One of the most satisfying moments I’ve had as a teacher was when I asked my students to do more than I thought they could do, but with less that all of the details involved in the actual biological process.

I teach two metabolic pathways in my non-major’s freshman bio class. Students often struggle with the concepts, and the functions of photosythesis and cellular respiration. I began to ask my students to draw the reactions with all participants, products, locations within a cell and structures involved. I demonstrated the process, and asked students to describe the pathways with a well-labeled diagram. I was astonished at the results! Students showed that they were able to represent these complicated pathways using diagrams which showed that they understood!

Student diagram explaining Photosynthesis