Integrating Lecture, Laboratory, and Literature using Case Studies

1. Integrating Lecture, Laboratory, and Literature using Case Studies Ann T.S. Taylor Chemistry Department Wabash College Crawfordsville, IN 47933

2. What are your non-content course goals?

3. The Context: Che 361 • Required course for Chemistry majors • Most Chem minors also take the course • Organic II prerequisite • Typical enrollment: 24-30 students, 8-12 per lab section • Three 50 minute class periods and one three hour lab per week

4. Che 361: Biochemistry non-content goals • Cooperative learning strategies • Transferrence and connections • Application, not only memorization • Cultivate intellectual curiosity • Requires critical thinking skills • Oral and written communication skills • Use bioinformatic and modeling tools

5. Common features my cases • A short real-life story • Reading review and primary literature articles • Short in-class small group activities which connect the case and lecture • Laboratory activities that directly relate to the case • Computational activity

6. The Case of the Tainted Tacos A Case Study on Genetically Modified Foods which integrates laboratory, lecture, and literature

7. Unit goals Students should be able to: • Explain transcription and translation • Design PCR probes for a sequence of interest • Understand how transgenic organisms are made • Reinforce principles of enzymology, protein structure, and membrane transport • Resolve conflicting data sets • Understand the broader ethical implications of using GM foods

8. The Case of the Tainted Tacos The Setup Story

9. Questions generated by story • How are GM foods made? • How do GM foods “work”? • Are GM foods safe for the environment? • Could weeds become resistant to herbicides? • Are GM foods safe for humans? • Do farmers really benefit from using GM products? • Should I eat GM foods? Do I already eat GM foods?

10. Case teaching strategies • Common study areas • Specialization • Jigsawing

11. Questions all groups study • What are the most common genetic modifications of foods • How genetic modifications are made • How genetic modifications can be detected, and how these methods work • Design the primers that are used in the lab

12. Specialist groups Farmers • Study the economic impact of GM foods and how RoundUp Ready products work Entomologists • Study the mechanism of Bt products and their impact upon other insects Immunologists • Look at methods to predict allergenicity

13. Linking Literature • Guided reading questions • Small group problems • Literature searches

14. Example: Farmers Read three papers, then answer questions such as: • Why do farmers use genetically modified plants? • When do farmers benefit economically from using GM crops? • Why does RoundUp (glyphosate) affect plants but not animals? • How does glyphosate affect EPSPS, both structurally and kinetically? • Describe in detail how weeds that are resistant to RoundUp differ from wildtype (normal) plants.

15. Goals: Better pest management Increase yield Reduce pesticide use More flexibility Disadvantages: Only profitable when infestation cost is greater than tech cost Unknown effect on soil ecology Development of “superweeds” Economic impact of GM crops

16. How does RoundUp work?

17. Integrating technology • Presentations • Research techniques with guided directions • Tools and tutorials from the internet

18. RoundUp Resistance modeling

19. Entomologist modeling

20. Computational analysis of Cry9 for allergenicity • Does it have homology to known allergens? • BLAST search of allergen database • STGSST (422-428) is identical to a sequence in aAspergillus fumigatus allergen • Is the homology in a hydrophilic region? • No—from a computational tool discussed in one of the papers

21. Linking lab Do an experiment related to the issue! • Sources: • Adapt an existing lab • Adapt a “real world” technique • Adapt an experiment from one of the papers • Adapt a published teaching lab (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, Journal of College Science Teaching, Journal of Chemical Education) • Work on the case during lecture and lab

22. Typical lab results 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2000 1000 500 300 200 • Lane 1, Arrowhead Mills corn meal; lane 2, Kroger corn meal; lane 3, Quaker white corn meal; lane 4, Cotton Pickin’ corn muffin mix; lane 5, Jiffy corn muffin mix; lane 6,Gold Medal corn muffin mix; lane 7, Aunt Jemima corn bread mix; lane 8, Martha White corn muffin mix; lane 9, non-transgenic corn seed; lane 10, Pioneer YieldGard corn seed.

23. Break down of events

24. Other examples • Olestra case • http://www.providence.edu/chm/kcornely/Casebook.htm • extract & digest lipids from potato chips • Drug discovery • HIV protease kinetic analysis • structure exploration • Drug discovery lab (BAMBED(2005) 33: 16 – 21)

25. References • Case study: • Advanced version: http://www.sciencecases.org/gmo/gmo_adv.asp • GOB version: http://www.sciencecases.org/gmo/gmo_gen.asp • Also published in JCST (2005) 34(2): • Lab experiments: • Taylor, J Chem Ed (2005) 82 (4): 597-598. • Brinegar & Levee BAMBED (2004) 32: 35-38. • http://www.greenomes.org/

26. Case study collections • https://chico.nss.udel.edu/Pbl/ (requires password) • http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/pbls/writing/ • http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/ubcase.htm • K. Cornely, Cases in Biochemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999; also at http://www.providence.edu/chm/kcornely/Casebook.htm