Building and Breaking the Cell Wall in Four Acts: A Kinesthetic and Tactile Role-Playing Exercise for Teaching Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Mechanism of Action and Resistance.

ABSTRACT: "Building and breaking the cell wall" is designed to review the bacterial cell envelope, previously learned in lower-division biology classes, while introducing new topics such as antibiotics and bacterial antibiotic resistance mechanisms. We developed a kinesthetic and tactile modeling activity where students act as cellular components and construct the cell wall. In the first two acts, students model a portion of the gram-positive bacterial cell envelope and then demonstrate in detail how the peptidoglycan is formed. Act III involves student demonstration of the addition of β-lactam antibiotics to the environment and how they inhibit the formation of peptidoglycan, thereby preventing bacterial replication. Using Staphylococcus aureus as a model for gram-positive bacteria, students finish

SUBMITTER: Popovich J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5969405 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature