Ready, Set, Go? Impact of the Pandemic on Student Readiness: Laboratories, Preparedness, and Support.

There is little doubt that the pandemic has had a significant impact on students' academic achievement and mental health across the K-16 spectrum. For undergraduate chemistry instructors, data on the number of laboratories students completed in high school and in what mode would be important information in considering what modifications could be implemented in the laboratory curriculum and in messaging about the laboratory activities. Additionally, shedding light on how prepared students feel to succeed at college work, how the pandemic has impacted their preparedness for learning, and what the chemistry community can do to support student learning can shape messaging on the first day and for subsequent activities in the course. An initial and final course survey that sought to shed light on these student experiences and perspectives will be discussed along with the impact on course messaging and structure.

Assessment of course-based undergraduate research experiences: a meeting report.

The Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Network (CUREnet) was initiated in 2012 with funding from the National Science Foundation program for Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education. CUREnet aims to address topics, problems, and opportunities inherent to integrating research experiences into undergraduate courses. During CUREnet meetings and discussions, it became apparent that there is need for a clear definition of what constitutes a CURE and systematic exploration of what makes CUREs meaningful in terms of student learning. Thus, we assembled a small working group of people with expertise in CURE instruction and assessment to: 1) draft an operational definition of a CURE, with the aim of defining what makes a laboratory course or project a "research experience"; 2) summarize research on CUREs, as well as findings from studies of undergraduate research internships that would be useful for thinking about how students are influenced by participating in CUREs; and 3) identify areas of greatest need with respect to CURE assessment, and directions for future research on and evaluation of CUREs. This report summarizes the outcomes and recommendations of this meeting.

Students' understanding of primary and secondary protein structure: drawing secondary protein structure reveals student understanding better than simple recognition of structures.

The interdisciplinary nature of biochemistry courses requires students to use both chemistry and biology knowledge to understand biochemical concepts. Research that has focused on external representations in biochemistry has uncovered student difficulties in comprehending and interpreting external representations in addition to a fragmented understanding of fundamental biochemistry concepts. This project focuses on students' understanding of primary and secondary protein structure and drawings (representations) of hydrogen-bonding in alpha helices and beta sheets. Analysis demonstrated that students can recognize and identify primary protein structure concepts when given a polypeptide. However, when asked to draw alpha helices and beta sheets and explain the role of hydrogen bonding their drawings students exhibited a fragmented understanding that lacked coherence. Faculty are encouraged to have students draw molecular level representations to make their mental models more explicit, complete, and coherent. This is in contrast to recognition and identification tasks, which do not adequately probe mental models and molecular level understanding.

Students' understanding of external representations of the potassium ion channel protein, part I: affordances and limitations of ribbon diagrams, vines, and hydrophobic/polar representations.

Research on external representations in biochemistry has uncovered student difficulties in comprehending and interpreting external representations. This project focuses on students' understanding of three external representations of the potassium ion channel protein. This is part I of a two-part study, which focuses on the affordances and limitations of representations of the potassium ion channel according to students across the chemistry and biochemistry curriculum. Analysis showed that if the students do not possess the required prior knowledge then they are stymied in their interpretations of the representations. Students were able to easily interpret the familiar ribbon diagram representation; however, they found the vines and hydrophobic/polar representations to be less informative. Suggestions for instruction are to probe student understanding and to help students activate prior knowledge to build a more connected set of concepts pertaining to protein structure.

Students' understanding of external representations of the potassium ion channel protein part II: structure-function relationships and fragmented knowledge.

Research that has focused on external representations in biochemistry has uncovered student difficulties in comprehending and interpreting external representations. This study focuses on students' understanding of three external representations (ribbon diagram, wireframe, and hydrophobic/hydrophilic) of the potassium ion channel protein. Analysis of the interview data demonstrates that students were able to use the ribbon structures and polarity of the cell membrane to help support claims about the protein's orientation and interactions within the cell membrane. Students expressed fragmented understandings of the interactions between the potassium ion and the aqueous solution outside/inside of the cell membrane. Suggestions for instruction are to probe student understanding to help students activate prior knowledge and to help them build a more connected set of concepts pertaining to protein structure and function.