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Biology-Related Examples for the General Chemistry Classroom
This online resource from HHMI Professor and Investigator Catherine Drennan provides brief (two- to five-minute) in-class examples that connect chemical principles to biology, human health, and medicine. It is designed for educators seeking examples that demonstrate why the principles of general chemistry are so important and looking to equip students with the ability to apply basic scientific knowledge (as called for in new premedical recommendations issued by the Association of American Medical Colleges and HHMI). While finding and creating examples can be prohibitively time-consuming for many professors and high school teachers, incorporating these examples into an existing course requires minimal instructor or class time. The examples were introduced into an MIT freshman chemistry course (number 5.111); each chemistry topic covered in that course is listed with a link to corresponding biology- and medicine-related examples. To reinforce interdisciplinary connections introduced in the classroom, biology-related homework problems are also available on the site. For additional materials from MIT chemistry course 5.111, Principles of Chemical Science, educators can access the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) home page, which contains complete video lectures, lecture notes, and exams. An article entitled Creating an Interdisciplinary Introductory Chemistry Course without Time-Intensive Curriculum Changes describes the development, implementation, and assessment of the examples from biology and medicine. The article, which appeared in ACS Chemical Biology, is available online.
HHMI Professor: Catherine L. Drennan, Ph.D.
Award Years: 2006
Summary: Catherine L. Drennan, Ph.D., is an HHMI Professor and an HHMI Investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose research uses X-ray crystallography to study the structure and function of metalloproteins. Her HHMI-funded initiatives include:
- A freshman chemistry course designed to excite undergraduates about chemistry and demonstrate the connection between chemistry and biological processes. This interdisciplinary course includes problem set questions that have biological relevance and touch on research conducted in the MIT chemistry department;
- A training program for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in interdisciplinary teaching that includes a week-long summer boot camp to show teaching assistants how to apply chemical principles to multiple fields and help them incorporate biological examples into their teaching of chemistry;
- The development of the MIT Undergraduate Biochemistry Association (MUBA), a group that helps compensate for the lack of a formal biochemistry program at MIT; and
- The Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Chemical Biology, a 10-week program to encourage undergraduates with quantitative backgrounds to conduct research in biology laboratories and to encourage biology students to conduct research in chemistry or physics laboratories.