Creating custom Foldit puzzles for teaching biochemistry

Lorna Dsilva; Shubhi Mittal; Brian Koepnick; Jeff Flatten; Seth Cooper; Scott Horowitz

doi:10.1002/bmb.21208

Creating custom Foldit puzzles for teaching biochemistry

Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2019 Mar;47(2):133-139. doi: 10.1002/bmb.21208. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Authors

Lorna Dsilva¹, Shubhi Mittal¹, Brian Koepnick², Jeff Flatten³, Seth Cooper¹, Scott Horowitz⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115.
² Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195.
³ Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, 80208.

Abstract

The computer game Foldit is currently widely used as a biology and biochemistry teaching aid. Herein, we introduce a new feature of Foldit called "custom contests" that allows educators to create puzzles that fit their curriculum. The effectiveness of the custom contests is demonstrated by the use of five distinct custom contests in an upper-level biochemistry class. The new custom contest feature can be implemented in classes ranging from middle school to graduate school to enable educators to best complement their current curriculum. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(2): 133-139, 2019.

Keywords: Biochemistry; puzzles; web-based learning.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Biochemistry / education*
Computer-Assisted Instruction*
Students
Teaching / education*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding