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The pH ruler: A Java applet for developing interactive exercises on acids and bases
Author(s) -
BarretteNg Isabelle H.
Publication year - 2011
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.20512
Subject(s) - java applet , computer science , java , chemistry , construct (python library) , mathematics education , biochemistry , human–computer interaction , programming language , psychology
In introductory biochemistry courses, it is often a struggle to teach the basic concepts of acid‐base chemistry in a manner that is relevant to biological systems. To help students gain a more intuitive and visual understanding of abstract acid‐base concepts, a simple graphical construct called the pH ruler Java applet was developed. The applet allows students to visualize the abundance of different protonation states of diprotic and triprotic amino acids at different pH values. Using the applet, the student can drag a widget on a slider bar to change the pH and observe in real time changes in the abundance of different ionization states of this amino acid. This tool provides a means for developing more complex inquiry‐based, active‐learning exercises to teach more advanced topics of biochemistry, such as protein purification, protein structure and enzyme mechanism. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 332‐338, 2011