I) conceptual understanding did not improve during the TLS and their brewing difficulties were not remediated. There was also a positive correlation between student attitudes and motivation towards the brewing practical and the quality of their learning outcomes. Students (B, D & K) who showed high motivational levels and cognitively and physically took part in the TLS showed improved conceptual understanding of the brewing process and retention of knowledge, while those showing low motivational levels did not improve. Furthermore, there are students (G, H & J) who showed high motivational levels during the TLS but their conceptual understanding of the brewing process did not improve. The results obtained suggest that the TLS, based on the micro-brewery apparatus, was at least partially effective in facilitating the development of students‟ conceptual understanding and visualization of the brewing process and the remediation of some of their difficulties, which in some case correlated well with their motivational levels and attitudes towards the brewing exercise. More research is however required to fully confirm the usefulness of such TLSs in brewing education

#FEESMUSTFALL: Science Teaching during Student Unrest

Student protests are a regular feature of the tertiary landscape. However, there are claims that disruptions and potential threats to the academic project at traditional universities can be partially mitigated by online teaching and learning. This paper reports on insights gained when the mode of instruction was changed at short notice from contact to online teaching during student unrests at a South African university in 2016. A phenomenographic approach was used to generate a meta-reflection on experiences as reported by lecturers from 13 science departments during a pecha kucha1 event (very short PowerPoint presentations) at the beginning of 2017. Video data was analysed inductively to generate six themes/categories, encapsulating aspects of the challenges experienced by the participants, the insights they had and the actions they took to address these challenges. This paper attempts to demonstrate the approaches taken by lecturers and how they incorporated the blended learning environment to support their students to complete the academic year, despite difficult circumstances. It offers useful pointers to affordances and weaknesses of the virtual learning environment when implemented at short notice to replace contact teaching

Lecturer resilience during student unrest : a South African case study

Over the past few years, local and international universities have seen considerable student unrest in response to unaffordable tuition fees and inequality and even pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, resilience becomes evident in the way people behave in adverse situations. Especially for developing lecturers, resilience may help to respond appropriately to adverse situations, regardless of where the pressures originated from. Therefore, this study investigated the role resilience played in the teaching behaviours and approaches displayed by lecturers during student unrest. Semistructured interviews and the Brief Resilience Scale were applied to generate data from 16 participants. Findings reveal that most lecturers displayed moderate to high levels of resilience and study results strongly relate to the multi-dimensional teacher resilience framework selected for exploring the topic. What emerged, was the lecturers’ determination to teach, as well as their personal agency and collaboration, all contributing to an ability to successfully fulfil their responsibilities. The findings of this study may add value to how university management structures could assist lecturers during times of adversityhttp://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/newgenam2022Chemistr

#FEESMUSTFALL : science teaching during student unrest

Student protests are a regular feature of the tertiary landscape. However, the disruptions and potential threat to the academic project at traditional universities can be partially mitigated by online teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to report on insights gained when the mode of instruction was changed at short notice from contact to online during student unrest at a South African university in 2016. A phenomenographic approach was used to generate a meta-reflection on experiences as reported by lecturers from 13 science departments during a pecha kucha event (very short PowerPoint presentations) at the beginning of 2017. Video data was analysed inductively to generate six themes/categories. The six themes/categories that emerged from the data encapsulated aspects of the challenges experienced by the participants, the insights they had and the actions they took to address these challenges. This paper exemplifies the resilience of lecturers and how they embraced the blended learning environment to support their students to complete the academic year, despite difficult circumstances. It offers useful pointers to affordances and weaknesses of the virtual learning environment when implemented at short notice to replace contact teaching.http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Homepage.aspxam2019Education Innovatio

