Hybrid BB 453, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory Techniques, is designed to introduce upper-level, non-major students Bioengineers) to the practice of biochemistry and molecular biology used to “reveal how life works”. Students in this major are preparing for careers in biomedical industry, academia and health professions. The instructional team plans to collaborate with the bioengineering faculty to identify platform proteins with medical and industrial relevance .
Students will interact in small teams in the blended course to design, carry out, and present their experimental findings. Students will gain practical hands-on training during one four-hour laboratory session each week. The weekly online portion will include demonstration videos, problem sets with assessments, and discussions of research papers. The online experiences will be integrated with the in-lab experiences to promote critical thinking and development of practical skills.
Student teams will present a research poster at a virtual poster fair. Each student will also prepare an individual flash talk. These capstone assessments are designed to help students integrate and communicate concepts learned in the hybrid format.
Nice integration between online and in-lab experiences! Normally, how many students are in a team and how many teams in the class?
In a normal year, we have students work in pairs in the lab. I was planning to have teams of 4 for “gene” groups. This fall social distancing rules are going to make us have to be creative. I am thinking one person in pair attends odd weeks and partner zooms in and then reverse for even weeks.