A Combination of Hand-held Models and Computer Imaging Programs Helps Students Answer Oral Questions about Molecular Structure and Function: A Controlled Investigation of Student Learning

Molecular models were purchased from 3D Molecular Designs using UW–Madison Instructional Laboratory Modernization Program funds. We thank Margaret Franzen and Michele Korb (Marquette University) for serving as blinded assessors of interview video-tapes. Sarah Miller (HHMI Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching) provided invaluable review of this manuscript. We thank Dr. Tim Herman, Center for BioMolecular Modeling, for providing assistance with understanding the molecular structural details of the hand-held models used in this study. We thank Mike Patrick for his assistance and advice in designing curricular and assessment materials. Rick Nordheim of the UW–Madison Statistics Department provided invaluable assistance with statistical analysis of our data. We are grateful to UW–Madison Biocore Program Associate Director Janet Batzli and Faculty Director Jeff Hardin for their encouragement and support of this project. Our human subjects research protocol was approved by the UW–Madison Education Research Institutional Review Board (protocol #SE-2004-0051).