Mystery of the Toxic Flea Dip: An Interactive Approach to Teaching Aerobic
Cellular Respiration |
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| Authors: | A T Baines M McVey B Rybarczyk J T Thompson H R Wilkins |
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| Institution: | Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599–3280 |
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| Abstract: | We designed an interrupted case study to teach aerobic cellular respiration to major and
nonmajor biology students. The case is based loosely on a real-life incident of rotenone
poisoning. It places students in the role of a coroner who must determine the cause of
death of the victim. The case is presented to the students in four parts. Each part is
followed by discussion questions that the students answer in small groups prior to a
classwide discussion. Successive parts of the case provide additional clues to the mystery
and help the students focus on the physiological processes involved in aerobic
respiration. Students learn the information required to solve the mystery by reading the
course textbook prior to class, listening to short lectures interspersed throughout the
case, and discussing the case in small groups. The case ends with small group discussions
in which the students are given the names and specific molecular targets of other poisons
of aerobic respiration and asked to determine which process (i.e., glycolysis, citric acid
cycle, or the electron transport chain) the toxin disrupts. |
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| Keywords: | undergraduate electron carrier electron transport chain energy enzyme glycolysis Krebs cycle mitochondria thermodynamics adenosine triphosphate |
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