L. Kate Wright
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View article: Misshaped chromosomes, mismatched chromatids, and missized genes: easy edits may help mitigate misconceptions commonly represented in published scientific figures
Misshaped chromosomes, mismatched chromatids, and missized genes: easy edits may help mitigate misconceptions commonly represented in published scientific figures Open
Scientific publications, textbooks, and online educational resources rely on illustrated figures to communicate about molecular structures like genes and chromosomes. Published figures have the potential to shape how learners think about t…
View article: Biology exams rarely use visual models to engage higher-order cognitive skills
Biology exams rarely use visual models to engage higher-order cognitive skills Open
Visual models are a necessary part of molecular biology education because submicroscopic compounds and processes cannot be directly observed. Accurately interpreting the biological information conveyed by the shapes and symbols in these vi…
View article: Sketchy understandings: drawings reveal where students may need additional support to understand scale and abstraction in common representations of DNA
Sketchy understandings: drawings reveal where students may need additional support to understand scale and abstraction in common representations of DNA Open
Visual representations in molecular biology tend to follow a set of shared conventions for using certain shapes and symbols to convey information about the size and structure of nucleotides, genes, and chromosomes. Understanding how and wh…
View article: Visual representations of energy and chemical bonding in biology and chemistry textbooks: A case study of <scp>ATP</scp> hydrolysis
Visual representations of energy and chemical bonding in biology and chemistry textbooks: A case study of <span>ATP</span> hydrolysis Open
Energy is a crosscutting concept in science, but college students often perceive a mismatch between how their biology and chemistry courses discuss the topic. The challenge of reconciling these disciplinary differences can promote faulty r…
View article: Sketchy understandings: Drawings reveal where students may need additional support to understand scale and abstraction in common representations of DNA
Sketchy understandings: Drawings reveal where students may need additional support to understand scale and abstraction in common representations of DNA Open
Visual representations in molecular biology tend to follow a set of shared conventions for using certain shapes and symbols to convey information about the size and structure of nucleotides, genes, and chromosomes. Understanding how and wh…
View article: Showing the Bonds—A Subtle but Important Difference in Figure Design that May Alleviate Student Confusion about ATP Hydrolysis
Showing the Bonds—A Subtle but Important Difference in Figure Design that May Alleviate Student Confusion about ATP Hydrolysis Open
A misconception among biology students is that breaking bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) releases energy. This misconception may be related to imprecise representations of chemical bonding in common diagrams of ATP hydrolysis. We inte…
View article: Biology exams rarely use visual models to engage higher-order cognitive skills
Biology exams rarely use visual models to engage higher-order cognitive skills Open
Visual models are a necessary part of molecular biology education because submicroscopic compounds and processes cannot be directly observed. Accurately interpreting the biological information conveyed by the shapes and symbols in these vi…
View article: Probing visual literacy skills reveals unexpected student conceptions of chromosomes
Probing visual literacy skills reveals unexpected student conceptions of chromosomes Open
Molecular biology can be challenging for undergraduate students because it requires visual literacy skills to interpret abstract representations of submicroscopic concepts, structures and processes. The Conceptual-Reasoning-Mode framework …
View article: Student-Generated Analogies for Learning about Information Flow
Student-Generated Analogies for Learning about Information Flow Open
Using analogies is a standard practice for both teaching and communicating ideas in science. Here we upend the traditional lesson, where the instructor provides a fully constructed analogy and explains it, by having the students develop a …
View article: Visual Literacy of Molecular Biology Revealed through a Card-Sorting Task
Visual Literacy of Molecular Biology Revealed through a Card-Sorting Task Open
Visual literacy, which is the ability to effectively identify, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media, is an important aspect of science literacy. As molecular processes are not directly observable, researchers and ed…
View article: The DNA Landscape: Development and Application of a New Framework for Visual Communication about DNA
