Enzymes are nature's catalysts, mediating chemical processes in living systems. The study of enzyme function and mechanism includes defining the maximum catalytic rate and affinity for substrate/s (among other factors), referred to as enzyme kinetics. Enzyme kinetics is a staple of biochemistry curricula and other disciplines, from molecular and…

With recent curricular movements aimed at engaging students in science practices, more work is needed regarding evidence-based approaches for supporting students in developing competency in contexts such as chemistry. In this work, we focus on student engagement in constructing models related to graphical representations of reaction rate. Using…

This work seeks to add to the growing body of chemistry education research that emphasizes the teaching and learning of advanced topics, focusing on students' understanding of enzyme kinetics. The data corpus relevant to this study involved 14 second-year undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory biochemistry course taught in a chemistry…

Student understanding regarding topics in upper-division courses, such as biochemistry, is not well represented in the literature. Herein we describe a study that investigated students' reasoning about Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics and enzyme inhibition. Our qualitative study involved semistructured interviews with fourteen second-year students…

In this paper, we aim to show strategies for improving graph interpretation skills at middle and high school students using OZOBOT® BIT, a small and relatively low-cost programmable robot which had been used to teach programming to young children. OZOBOT's speed can be controlled by drawing lines with colour codes, as well as through a visual…

In selecting from a repertoire of traditional kinetics experiments, an instructor often has to choose among having students gain experience with the graphical method, the method of initial rates, or a temperature-dependent experiment in which students construct an Arrhenius plot. This paper presents an environmentally friendly bleaching reaction…

In this paper, we present materials and teaching ideas utilizing multiple representations in the contexts of kinematics and the force concept. These ideas and materials are substantiated by evidence and can be readily used in teaching with no special training. In addition, we briefly discuss two multiple-choice tests based on physics education…

Gibbs-energy profiles are often introduced during the first semester of organic chemistry, but are less often presented in connection with enzyme-catalyzed reactions. In this article I show how the Gibbs-energy profile corresponds to the characteristic kinetics of a simple enzyme-catalyzed reaction. (Contains 1 figure and 1 note.)

We describe a computer tutorial that introduces the concept of the steady state in enzyme kinetics. The tutorial allows students to produce graphs of the concentrations of free enzyme, enzyme-substrate complex, and product versus time in order to learn about the approach to steady state. By using a range of substrate concentrations and rate…

This book is designed to be a quick and easy resource for anyone teaching physics for the first time. Written after extensive research, this book is filled with reliable labs, demos and activities that work well in the classroom. Also included are lesson plans, diagrams, and teacher notes for every activity. The book is not the end--it is just a…

Trypsin and soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz inhibitor) can be used in a relatively simple and inexpensive student exercise to demonstrate the usefulness of enzyme kinetics. The study of enzyme kinetics is essential to biology because enzymes play such a crucial role in the biochemical pathways of all living organisms. The data from enzyme…

The kinetics experiments on the ligand-C[subscript 60] exchange reactions on (dihapto-[60]fullerene) pentacarbonyl tungsten(0), ([eta][superscript 2]-C[subscript 60])W(CO)[subscript 5], form an educational activity for the inorganic chemistry laboratory that promotes graphical thinking as well as the understanding of kinetics, mechanisms, and the…

Describes a program which allows students to identify and characterize several kinetic inhibitory mechanisms. Uses the generic model of reversible inhibition of a monosubstrate enzyme but can be easily modified to run other models such as bisubstrate enzymes. Uses MS-DOS BASIC. (MVL)