Biochemistry relies heavily on the use of images and diagrams to make the abstract tangible. Yet, as biochemistry instructors, how do we know whether our students see
the same things we instructors see? BioMolViz (biomolviz.org) is a community of practice dedicated to the instruction and assessment of biomolecular visual literacy. To
this end, BioMolViz created the Biomolecular Visualization Framework, an assessment tool that identifies more than 200 learning objectives clustered under twelve
overarching themes, such as StructureFunction
and Alternate Renderings. The team is currently assembling a searchable repository to host assessment instruments for
each of these learning objectives. To aid in its construction, BioMolViz is recruiting participants to help write, revise, and pilot these instruments in the classroom. Here,
we introduce the Framework, share various BioMolViz projects, and invite likeminded
individuals to work with us to build students’ biomolecular visual literacy.
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Meeting report: BioMolViz workshops for developing assessments of biomolecular visual literacy
While molecular visualization has been recognized as a threshold concept in biology education, the explicit assessment of students' visual literacy skills is rare. To facilitate the evaluation of this fundamental ability, a series of NSF‐IUSE‐sponsored workshops brought together a community of faculty engaged in creating instruments to assess students' biomolecular visualization skills. These efforts expanded our earlier work in which we created a rubric describing overarching themes, learning goals, and learning objectives that address student progress toward biomolecular visual literacy. Here, the BioMolViz Steering Committee (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10452638
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education
- Volume:
- 49
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1470-8175
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 278-286
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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