New Teaching Strategies to Improve Student Performance in Fundamentals of Biotechnology

ALICIA CID; VERÓNICA B. RAJAL

Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

American Society for Microbiology

Año: 2011 vol. 12 p. 1 - 2

1935-7885

Fundamentals in Biotechnology is part of the Chemical Engineering curriculum at the Universidad Nacional de Salta, in northwest Argentina. This course, given for four months in the 4th (of 5) year of study, includes concepts of general microbiology, biochemistry and industrial microbiology and it is the first contact of the students with biological issues. They arrive to this subject having just an abiotic point of view of chemical engineering, and they neither know the importance of Biotechnology in the industry nor the role of engineers in this science. Probably due to the long content of the course and to the lack of previous knowledge of biological and microbiological concepts, students have a lot of trouble in passing this course. Until 2007 the classes were organized as lectures (2 hours per week, optional) and practicals –9 were laboratories and 4 were problems to solve- (3 hours per week, mandatory), in a total of 15 weeks. About 45% of students (from a total of 30-40) passed the course, a low pass rate compared to other classes. In order to reach a better understanding of the concepts, to encourage students to learn biotechnology and to develop critical analysis, with the ultimate aim of improving performance, two new strategies were adopted, which consisted in including “Complementary Activities” and an “Integration Seminar”.