A mouse has disappeared! Do you help us to find the guilty? Analysis of educational and emotional impact of a simulated mission

Abstract

Educational and emotional impact of contents contextualization of a summer course in molecular biology is analyzed. A simulated mission of discovering the guilty of stealing a laboratory mouse from biological samples was proposed to three groups of high school students. Solving the case required to design experiments, apply basic molecular biology techniques, analyze data and prepare a scientific communication. The level of 20 key concepts of molecular biology learning was assessed at the beginning and at the end of the course, demonstrating the effectiveness of this teaching approach. Moreover, the students’ improvement on their vision of the nature of science was evidenced and positive emotions were generated.