(1915) HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES TO LINK GENE MUTATIONS WITH THREEDIMENSIONAL PROTEIN STRUCTURES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

摘要

Learning of gene mutations are touted as challenging wherein most of the students fail to infer thecoherent mental models of A^ biological entities. In the face of learning difficulties in the arena ofmolecular genetics, three-dimensional (3-D) physical models are widely used as an effective tool inenhancing the conceptual understanding of molecular genetics. At the cognitive level, models prove tobe particularly potent in building and manipulating the mental models of A^ realities throughvisualization and experiences. There were many previous researches which have focused onestablishing the relationship of gene mutations with phenotype, however none has addressed muchon the centrality of proteins' structures and functions through the inclusive use of three-dimensionalphysical models. This study therefore was aimed (1) to develop hands-on activities in linking genemutations with three-dimensional (D) protein structures for high school students and (2) to study theeffectiveness of the developed hands-on activities in enhancing conceptual understanding of genemutations. Hands-on activities named “MACHE” is based on gene mutations (M), Amino acids (A),Characteristics (CH) and Evolution (E). It was developed to help students visualize and experience theeffects of gene mutations in evolution through proteins' structures. It had two main activities viz. (1) Mand (2) ACH activity. The objective of M activity was to introduce type of mutations via playing withcards and the ACH activity to illustrate the alteration of characteristics based on gene mutations andprotein structures. A case from ACH activity was then further used for discussion to link evolution (E)with gene mutations. The developed activity was implemented to 24 grade 11 Bhutanese studentsmajoring in biology or biology cum mathematics through the framework of Biological ScienceCurriculum Studies (BSCS) 5E learning model. Students took pre- and post- mutation conceptual testbefore and after the intervention. Semi-structured interview was conducted after the post-test. Resultshave shown that students' average score on post-test (5.3 out of 10 points) was significantly higherthan pre-test (1.5 out of 10 points). Interview results have also revealed students' conceptual gain asmost of the interviewees have explained their understanding with high degree of accuracy and logicalreasons. Based on the results, it was concluded that “MACHE” had been effective in enhancing thestudents' conceptual understanding of gene mutations. However, students have reflected that Mactivity regarding the introduction of gene mutations through the construction of various DNAsequences was lengthy and tiring. A shorter DNA sequence incorporated with various gene mutationevents would be more appropriate in learning various types of gene mutations.