We have developed and implemented a laboratory exercise appropriate for a sophomore or junior-level Biology course. The laboratory reinforces and integrates several topics, including the cell cycle, the effects of checkpoint activation, signal transduction, and the cytoskeleton. Depending on the themes emphasized by the instructor, the laboratory can be adapted for either a Genetics or Cell Biology course.
Students evaluate the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultures of opposite mating types and observe the effects of adding mating pheromone on cell division and cell shape. Growth and morphology are assayed at regular intervals over the course of several hours. By the end of the laboratory, students have become adept at identifying the stages of the yeast cell cycle via their distinct morphologies by performing “bud counts”. Students also become practiced in the use of a spectrophotometer to determine the concentration of cells in growth medium. Students can then analyze the data by generating growth curves and plotting changes in morphology over time. Both analyses lead to the demonstration that yeast cells will respond in characteristic ways to mating pheromone, but only in the presence of the opposite-sex mating factor.
This year, we have entered into a collaboration with a Computer Science seminar course on campus. The students in this course have been assigned the task of creating supporting materials for the yeast mating labs, with the Cell Biology professor as the group’s formal “client”. In accordance with the client’s requests, the students are generating simulations of the laboratory, appropriate for use by those who take Cell Biology lecture without enrolling in the laboratory. The Computer Science students have also been asked to generate games (both two-dimensional and three-dimensional) to accompany the laboratory, to reinforce the learning outcomes of the experiment as well as increase interest and engagement of the students.
Our preliminary assessment of this novel hybrid laboratory measures how the laboratory and the computer games and simulations, both individually and in conjunction, influence student learning outcomes and student attitudes and engagement in Cell Biology.