Lipids and Proteins: Worksheets, Concept Maps, and Safe Experiments

Thepurpose of this article is to describe the possibilitiesofusing worksheets in the teaching of lipids and proteins. The worksheetincludes a concept map, suggestions for three safe experiments thatcan be performed with available household chemicals, and observationresults. The worksheets were implemented into action research in twoclasses taught by the same teacher. The verification of the worksheetstook 90 min. First, the students filled out the prediction cards,structured the concepts related to the topic of the worksheet, verifiedthe worksheet, wrote the results of the verification, and finally,after performing the experiments, filled in the prediction cards again.It was found that students have a problem with the interpretationof the data and many of them lack the skills needed to carry out theexperiment. The knowledge at the beginning and at the end of the lessonwas verified by deciding on the truth of the statements on the predictioncard. For lipids, students' input knowledge was 57% and outputknowledge was 81%, while for proteins, students' input knowledgewas 66% and output knowledge was 91%. The combination of work witha conceptual map and the implementation of experiments led to theconsolidation of knowledge in these two thematic units of biochemistry.