Insights from training a blind student in biological sciences

Higher education institutions have a constitutional obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities. Although the teaching and learning of students with blindness and low vision in STEM disciplines are well documented abroad, to date, there are no published studies in South Africa on successful teaching and learning strategies for students with blindness and low vision in STEM fields, specifically in science disciplines. Therefore, in this paper, we report on how teaching, learning, and assessment were adapted to make science disciplines accessible to John, a blind student enrolled in a biological sciences degree at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Several factors contributed towards the successful completion of John’s bachelor’s degree. These factors include the availability of tutors who committed a large amount of time to help John understand content presented in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; a well-resourced and effective Disability Unit; lecturers who ensured that John was well accommodated in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; and, finally, John’s commitment and dedication towards learning.Significance: This is the first study to report on successful teaching and learning strategies for a blind student in the natural sciences in the South African context. The study provides a guide that scholars, educators, university managers and policymakers can use to ensure that mathematics and science subjects are accessible to blind students and that teaching strategies allow them to perform to their potential

Insights from training a blind student in biological sciences

Higher education institutions have a constitutional obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities. Although the teaching and learning of students with blindness and low vision in STEM disciplines are well documented abroad, to date, there are no published studies in South Africa on successful teaching and learning strategies for students with blindness and low vision in STEM fields, specifically in science disciplines. Therefore, in this paper, we report on how teaching, learning, and assessment were adapted to make science disciplines accessible to John, a blind student enrolled in a biological sciences degree at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Several factors contributed towards the successful completion of John’s bachelor’s degree. These factors include the availability of tutors who committed a large amount of time to help John understand content presented in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; a well-resourced and effective Disability Unit; lecturers who ensured that John was well accommodated in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; and, finally, John’s commitment and dedication towards learning.Significance: This is the first study to report on successful teaching and learning strategies for a blind student in the natural sciences in the South African context. The study provides a guide that scholars, educators, university managers and policymakers can use to ensure that mathematics and science subjects are accessible to blind students and that teaching strategies allow them to perform to their potential

Insights from training a blind student in biological sciences

Higher education institutions have a constitutional obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities. Although the teaching and learning of students with blindness and low vision in STEM disciplines are well documented abroad, to date, there are no published studies in South Africa on successful teaching and learning strategies for students with blindness and low vision in STEM fields, specifically in science disciplines. Therefore, in this paper, we report on how teaching, learning, and assessment were adapted to make science disciplines accessible to John, a blind student enrolled in a biological sciences degree at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Several factors contributed towards the successful completion of John's bachelor's degree. These factors include the availability of tutors who committed a large amount of time to help John understand content presented in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; a well-resourced and effective Disability Unit; lecturers who ensured that John was well accommodated in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; and, finally, John's commitment and dedication towards learning. SIGNIFICANCE: • This is the first study to report on successful teaching and learning strategies for a blind student in the natural sciences in the South African context. • The study provides a guide that scholars, educators, university managers and policymakers can use to ensure that mathematics and science subjects are accessible to blind students and that teaching strategies allow them to perform to their potential.South African Department of Higher Education and Traininghttp://www.sajs.co.zahj2021Chemistr

Blended learning in a second year organic chemistry class : students' perceptions and preferences of the learning support

Although the implementation of blended learning in organic chemistry is rapidly growing, thus far, there are few studies published on the evaluation of supplemental types of blend in organic chemistry. This report covers a phenomenographic study that was designed to evaluate a supplemental type of blended learning approach implemented in a second-year organic chemistry course in a South African context. It offers a unique contribution in terms of catering to the needs of a diverse student body. Three open-ended questionnaires were used to probe: (1) students’ perceptions of the learning support; (2) students’ preferences for different types of learning support offered; and (3) students’ suggestions for improvement. Semi-structured individual interviews were used to obtain clarity on some of the responses from the questionnaires. Analysis of students’ responses revealed that the face-to-face component was highly valued as it gave the students the opportunity to ask questions and obtain answers in real time; the online component, especially Learnsmart, was found helpful for its flexibility and providing limitless opportunities to practice or revisit concepts. The discussion board was the least valued due to the overwhelming number of postings, and the students felt they were forced to participate in order to get marks. The students experienced the course as too fast-paced possibly reflecting cognitive overload, a potential weakness of the supplemental blend. The findings will be useful in many other contexts where the student body is diverse in terms of language proficiency and the level of preparation for the demands of organic chemistry as a discipline.The National Research Foundation of South Africahttp://www.rsc.org/journals-books-databases/about-journals/chemistry-education-research-practice2020-06-24hj2020Chemistr