Metabolism LIVE with Prof. Rick Topinka

I saw Prof. Rick Topinka doing some interesting science with his non-majors biology students.

Cool! Prof. @ricktopinka #AmericanRiverCollege conducts live-action respiration w/ his biology students pic.twitter.com/t9jybzldp0
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) October 16, 2013

Metabolism, such as cellular respiration, is a favorite, but confounding, biology topic. OpenStax College has an #openaccess series of textbook modules to learn about cellular metabolism.

Learning about metabolism in Prof @RickTopinka #biol310 class pic.twitter.com/ImIDhSgd8h
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) March 20, 2013

Source: Wikipedia (Cellular Respiration)

But Prof. Topinka has an interesting way to help biology students learn cellular respiration. With theatrical flourish, the students become molecular actors in metabolic play, dancing through the complexities of the respiration reactions.

Last spring I watched another student live-action play of cellular respiration in Prof. Topinka's classroom.

How students learn about metabolism w/ Prof @RickTopinka #awesome #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/v7eqY6j6sO
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) March 20, 2013

The electron transport chain LIVE in Prof @RickTopinka #biol310 class #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/TB3Nz2LNMg
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) March 20, 2013

Electron transport chain #fail - Prof @RickTopinka plays evil Mr. Cyanide #biol310 #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/xYqCzJVVXc
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) March 20, 2013

I was able to catch some of the student-enacted cellular respiration on video.

Thanks, Rick, for a peek into your class!

Prof @RickTopinka and me: I was observing his #biol310 lab today #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/UO1fBTrQeR
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) March 20, 2013