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Increasing integration and retention of metabolic pathways by undergraduate biochemistry majors through creation of a concept map

Recently, undergraduate STEM educators have moved away from rote memorization of facts. One reason for this change is a shift in emphasizing understanding and integration of concepts, as summarized in “Vision and Change”(AAAS, 2009). Metabolic pathways are fundamental part of advanced biochemistry curriculum, and historically students had to memorize enzymes and molecules involved. Furthermore, advanced biochemistry students typically treat each metabolic pathway and process as a discrete entity, when in fact most metabolic pathways are linked in one or many ways, and they all involve mitochondria. In order to move away from memorizing pathways and introduce more integrative learning, I have developed and implemented a semester‐long concept map project for biochemistry II students. A concept map is a visual representation of information that not only organizes information but also indicates links among different concepts. The project involves generating a concept map containing all of the metabolic pathways we cover over the course of the semester (glucose, amino acid, lipid and DNA metabolism). Named “the giant mitochondria”, students have to center their concept map on a sketch of a mitochondria and place the pathways and how they interact with mitochondria, as well as links between pathways and central molecules. Multiple iterations of the giant mitochondria are constructed by each student over the course of the semester, with successive addition of concepts as they are covered in lecture. The methodical addition and re‐drawing of metabolic pathways requires spatial organization of the material thereby leading to deeper learning. Therefore, this assignment is beneficial to students on multiple levels by promoting analysis, critical thinking, integration of concepts, and metacognition.