Brown Phillip E, Chen Stefanie H
Biotechnology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2025 Aug 21;26(2):e0020924. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00209-24. Epub 2025 Apr 16.
The process of Sanger sequencing can be a challenging and unintuitive concept for students to master. In order to improve student learning, we developed a hands-on Sanger sequencing activity using 3D-printed models to incorporate tactile learning. These 3D models and the accompanying activity demonstrate the differences between gene amplification polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Sanger sequencing, including the purpose and function of dNTPs and ddNTPs, both in terms of building and terminating the chain and in how the DNA sequence is read. After completing the activity, students self-reported high levels of both learning and enjoyment from the activity. Students were also asked to discuss what misconceptions they had prior to this activity that were addressed and provide suggestions for improving this activity. A majority of the misconceptions are related to the function and differences between dNTPs and ddNTPs, with others related to the function of primers, the high-quality region of sequencing, and the purpose of DNA fragment sizes. Overall, student responses indicate that this activity was enjoyable, improved student learning, and addressed specific misconceptions regarding Sanger sequencing. The use of online dice rolling software or additional computational analysis was a common suggestion from students to improve this activity further in future semesters.
对学生来说，桑格测序过程是一个具有挑战性且难以直观理解的概念。为了提高学生的学习效果，我们开展了一项实践活动，利用3D打印模型融入触觉学习来进行桑格测序。这些3D模型及配套活动展示了基因扩增聚合酶链反应（PCR）与桑格测序之间的差异，包括dNTP和ddNTP在构建和终止链方面以及读取DNA序列方式上的目的和功能。完成活动后，学生自我报告称从该活动中获得了高水平的学习体验和乐趣。学生们还被要求讨论在此活动之前他们存在的哪些误解得到了解决，并为改进此活动提供建议。大多数误解与dNTP和ddNTP的功能及差异有关，其他误解则与引物的功能、测序的高质量区域以及DNA片段大小的目的有关。总体而言，学生的反馈表明该活动有趣，提高了学生的学习效果，并解决了有关桑格测序的特定误解。学生们普遍建议使用在线掷骰子软件或进行额外的计算分析，以便在未来学期进一步改进此活动。
