Sample teaching material and student work 

“Picturing things” is my kind of way to teach. 

Gene expression is notoriously one of the most challenging units we cover in BIOL 1103L (Concepts in Biology Laboratory). I have personally observed that both non-major and biology major students experience the conceptual difficulty of distinguishing between transcription and translation. Having also served as a TA for upper-level Cell Biology (CBIO 3400), I have seen graduating seniors grapple with these exact same mechanisms. Because the processes driving gene expression are microscopic and abstract, they require more than standard textbook definitions to truly click and understand.

To help my non-major students conceptualize how these intertwined processes work, I developed a hand-drawn, cartoonified analogy comparing gene transcription to an Amazon delivery driver navigating packages to the correct location. I chose Amazon because it provides an immediate, universally familiar, household, global brand. I relied heavily on similar caricatures and visual metaphors when I was an undergraduate biology major to break down dense material, and I wanted to bring that same accessible scaffolding to my classroom. By illustrating how the efficiency and accuracy of a delivery driver mirror the critical steps of transcription prior to protein synthesis, an invisible biological process suddenly became a tangible, practical reality.

The impact on student engagement was immediate. Rather than passively receiving information, students used the analogy to ground themselves in the laboratory experiments that followed, finally understanding the “why” behind our protocols. More importantly, it sparked active, collaborative discussions. As I walked from table to table, students were no longer intimidated by the concept; instead, they were actively brainstorming and debating their own real-world analogies for gene expression, demonstrating a genuine understanding of the material.