Online Teaching Reflection: Day 32 (ThingLink as Cognitive Anchor)

I am concluding my Biochemistry class this week and next by revisiting our work on protein structure. In online modules a few weeks ago (discussed here), we explored superficial knowledge such as terms (primary, secondary, tertiary structures, etc.) and then played the game FoldIt.  Although these activities instilled a conceptual appreciation for the process of protein folding, and armed students with new language and vocabulary, the goal for this week is to dive into the chemistry of the process, and eventually conclude by challenging students to, given a DNA sequence, predict their own folding pattern.

In order to do this, students must learn more detail about the 5 major factors that contribute to the chemistry behind how a protein folds. I curated 5 videos to help with this, but because each video discusses a different factor that contributes to ONE process (protein folding), I wanted to instill a collective appreciation for the way each factor contributes individually to one goal. To do this, I wanted to embed each video into an image of a folded protein so that, when students review each video, their minds cognitively begin to think of each,as a contributing factor to solving the protein folding problem rather than stand alone tutorials (I feared this would be the case if I pushed out playlist or list of links).

To do this I initially began by creating a Google Drawing of the process with links from the imported image of the folded protein. I did not like this because, although the links lived in the context of the one image of a protein (my goal), when students clicked on each link it took them AWAY from the image that was meant to serve as a cognitive anchor, making the videos appear as separate entities, not collectives parts feeding information into one concept, protein folding. 

Then I remembered the app Thinglink which allows you to create interactive images and videos, where once clicked, the embedded resources live INSIDE the the anchored object, grounding students in the framework of the lesson. Click here for the Thinglink I made for students on protein folding and see screenshot below.  I suppose its time to add Thinglink to this list :)