Department of Biology, Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph, Missouri, United States.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2023 Sep 1;47(3):508-513. doi: 10.1152/advan.00218.2022. Epub 2023 Jun 1.
Students in an animal physiology course are required to have completed prerequisite cell biology and genetics courses that include discussion of basic properties and functions of the cell membrane. However, while many students remember basic information about membrane structure, they often have difficulty relating that structure to membrane functions, such as vesicular transport, active transport, osmosis, and current flow across the membrane. To better understand what students recall about the cell membrane, students were given an open-ended prompt to draw what they know about the structure and function of the animal cell membrane. This activity was repeated 1-2 weeks after finishing discussion of the cell membrane in class, with an emphasis on the concepts of membrane transport and a related core concept, flow along gradients. Student responses were analyzed using the conceptual framework for the "cell membrane" core concept published by Michael and Modell (Michael J, Modell H. 43: 373-377, 2019). Before covering this content in class, the majority of submissions included a representation of the cell membrane as a phospholipid bilayer, and a high percentage also included membrane proteins or the fluid mosaic model. Similar percentages of students included these concepts in the postcoverage drawing. However, other components of the conceptual framework were included less frequently or not at all before covering the content in class but improved dramatically afterward. This activity provides information about what students recall from prior coursework and which concepts need to be revisited, and it can provide a complementary assessment of student understanding of the core concept of the cell membrane. Student-constructed drawings can give insight into student understanding, and misunderstandings, of core concepts about the cell membrane.
动物生理学课程的学生需要完成细胞生物学和遗传学的先修课程，其中包括讨论细胞膜的基本性质和功能。然而，尽管许多学生记得有关膜结构的基本信息，但他们往往难以将该结构与膜功能（如囊泡运输、主动运输、渗透和电流穿过膜）联系起来。为了更好地了解学生对细胞膜的记忆，学生们被要求以开放式提示画出他们对动物细胞膜的结构和功能的了解。在课堂上讨论完细胞膜后 1-2 周，会重复进行此活动，重点是膜运输和相关核心概念（沿梯度流动）的概念。学生的回答使用 Michael 和 Modell 发表的“细胞膜”核心概念的概念框架进行分析（Michael J, Modell H. 43: 373-377, 2019）。在课堂上讲授这些内容之前，大多数提交的内容都包含细胞膜作为磷脂双层的表示，并且很大比例的学生还包括膜蛋白或流动镶嵌模型。在覆盖内容后的绘图中，学生也以相似的百分比包含了这些概念。然而，在课堂上覆盖这些内容之前，概念框架的其他组成部分被包含的频率较低或根本没有，但在覆盖内容后，这些概念的出现频率显著提高。此活动提供了有关学生从先前课程中回忆起的内容以及需要重新审视的概念的信息，并且可以提供对学生对细胞膜核心概念理解的补充评估。学生构建的绘图可以深入了解学生对细胞膜核心概念的理解和误解。
