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Plants versus animals in the dining hall: A problem‐based learning problem
Author(s) -
White Harold B.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.2002.494030050106
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , meaning (existential) , perspective (graphical) , amino acid , biochemistry , psychology , computer science , epistemology , chemistry , biology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , paleontology
This five‐stage problem explores amino acid metabolism in the context of a story about a college student who chooses to become a vegetarian against the best wishes of her mother. It requires students to analyze isotopic data from classic experiments in nutritional biochemistry and explain the results in terms of now known metabolic pathways. It provides an evolutionary perspective on the meaning of essential and nonessential amino acids and on the production of secondary metabolites from amino acids by plants. Groups of students working in a problem‐based learning environment integrate these ideas into concept map to complete the problem.