Integrating internet assignments into a biochemistry/molecular biology laboratory course

AbstractA main challenge in educating undergraduate students is to introduce them to the Internet and to teach them how to effectively use it in research. To this end, an Internet assignment was developed that introduces students to websites related to biomedical research at the beginning of a biochemistry/molecular biology laboratory course. The basic sites introduced cover many subjects, include searching for specific DNA sequences, restriction enzyme mapping, RNA folding, analyzing three‐dimensional protein images, and literature searches. These newly learned Internet skills are incorporated into other aspects of the laboratory course. In the example illustrated here, students sequence DNA inserts from randomly chosen bacterial colonies prepared from a human cDNA plasmid library. The obtained DNA sequence is used to search on‐line data bases introduced in the initial Internet assignment to determine whether the cDNAs have already been identified. The sequencing “wet‐lab” module, coupled with the Internet assignment, gives students experience in four areas. 1) purifying plasmid DNA, 2) performing restriction endonuclease digests on the plasmid DNA, 3) sequencing double‐stranded D