Improving the learning experience in an undergraduate course on microbial metabolism by using an illustrated story.

ABSTRACT: In the classroom, metabolism is often approached and received as a mundane exercise in memorization. Teaching metabolism also faces the challenge of negative perceptions that can impede learning. We sought to improve the learning experience in an undergraduate lecture course on microbial metabolism by implementing an illustrated story that follows an Escherichia coli cell during a cholera outbreak. Feedback from students, compiled over four semesters of relatively minimal intervention, suggests that attitudes improved. Most students also thought that storytelling helped them learn. Exam scores suggested that the story could have had a positive performance impact for some questions that required students to apply correct details to specific situations. Our results suggest that a story could

SUBMITTER: McKinlay JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11910174 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature