STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS AND PROPERTIES OF PROTEINS -AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ON-LINE LESSON INCLUDED IN THE EDUCATIONAL DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAM IN BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS OF SPECIALIZED PREPARATORY LANGUAGE COURSE

Abstract

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has brought about a radical change in the education of pupils and students around the world. Education has changed dramatically, and e-learning has risen to a higher level by distance learning using different digital platforms. Different opinions appeared: it is a retreat, a moment of change, a time to rethink or even a compulsion. No matter what happens, teachers are obliged to adapt to the new conditions. This is the way where the educational content can be presented clearly and precisely in order to maximize its utilization. The ordinary classroom has become a virtual. The leaning in person has become distance learning. The way of teaching had to be completely changed. Of course, it is very difficult to teach when there is no direct contact with the students. For this reason, new teaching methods, completely different from the traditional ones, were urgently introduced. In this paper we present the way of distance teaching of an interdisciplinary lesson included in the Preparatory course for foreign students, organized by the Department of Languages and Specialized Training of the Medical University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The topic of the lesson is "Structure, functions and properties of proteins". Proteins are extremely important biopolymers in both chemical and biological aspect. They consist of chains of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. The proteins are presented with their primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure, defining their various functions. The lesson begins with a presentation that includes richly illustrated drawings, photos and tables related to the topic. The chemical formulas of amino acids and the chemical bonds between them are presented in detail. The structure, function and properties of proteins are described as well. After the presentation, each student receives a file with questions related to the topic of the lesson, which must be answered. The students from the Preparatory course do not have a rich vocabulary of terms. Also their language skills are not high enough, so the questions are tailored accordingly. Reading the lesson several times and looking for the answers help the students to get into the specifics of the topic and to make sense of the content. Once the students realize what they are looking for, they become active to find the answer to the question. Also, the active search for answers holds their attention. The teacher is always in contact with the students in case any questions arise. After the lesson, the questionnaires are checked by the teacher and each student has the opportunity to see what mistakes he has made. Depending on the degree program (Medicine, Dental medicine, Pharmacy), after the presentation, different videos are presented to build a better idea. There may be brief discussions and interesting facts related to the topic that also keep the students' attention