Abstract:

Drawing inspiration from the call directed to high school, funded under the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research, aimed at bringing the students of high school to work, I decided to keep on Student Work-Integrated Learning Program, started two years ago, and I design a new project inspired to DNA origami.

Work-Integrated Learning combines classroom learning activities and hands-on learning in a workplace and helps to develop technical and work-ready skills (as strategic thinking, problem solving and teamwork) sought after by employers.

The modular path "DNA origami: from 3D macrostructure to nanotechnology" aims to bring students closer to the type of work that takes place in a research laboratory in the field of avanced molecular biology and biotechnology.

DNA origami, an emerging research and technology field for designing, folding and building shapes (DNA nanostructures) out of the so-called building blocks of life, and opening the door to numerous exciting applications.

Recently, new techniques are reported and can shape DNA, the double-stranded helical molecule, into objects up to 20 times bigger than previously achieved.

I focused on and describe several types of DNA origami-related studies, as well as a programmed DNA origami assembly. One of the main goal of this project is also to stimulated 15 years old student's interest, encourage teamwork, manual dexterity, creativity and ingenuity to select differents everyday materials and find solution to construct a 3D model of a DNA molecule. Each of the students will be encouraged to express their own opinions and solve problems, more specifically, students learned the basic structural elements of DNA and their 3D molecular organization.

Just-in-time teaching will be a starting point to provide baseline assessment of the state of students’ initial understanding of the content to be learned, including misconceptions.

Each student, under supervision, individually will carry out the experiments, will learn and use the tools and digital resources (database, advertisement) daily available in support of researchers and scientists working on biotechnological field.

Experiencing in a personal way will be useful to gain confidence both with the scientific method and with scientific research world.
The integration of the molecular approach (wet-lab: DNA extraction, DNA spectrophotometer analysis, agarose gel electrophoretic analysis, restriction enzymes hydrolysis, PCR introduction), bioinformatics (in silico-lab, also for the construction of restriction maps) are one of the educational and training peculiarities of this Work-Integrated Learning Project.

The project (PBL) “DNA origami: from 3D macrostructure to nanotechnology” will bee also:
-an opportunity to improve the knowledge of the English language and scientific writing skills of students using scientific text and webinar with the goal to realize a multidiscipinary approach teaching aimed at different aspects and applications of biotechnology technique DNA based.
-an example of multidisciplinary Integrated Problem Based Learning for Improvement Soft Skill and High Order Thinking of Vocational Students.

Finally, through the assessment analysis of students evaluation activities results, some key points come out comparing results obtained on campus and online learning environments. Could it be a useful starting point to interpretate current academic student evaluation?.

Keywords:

Electrophoresis, Life sciences, Biiomolecules, Problem based Learning, Soft Skills improvement, Project-based learning (PBL) student evaluations of teaching (SE.