While visual literacy has been identified as a foundational skill in life science education, there are many challenges in teaching and assessing biomolecular visualization skills. Among these are the lack of consensus about what constitutes competence and limited understanding of student and instructor perceptions of visual literacy tasks. In this study, we administered a set of biomolecular visualization assessments, developed as part of the BioMolViz project, to both students and instructors at multiple institutions and compared their perceptions of task difficulty. We then analyzed our findings using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative analysis was used to answer the following research questions: (1) Which assessment items exhibit statistically significant disparities or agreements in perceptions of difficulty between instructors and students? (2) Do these perceptions persist when controlling for race/ethnicity and gender? and (3) How does student perception of difficulty relate to performance? Qualitative analysis of open-ended comments was used to identify predominant themes related to visual problem solving. The results show that perceptions of difficulty significantly differ between students and instructors and that students’ performance is a significant predictor of their perception of difficulty. Overall, this study underscores the need to incorporate deliberate instruction in visualization into undergraduate life science curricula to improve student ability in this area. Accordingly, we offer recommendations to promote visual literacy skills in the classroom.

Biomolecular visualization skills are paramount to understanding key concepts in the biological sciences, such as structure-function relationships and molecular interactions. Various programs allow a learner to manipulate 3D structures, and biomolecular modeling promotes active learning, builds computational skills, and bridges the gap between two dimensional textbook images and the three dimensions of life. A critical skill in this area is to model a protein active site, displaying parts of the macromolecule that can interact with a small molecule, or ligand, in a way that shows binding interactions. In this protocol, we describe this process using four freely available macromolecular modeling programs: iCn3D, Jmol/JSmol, PyMOL, and UCSF ChimeraX. This guide is intended for students seeking to learn the basics of a specific program, as well as instructors incorporating biomolecular modeling into their curriculum. The protocol enables the user to model an active site using a specific visualization program, or to sample several of the free programs available. The model chosen for this protocol is human glucokinase, an isoform of the enzyme hexokinase, which catalyzes the first step of glycolysis. The enzyme is bound to one of its substrates, as well as a non-reactive substrate analog, which allows the user to analyze interactions in the catalytic complex.

A critical skill that biochemistry students must develop is the interpretation of molecular images, ranging from macromolecular representations to the chemical structures of the building blocks that comprise them. Such analysis requires biomolecular visual literacy, which is not often explicitly taught, and can be challenging for instructors to assess. In this work, we examine student responses to assessments designed to probe biomolecular visual literacy. Analysis of sets of assessments with classical test theory indicates that items which have undergone an iterative validation process, including expert review, perform well in classroom testing. However, the evaluation of multiple-choice and multiple-select assessment items based on classroom testing alone has limitations. Therefore, semistructured student interviews were used to explore student approaches to molecular visualization problem solving. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts identified several common strategies among students when solving image-based questions, including relying on color in the images to answer questions, drawing on familiar terminology in the prompt, and using process-of-elimination to identify the best answer. Image complexity was identified as a common challenge for students. Instructors can craft more effective assessments by paying careful attention to the use of color in images, using terminology students are familiar with, carefully creating distractors, and using images with complexity appropriate to the learner level. This work underscores the importance of the student perspective in the design of assessments used by educators to evaluate learning.

BioMolViz is an educational community of practice (CoP) focused on creating resources to improve biomolecular visual literacy instruction and assessment. The community of life science instructors developed in three phases, beginning with a small Core Team that emerged from a conference session and established the domain of interest for the CoP. In‐person workshops, supported by short‐term funding, drove the initial expansion of the community and the development of shared activities in Phase 2. This CoP was sustained through intentional choices about how members interact, collaborate, and share work. As the community matured in Phase 3, it was supported by longer‐term funding, allowing community engagement opportunities to expand to a diverse set of both online and in‐person offerings. Workshop surveys and focus group interviews suggested that virtual workshops were just as effective as those conducted in‐person for building community, and even more effective for skills development. The incorporation of virtual workshops simultaneously strengthened the community, accelerated its growth, and enhanced productivity. Creating spaces that foster the development of social capital were key to building a strong and enduring CoP. At the foundation of a team functioning largely online, a carefully designed multimodal ecosystem of communication enabled effective discourse and the development of community‐driven resources and products that sustain the practice. As we reflect on 13 years as a CoP, we describe the features of our community design that may inform the successful development of other communities of educators.