Introductory biochemistry courses are often challenging for students because they require the integration of chemistry, biology, physics, math, and physiology knowledge and frameworks to understand and apply a large body of knowledge. This can be complicated by students' persistent misconceptions of fundamental concepts and lack of fluency with…

The use of a molecular viewer to visualize proteins has become more prevalent in high schools in recent years. We relied on the foundations of two theoretical frameworks to analyze questions in two learning tasks designed for 10th- to 12th-grade biotechnology majors that make use of Jmol. The two theoretical frameworks were: (i) classification of…

The use of visual models in teaching, learning and research has increased. Consequently, students have to develop various new competencies including visual literacy in order to learn efficiently. However, visual literacy among biochemistry students is not well documented. Using quantitative research methodology, the current research was aimed at…

The development of scientific visual literacy has been identified as critical to the training of tomorrow's scientists and citizens alike. Within the context of the molecular life sciences in particular, visual representations frequently incorporate various components, such as discipline-specific graphical and diagrammatic features, varied levels…

Chemists and chemistry educators have long sought meaningful ways to visualize fundamentally abstract components, such as atoms and molecules, of their trade. As technology has improved, computer-based visualization methods have infused both research and education in chemistry. Biochemistry, in particular, has become highly dependent on ways that…

This study explores what students understand about enzyme-substrate interactions, using multiple representations of the phenomenon. In this paper we describe our use of the 3 Phase-Single Interview Technique with multiple representations to generate cognitive dissonance within students in order to uncover misconceptions of enzyme-substrate…

Biochemistry instructors are inundated with various representations from which to choose to depict biochemical phenomena. Because of the immense amount of visual know-how needed to be an expert biochemist in the 21st century, there have been calls for instructors to develop biochemistry students' visual literacy. However, visual literacy has…

Visual literacy, the ability to interpret and create external representations (ERs), is essential to success in biochemistry. Studies have been conducted that describe students' abilities to use and interpret specific types of ERs. However, a framework for describing ERs derived through a naturalistic inquiry of biochemistry classrooms has not…