Cases, Writing, and Students Becoming Teachers: A New Way to Enhance Undergraduate Science Education

“The Biochemical Arms Race” is an Emory University senior seminar that utilized a writing‐intensive approach centered on Problem‐Based Learning (PBL) lessons developed by the students themselves. The course was crafted to improve students' written and verbal communication skills by transforming students into teachers who develop PBL lessons for high school students. Students were initially exposed to PBL pedagogy through a series of activities before they began writing their own cases. To begin case‐writing, the students chose two organisms engaged in co‐evolution around which to craft a PBL case study. Students then submitted proposals and presented their own ideas about case studies to the class. To provide an investigative component to the lessons, students integrated a hypothesis‐driven laboratory experiment within each case. The final products, PBL cases, will be made available to K‐12 educators. By investigating topics of their own choosing, students were motivated to learn and gained a deeper understanding of the course material, which emphasized co‐evolution, population biology, genetics, and biochemistry. At the same time, by compelling students to consider how best to explain those topics to others, students were able to focus on the larger themes and broader implications of biochemical arms races. Students gained an appreciation of curriculum development and of engaging other students in science. HHMI Undergraduate Biological Sciences Program #52003727