ERIC Number: EJ1166224
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1470-8175
EISSN: N/A
Lego Bricks and the Octet Rule: Molecular Models for Biochemical Pathways with Plastic, Interlocking Toy Bricks
Lin, Henry J.; Lehoang, Jennifer; Kwan, Isabel; Baghaee, Anita; Prasad, Priya; Ha-Chen, Stephanie J.; Moss, Tanesha; Woods, Jeremy D.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, v46 n1 p54-57 Jan-Feb 2018
The 8 studs on a 2 × 4 Lego brick conveniently represent the outer shell of electrons for carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. We used Lego bricks to model these atoms, which are then joined together to form molecules by following the Lewis octet rule. A variety of small biological molecules can be modeled in this way, such as most amino acids, fatty acids, glucose, and various intermediate metabolites. Model building with these familiar toys can be a helpful, hands-on exercise for learning--or re-learning--biochemical pathways.
Descriptors: Toys, Molecular Biology, Science Instruction, Teaching Methods, Biochemistry, Metabolism, Models
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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