Study Outline

Learning Outcomes

After this activity, students should be able to:
* Describe the components required for DNA replication and their function
* Explain the role of RNA-polymerase in transcription
* Predict how a mutation in components of protein synthesis affect the process
* Describe how replication, transcription, and translation are inter-related

Pre-test

  • 3 multiple choice questions on replication, transcription, translation
  • 1 short answer question on overall synthesis
  • Part of “Mastering Microbiology” pre-test for course

Group Activity

  • Observations during small group
    • How was activity introduced?
    • Group interaction and action during activity
    • Troublesome concepts / terminology
    • How groups dealt with those / how misconceptions were corrected
    • General role of cards in student understanding
  • Student Survey
    • Goal of Activity
    • Confidence in knowledge
    • Misconceptions

Post-test

  • 2 multiple choice questions
    • Transcription and overall synthesis
  • 1 long answer
    • Impact of mutation (uracil production) on different steps of Central Dogma

Total Number of study participants (Pre- and post-test) : 106

Number of study participants in Small Groups: 58

Number of study participants in Lecture Only: 48

Pre-test

Answer Rationale, Misconceptions

Rationale Number Percent Answer
ripple effect 53 46% DNA Replication
impacts future genes 23 20% DNA Replication
rna/protein short-lived 11 10% DNA Replication
no error checking in replication 2 2% DNA Replication
most basic, all cell do it 1 1% DNA Replication
error would stop cell cycle 1 1% DNA Replication
no reason 1 1% DNA Replication
terms confused 5 4% DNA Replication
mutation stops replication 1 1% DNA Replication
meiosis/mitosis 1 1% DNA Replication
error–> bad protein 9 8% Transcription
rna codes for dna 1 1% Transcription
transcipt is permenant 1 1% Transcription
no reason 2 2% Transcription
where proteins are made 6 5% Translation
has no error checking 5 4% Translation
most effect in changing the process and time consuming 1 1% Translation
no reason 1 1% Translation
errors in all three processes equally harmful 1 1% Translation

Group Activity

Observations

  • Comments on Observations
    • Difficult to keep track of everything going on in the classroom, especially in small groups of larger size
    • Future studies: simplify observational form even more
      • Align form better to study question/learning outcome desired
  • Observations Outcomes
    • Students, for the most part, had no confusion as to how to do the activity
    • Some groups did not discuss cards, just layed them out ; some groups did discuss functions of components
    • Confusion : rNTPs (role, diff from dNTPs); different roles of mRNA, rRNA, tRNA; 2 rNTP and 2 mRNA cards.
    • Explanation of processes sparked most student questions

Student Survey

  • 72 Participants
    • 13 Male
    • 58 Female
    • 44 previously taken biochemistry
    • 17 previously taken genetics
  • 21 small group participants
  • 51 lecture-only participants

Main Outcomes

  • Most students in small group felt relatively confident in ability to complete learning objectives before the activity (3.7 - 4.1 on Likert Scale)
  • Majority of small group students thought goal of activity was to:
  1. help understand the flow/interconnectednss in the Central Dogma or
  2. help understand the Central Dogma
  • 8 of 22 students surveyed (36%) said activity showed them misconception they had.
    Specific comments :
    • Activity was helpful because student realized misplacement of enzymes in processes
    • Activity was helpful because it pointed out areas of weakness
    • Activity was not helpful because “Duplications in cards were confusing”
    • Activity was not helpful because it was scattered
  • 18 of 22 students surveyed (~82%) said activity helped clear up misconceptions they had about Central Dogma.
    Specific comments:
    • Details were clarfied (ie. RNA primers)
    • Laying it out visually helped (2-3 students commented this)
    • Activity helped properly catergorize Central Dogma process
  • 17 of 22 students (77%) said manipulating cards helped better understand the Central Dogma.
    Specific comments :
    • Helped understand components / interrelatedness
    • Moving cards / having something tangible helped me remember
    • Helped, but diagrams with arrows would be better
    • Helped, but was hard to follow
    • The more advanced one helped
    • Did not help because was too much to handle/too confusing or cards were not well presented
  • No significant difference between small group and lecture onl students’ current level (at time of survey) of confidence in ability to :
    • Describe components required for DNA replication and their function
    • Explain the role of RNA polymerase in transcription
    • Describe how replication, transcription, and translation in bacterial cells are interrelated
  • Significant difference was seen in students’ confidence in their ability to predict how mutations in components of protein synthesis affect that process
    • Lecture only students had higher mean (3.87 vs 3.31 on a 1 to 5 scale)

Post-test

t-test: Mean of Small group participants vs. mean of Lecture only participants

## 
##  Welch Two Sample t-test
## 
## data:  Study_only$Correct_Q21 by Study_only$Small_group
## t = 0.9114, df = 93.264, p-value = 0.3644
## alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
##  -0.09206141  0.24827027
## sample estimates:
##  mean in group No mean in group Yes 
##         0.8139535         0.7358491

t-test: Mean of Small group Pre-test vs. mean of Small Group Post-test

## 
##  Paired t-test
## 
## data:  Small_group$Correct_PreTest and Small_group$Correct_Q21
## t = 0, df = 52, p-value = 1
## alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
##  -0.1081126  0.1081126
## sample estimates:
## mean of the differences 
##                       0

t-test: Mean of Lecture-only Pre-test vs. mean of Lecture-only Post-test

## 
##  Paired t-test
## 
## data:  Lecture_only$Correct_PreTest and Lecture_only$Correct_Q21
## t = -1.6344, df = 42, p-value = 0.1096
## alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
##  -0.31182242  0.03275265
## sample estimates:
## mean of the differences 
##              -0.1395349

* In pre-test, 64% of students answered this question correctly (unable to split into small group vs lecture).

t-test: Mean of Small group participants vs. mean of Lecture only participants

## 
##  Welch Two Sample t-test
## 
## data:  Study_only$Correct_Q22 by Study_only$Small_group
## t = -0.8822, df = 90.357, p-value = 0.38
## alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
##  -0.2953649  0.1137063
## sample estimates:
##  mean in group No mean in group Yes 
##         0.4186047         0.5094340

t-test: Mean of Small group participants vs. mean of Lecture only participants

## 
##  Welch Two Sample t-test
## 
## data:  Study_only$Total.Points.for.Q.s.48.50 by Study_only$Small_group
## t = 1.5794, df = 93.532, p-value = 0.1176
## alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
##  -0.0546339  0.4793816
## sample estimates:
##  mean in group No mean in group Yes 
##          1.325581          1.113208

Overall Findings

Study Critiques / Improvement for next time

  • Learning objectives testing in our assessment may not have been aligned to outcome of activity
  • Observation methodology needs to be streamlined