Recent calls in education have emphasized the critical need for
curricula in the sciences to support student development of the general and
disciplinary-specific practices that are relevant to modern scientific research
and careers, as well as foundational scientific knowledge that reflects recent
advances. In this regard, the life sciences, including biochemistry, have been
under pressure to develop curricula that reflect current research knowledge and
practices, and that develop student competence in areas such as experimentation
and visualization. In contrast to these calls, biochemistry textbooks, and
instruction based on them, seldom discuss how disciplinary knowledge is
combined with experimental work or other disciplinary resources to investigate
and communicate about biochemical phenomena. This is of great concern given
that graduates entering life science careers must be able to reason with relevant
disciplinary knowledge, utilize experimental research methods, and navigate
data representations in order to solve research problems. It is therefore
crucial for biochemistry instruction to expose students to the ways in which
expert scientists navigate and reason with disciplinary resources in cutting-edge
scientific research on topics such as protein folding and dynamics, the focus
of this project. Thus, this dissertation aims to fill a gap in our
understanding of how expert research scientists explain protein-folding and
dynamics research, and how that research knowledge can be used to inform the development of instructional
materials in this crucially important area of biochemistry. To address this
goal, we explore three overarching research questions: How can we model experts’ explanations of their research related to
protein folding and dynamics? (RQ1); How do experts use representations to
explain their protein-folding and dynamics research? (RQ2); and How can we use
expert research to inform the design and implementation of instructional
materials aimed at developing biochemistry students’ understanding of protein-folding
and dynamics? (RQ3). To address these research questions, we first collected and analyzed
interview data from four experts to explore the nature of their research
explanations. This data was used to develop a model (i.e. the MAtCH model) of
how experts integrate theoretical knowledge with their research context, methods,
and analogies when explaining how phenomena operate (RQ1). In doing so, we also
established how the experts use and combine explanatory models depending on the
phenomena discussed and their explanatory aims, as well as how they explain
thermodynamic and kinetic concepts relevant to protein folding in ways that
align with their experimental research methods. We then examined selected representations
from the expert interviews to explore how experts use language and representations
to create meaning when explaining their research (RQ2). In comparing these to
representations from biochemistry textbooks, analysis of the data indicated
that textbooks generally explain ‘what is known’ but seldom explain ‘how it is
known,’ whereas the experts use a combination of language, multiple
representations, and gestures to explain how experimental research methods can
provide evidence for phenomena. From this analysis, suggestions were made
regarding the design of instructional materials to support discussion of experimental
research methods and student interpretation of representations in classroom
activities. In the final study, these suggestions were used in combination with
additional analysis of expert research to inform the development anticipated
learning outcomes (ALOs) and the design of instructional materials aimed at
developing biochemistry students’ understanding of protein folding and dynamics
(RQ3). The materials focus on the use of hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass
spectrometry (HDX-MS) to study changes in protein structure due to denaturation
and interactions with other molecules. The instructional materials were piloted
in an undergraduate biochemistry course for the health sciences, and the nature
of students’ understandings were explored. Our
findings suggest that research practice – including research context,
experimental methods, and representations – influences reasoning and
explanation, providing additional evidence of the importance of developing
discursive literacy in science students. To that end, a major implication of
this work is that student knowledge of experimentation and representation may
be a critical component of developing functional scientific understanding. Each
of the studies contained in this dissertation therefore suggests ways in which
practitioners may use our findings to modify instruction and instructional
materials so that they are more aligned with expert practices. In order to
teach students how scientific research underpins factual knowledge in biochemistry,
future research should continue to explore experts’ use of disciplinary
resources and ways of thinking in order to inform teaching and learning
strategies and materials that can support the development of students’
disciplinary literacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/7805984 |
| Date | 15 May 2019 |
| Creators | Kathleen Jeffery (6391091) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Expert_Explanations_of_Protein-Folding_and_Dynamics_Research_Implications_for_Biochemistry_Instruction/7805984 |
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