Brown, J. A. L. (2016). Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Practical Inquiry-Based Learning Bioinformatics Module on Undergraduate Student Engagement and Applied Skills. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 44(3), 304–313.
This intervention evaluates the success of a new module in practical bioinformatics designed to incorporate use of the most up-to-date, relevant and widely used suites of software tools and databases (list included). The author is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, School of Natural Sciences, and the Discipline of Surgery, School of Medicine, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, at the National University of Galway, Ireland. Third year undergraduate biotechnology students (n=20–35) led a laboratory-based research project within a framework of inquiry. Students were divided into small collaborative groups, each with a distinctive central theme. The module was evaluated by assessing the quality and originality of the students’ targets through individual reports (using a rubric shared with students) and performance on pre- and post-module quizzes (not contributing to the final grade). A highly significant increase was observed when answering questions that required process-specific (applied) knowledge. The high quality of the submitted reports and the positive comments received in a post-module survey indicated that students were very engaged in the scientific process.