Informatics Publishing Limited

Shivalingsarj V. Desai ¹, Gopalkrishna Joshi ², Gururaj Tennalli ¹, L.R. Patil ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Biotechnology, KLE Technological University, Hubballi, IN
2 Department of Computer Science, KLE Technological University, Hubballi, IN

Abstract

Role-play is an exercise in which the participants assume certain roles of characters, collaboratively create stories and act-out the roles in character on stage. Role-Play is being practiced as a pedagogical approach since years and has been found to be effective in teaching history, economics, social sciences and engineering subjects as well. The present study discusses a similar effort of group role play practiced for teaching Molecular Biology course for under-graduate students of Biotechnology. The purpose of the Role-Play-Molecular Skit was to enhance the temporal and spatial learning of some selected concepts of Molecular Biology course. The topics chosen were relevant to learning and formed the corner-stones of the course. The exercise comprised two phases-technical script writing and acting-out.

The concept of story-building model related to the topic along-with the technical aspects was adopted for script writing. The contents of the scripts were reviewed for essential technical features, effectiveness and feasibility for acting-out. This was followed by assigning the roles amongst the group members and acting-out the concepts on stage. Assessment for the activity was based on appropriate rubrics which were mapped to Graduate Attributes, Global outcomes and Performance indicators. A formal written feedback collected from the participants showed that the activity was a new experience, enhanced the understanding of the concept, sensitized their creativity by story building, honed their writing skills and reinforced their confidence of acting on stage. The activity was thus instrumental in enhancing the learning, improving the communication skills and bringing-in a concerted team effort on stage.

Keywords

Role-Play, Technical Script, Act-Out, Communication Skills.

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Gururaj Tennalli ¹, Shivalingsarj V. Desai ¹, Uday M. Muddapur ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Biotechnology, KLE Technological University, Hubballi, IN

Abstract

Identification and characterization of native isolates from environmental sources assumes immense significance from research, and commercial perspective. Microbial identification using a molecular biology approach based on 16S rDNA has been the popular and well-established method. Experiments of Molecular Biology and rDNA Technology have always been a challenge for effective teaching owing to the cost, time, inconsistent results and expertise. The study was undertaken with a broad objective of giving a hands-on experience of selected molecular biology and rDNA technology experiments and related activities to the undergraduate students of Biotechnology Engineering, as a module of Minor project identified as flagship course. The genomic DNA of selected environmental soil isolates was isolated by the conventional lysis method, followed by amplification of its 16S rDNA by PCR, using universal primers. The resulting amplicons were purified, cloned into the TA vector, and analyzed for insert and the recombinant vector was transformed into host cells. The ligated cloned vector showed a size of 4500 bp as against the control vector of 3000 bp. The growth of transformants was confirmed by selective growth against ampicillin antibiotic and by blue-white screening. The exercise helped in addressing eight graduate attributes related to (investigation of technical issues, modern engineering tools, discipline-specific tools, team-work and produce technical report). Formal feedback from the students evidenced that the students had good experiential learning from the exercise. Thus, the study related to cloning exercise was instrumental in providing hands-on experience and enhanced the skill sets of the students related to fundamental molecular biology.

Keywords

PCR, rDNA, TA Cloning, Recombinant Screening.

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