Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching (ABLE Proceedings)

Title:

An Introductory Biology Lab that uses Enzyme Histochemistry to Teach Students about Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types

Url:

http://www.ableweb.org/volumes/vol-25/mini16_sweeney.pdf

Author:

Peter Brodfuehrer
Lauren Sweeney
Beth Raughley

Author's Address:

Bryn Mawr College, Department of Biology, PA

Email Address:

pbrodfue@brynmawr.edu

Description: One important goal of introductory biology laboratory experiences is to engage students directly in
all steps in the process of scientific discovery. Even when laboratory experiences are built on
principles discussed in the classroom, students often do not adequately apply this background to
interpretation of results they obtain in lab. This disconnect has been described at the level of
medical education, so it should not be surprising that educators have struggled with this same
phenomenon at the undergraduate level. We describe a new introductory biology lab that challenges
students to make these connections. The lab utilizes enzyme histochemistry and morphological
observations to draw conclusions about the composition of functionally different types of muscle
fibers present in skeletal muscle. We report that students were not only successful at making these
observations on a specific skeletal muscle, the gastrocnemius of the frog Rana pipiens, but that they
were able to connect their results to the principles of fiber type differences that exist in skeletal
muscles in all vertebrates.

Keywords:

muscle
histochemistry

Topic:

Animal Physiology

BEN Subject/Discipline Taxonomy:

Physiology
Vertebrate Biology

Learning Resource Type:

Laboratory exercise (DCMI Type Vocabulary)

Context:

Undergraduate lower division 13-14

Format:

pdf