Student difficulties during structure–function problem solving

Protein structure–function is a key concept in biochemistry. We used the perspective of domain‐specific problem‐solving to investigate students’ solutions to a well‐defined protein structure–function problem. We conducted think‐aloud interviews with 13 undergraduate students and performed qualitativ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biochemistry and molecular biology education Vol. 46; no. 5; pp. 453 - 463
Main Authors:	Halmo, Stephanie M., Sensibaugh, Cheryl A., Bhatia, Kush S., Howell, Alexandra, Ferryanto, Ersta P., Choe, Bryant, Kehoe, Kaitlin, Watson, Morgan, Lemons, Paula P.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-09-2018 Wiley-Blackwell Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:	Amino acids Biochemistry Content analysis Difficulty Level Instructional Design Instructional Materials Knowledge Level Molecular Structure Problem Solving Protein folding Protein structure Proteins Science Process Skills Scientific Concepts sources of difficulties and teaching strategies to correct difficulties Structure-function relationships student conceptual and reasoning difficulties Students Thinking Skills Undergraduate Students protein structure sources of difficulties and teaching strategies to correct difficulties Protein folding student conceptual and reasoning difficulties
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Summary:	Protein structure–function is a key concept in biochemistry. We used the perspective of domain‐specific problem‐solving to investigate students’ solutions to a well‐defined protein structure–function problem. We conducted think‐aloud interviews with 13 undergraduate students and performed qualitative content analysis to examine the differences in the domain‐general and domain‐specific knowledge among correct and incorrect solutions. Our work revealed that students used domain‐general and domain‐specific knowledge in their problem solving. We also identified difficulties for students with the amino acid backbone, amino acid categorization, and causal mechanisms of noncovalent interactions. Using the identified difficulties, we make recommendations for the design of instructional materials targeted to improve protein structure–function problem solving in the biochemistry classroom. © 2018 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 46(5):453–463, 2018.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1470-8175 1539-3429
DOI:	10.1002/bmb.21166