Proteins - New educational materials for education in biochemistry at secondary level

Diploma thesis is focused on creation of educational materials supporting the education of biochemistry, specifically amino acids and proteins, at secondary level. At first the analysis of Czech chemistry textbooks concerning the two topics - amino acids and proteins was performed. The major problems found were related to the insufficient graphical representation of biomolecules, unsatisfactory motivational components and insufficient integration of the topic with biology or everyday life experience. The supporting educational materials, presented in this work, supplement the widely used chemistry textbooks. The materials includes a graphic oriented presentation, interactive animations demonstrating the process of denaturation and precipitating of proteins at macroscopic and molecular level, poster presenting the structural formulas of standard amino acids, 3D models of selected proteins, additional texts supporting the current topics concerning amino acids and proteins and the laboratory protocols for students. The presented support materials were evaluated at the secondary school conditions. They were tested in one class and the improvement of student's understanding of the topic was compared to the second class employing only the classical educational methods. The comparison of the results of..