The DNA Landscape: Development and Application of a New Framework for Visual Communication about DNA Open
The DNA Landscape provides a research and learning tool that describes figures of DNA in two dimensions: scale and abstractness. Undergraduate biology textbooks tend to focus on particular parts of the landscape, but overuse of certain typ…
View article: Teaching meiosis with the <scp>DNA</scp> triangle framework: A classroom activity that changes how students think about chromosomes
Teaching meiosis with the <span>DNA</span> triangle framework: A classroom activity that changes how students think about chromosomes Open
Many biology students struggle to learn about the process of meiosis and have particular difficulty understanding the molecular basis of crossing over and the importance of homologous pairing for proper segregation. To help students overco…
View article: Punnett Squares or Protein Production? The Expert–Novice Divide for Conceptions of Genes and Gene Expression
Punnett Squares or Protein Production? The Expert–Novice Divide for Conceptions of Genes and Gene Expression Open
Through the lens of model-based reasoning, this work explores and uncovers important differences in how experts and novices conceptualize and reason about genes and gene expression. Findings from this work will help inform future research …
View article: Interactive Video Vignettes (IVVs) to Help Students Learn Genetics Concepts
Interactive Video Vignettes (IVVs) to Help Students Learn Genetics Concepts Open
Many video resources exist to teach Mendelian genetics, but most consist of passive delivery of information rather than active construction of knowledge by users. We have created two interactive video vignettes (IVVs) that can be used toge…
View article: An Online Interactive Video Vignette that Helps Students Learn Key Concepts of Fermentation and Respiration
An Online Interactive Video Vignette that Helps Students Learn Key Concepts of Fermentation and Respiration Open
Topics related to energy transformation and metabolism are important parts of an undergraduate biology curriculum, but these are also topics that students traditionally struggle with. To address this, we have created a short online Interac…
View article: A Close-Up Look at PCR
A Close-Up Look at PCR Open
The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a fundamental laboratory technique that allows for the amplification of many copies of a desired DNA target sequence. Despite its prevalence, undergraduate students often have poor comprehension about…
View article: Physical models can provide superior learning opportunities beyond the benefits of active engagements
Physical models can provide superior learning opportunities beyond the benefits of active engagements Open
The essence of molecular biology education lies in understanding of gene expression, with subtopics including the central dogma processes, such as transcription and translation. While these concepts are core to the discipline, they are als…
View article: Arrows in Biology: Lack of Clarity and Consistency Points to Confusion for Learners
Arrows in Biology: Lack of Clarity and Consistency Points to Confusion for Learners Open
In this article, we begin to unpack the phenomenon of representational competence by exploring how arrow symbols are used in introductory biology textbook figures. Out of 1214 figures in an introductory biology textbook, 632 (52%) of them …
View article: The DNA Triangle and Its Application to Learning Meiosis
The DNA Triangle and Its Application to Learning Meiosis Open
Although instruction on meiosis is repeated many times during the undergraduate curriculum, many students show poor comprehension even as upper-level biology majors. We propose that the difficulty lies in the complexity of understanding DN…
View article: Meiosis: A Play in Three Acts, Starring DNA Sequence
Meiosis: A Play in Three Acts, Starring DNA Sequence Open
Meiosis is well known for being a sticky topic that appears repeatedly in biology curricula. We observe that a typical undergraduate biology major cannot correctly identify haploid and diploid cells or explain how and why chromosomes pair …
View article: Development of the Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) Assessment Tool
Development of the Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) Assessment Tool Open
Scientific teaching requires scientifically constructed, field-tested instruments to accurately evaluate student thinking and gauge teacher effectiveness. We have developed a 23-question, multiple select–format assessment of student unders…
View article: Building a Model of Tumorigenesis: A small group activity for a cancer biology/cell biology course
Building a Model of Tumorigenesis: A small group activity for a cancer biology/cell biology course Open
The multistep nature of tumorigenesis is a foundational concept in the context of Cancer Biology. Many students do not appreciate the complex nature of cancer development nor do they understand how scientists are able to unravel the molecu…