Dr. Tracey Arnold Murray is a biochemist — an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of biology and chemistry. She has two primary research interests: the behavior of proteins that have a riboflavin-based cofactor and the teaching of biochemistry and chemistry.
At Capital, Dr. Murray has used the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning method (POGIL) to teach her biochemistry classes. This philosophy uses group work and guided inquiry activities to teach course material. In addition to biochemistry content, students practice their management, critical thinking, problem solving and process analysis skills by working collaboratively to solve difficult problems. The result is optimized student learning and success.
Dr. Murray has written many activities for her biochemistry classes and has done education research to prove the efficacy of the activities designed to teach students to read the primary literature.
She also is part of a small group of biochemists from all over the country that are working to encourage the use of student-centered active learning in the biochemistry classroom. This group has written materials for biochemistry classes and has designed and tested assessment instruments to demonstrate student learning. Dr. Murray is now extending what she has learned about this teaching philosophy into her other classes, including General Chemistry for Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, and Health and Sports Science majors and GOB Chemistry for nursing majors.
Dr. Murray’s goal for all her students is to learn how to teach themselves. It is not possible to teach a student everything they will need to know to succeed from ages 22 to 65. In fact, we can’t even imagine the changes to technology and society that will occur. That's why a college education should give a student the tools he or she needs to effectively learn and adapt to those changes — to learn how to learn.