In theory, students will have a better understanding of concepts when there is an overall theme linking them. Over 12 weeks, students participated in a fictitious research team that studied melanin, a pigment found in the skin of most eukaryotic species as well as various prokaryotic species. Students studied the production of, the influence of, and the absence of melanin all while linking it to basic biology concepts such as gel electrophoresis, recombinant DNA, bacterial transformation, evolution, natural selection, animal diversity, immunology, mammalian anatomy, and ecology. Students went from the building blocks of DNA that are involved in the expression of the TYR gene through natural selection all the way up to its ecological impact. Each week, two student research teams (Alpha and Beta) gathered information and sent back conclusion letters to the fictitious offshore research lab. Students were also asked to complete micro-credentials, or training sessions, to earn badges to be allowed to access the lab exercise assigned for that day. This pilot study was designed for both in-person and virtual learning but could be adapted to fully online or fully in-person if needed.
Keywords: protein synthesis, student engagement, digital badging, melanin, themes, albinism
ViABLE (2021)
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