Software for teaching structure-hydrophobicity relationships

Abstract

We have developed a lecture and laboratory curriculum for introducing beginning undergraduate Biology students to chemical structure-function relationships. The laboratory portion of this curriculum employs cheminformatics software that provides instant feedback to help students develop an understanding of the relationship between structure and hydrophobicity. To evaluate the effectiveness of this curriculum, we measured students' understanding using an open-ended problem-based survey. Student responses to this survey improved significantly following the activities we describe, suggesting that they are effective teaching tools. This curriculum also provides a foundation for students' future structure-function studies in chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology.