A foundational knowledge of the relationship between structure and function is critical to understanding how enzymes work. The seemingly invisible nature of these molecular interactions makes it challenging for undergraduate students to conceptualize the dynamic changes that occur during a catalytic cycle. In this Lesson, we describe an interactive, collaborative modeling activity that we use in introductory biology courses to teach students how enzymes catalyze chemical reactions. First, the students imagine a fictitious enzyme and its associated reaction, and use modeling compound to demonstrate the progression of the reaction while focusing on the three-dimensional shape of active site and substrate in facilitating this catalysis. Second, they then select one of four types of enzymatic regulation (competitive inhibition, allosteric inhibition, allosteric activation, or feedback inhibitions) to incorporate into their model. They then demonstrate these reactions to groups of peers. This student-centered approach uses active learning and peer instruction to provide students with prompt feedback to strengthen their understanding of the inter-relatedness of structure and function. This modeling activity concludes with student reflection and discussion, and student learning is assessed with exam questions.

Teaching scientific literacy skills can help combat the propagation of misinformation online. This lesson is intended to give students practice identifying reliable scientific information on the Internet, in the context of vaccine safety. It was designed for a first-year seminar taught fully through remote instruction but can be adapted for any in-person or blended course. It can also be easily modified to use for other biologically-relevant topics and is especially well suited for controversial topics. This lesson consists of three activities. First, students review an article about identifying reliable Internet resources and search online for vaccine safety information. Then, students meet in small groups to review and rank the resources that each of them found from most to least reliable, referencing the criteria laid out by the CRAAP test (Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority, Purpose). After ranking each resource, students reflect on how their thinking about online resources has changed during the activity and how they will evaluate scientific information online in the future. Finally, students use the reliable resources that they and their classmates compiled during the activity as references to write about how the biology of vaccines relates to the five Core Concepts. Following this lesson, 100% of student groups were able to correctly identify at least one reliable and unreliable online resource and 95% of groups were able to articulate particular qualities of resources that helped them establish their reliability. Further, 100% of groups could articulate how their thinking had changed throughout this activity.

Primary Image: A drawing of vaccines and a vial, used with permission from Pixabay. 

As the basic unit of life, cells are a foundational concept for all of biology. Before students can appreciate how eukaryotic cells function either in isolation or in higher order and multicellular organisms, they must first have a basic understanding of the organelles that make up these cells. The primary objective of this lesson is to provide a fun and engaging way for students to learn the function and arrangement of eukaryotic organelles. This lesson uses familiar and easy to learn games, such as Pictionary® and Bingo, to help students enrolled in introductory, non-majors biology courses better recognize cellular organelles and understand their functions.