Biochemistry 472 was developed by Dr. Zachary Burton and Dr.
Jon Kaguni who have also co-authored a textbook based on the experiments used
in this course. The text is entitled Experiments in Molecular
Biology: Biochemical Applications, and it is published by Academic Press.
The purpose of the course is to give an intensive and rigorous experience to undergraduates
in recombinant DNA laboratory techniques, and to augment the laboratory experience
with related theoretical material. One goal of the course is to prepare gifted
and highly motivated students for graduate study in biochemistry or a related
field. This course is taught by Dr. Laurie Kaguni, Dr. Burton, Dr. William Henry
and Dr. Neil Bowlby in the Fall Semester.
I have been very interested in the process by which people acquire information.
My experience teaching at MSU over the last 12 years has significantly altered
my views on this subject. Initially, I thought that teachers teach and students
learn, but if this is the correct paradigm, the process is somewhat inefficient--and
much more efficient for some students than for others. I have come to the belief
that education is a motivational problem and that the most important variable
in the education equations: I view the educational process as a partnership between teacher and student.
Teachers analyze, organize and present material for students, but in order to
learn the material, the individual student must go through a very similar intellectual
process to that of the teacher in the original preparation of the lesson. Literally,
the student must teach themselves the material. Once I realized that education
is self-inflicted, the process became much more clear to me. (This realization
also taught me much about myself.) This view of teaching and learning explains
why the efficiency calculation is resistant to modifications in teaching methods
but sensitive to student motivation. Swelling or shrinking the denominator by
ten percent is not as important as doubling the numerator (equation 1). This
also indicates the importance of studying. In this paradigm the student bears
greater responsibility for his or her own education. If education is something
we do to ourselves, then teacher and student are in the enterprise together.
In the final analysis, teacher and student may have no one to blame but themselves.
Teachers ask students many questions, and teachers also ask many questions
of themselves. Teachers use skill in asking questions as an initial and powerful
step in problem solving. The value of asking a question is that it clarifies
the problem that you want to solve, it primes your mind to receive the answer,
and asking the question gives you a personal stake in obtaining the answer.
Asking the question, therefore, solves the motivational problem because once
you have asked a question, the problem becomes your problem. As a further display
of the power of interrogation, often simply asking a question is enough to supply
the answer or, alternately, to suggest a simple approach by research or experimentation
to find a desired answer. Developing skill at designing and asking questions
makes people more curious, more analytical, and more highly motivated to do
intellectual work. For these reasons, teaching interrogative skills is an insidious,
seductive and powerful approach to develop problem solving skills.
One problem with our educational system is that we do not receive formal instruction
or encouragement in designing and asking questions. I believe about one third
of our school curriculum from the earliest grades should be devoted to this
necessary life skill. Asking questions is essential for interpersonal relationships,
business, crime detection, interviewing, mathematics, teaching, and science.
Where information is concerned, literally, if you don't ask, you don't get!
In our educational system, very clever people learn to ask questions by teaching
themselves this skill. However, this is a skill that can be developed more generally
and one that can be taught.
So how do you motivate people to teach themselves? For some students motivation
is not a problem. I try to motivate by giving the best encouragement I can to
students. I try to engage their interest by presenting practical information
in a sophisticated manner and by stressing concepts and strategies. I assume
that if people recognize how fascinating the subject of molecular biology is,
this will motivate them to learn (teach themselves) the material in detail.
In BCH 101 students are encouraged to interact with faculty and to ask questions.
The designing of these questions is a major proportion of their grade.
2) (material learned) = (material taught) - (material never learned) - (material
forgot) is the student.
There is no formal teaching of question asking skills in BCH
472. Many leading questions are asked of students. It is hoped that they may
realize the importance of refining and asking questions as a first step in problem
solving.
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