Historical construction of the concept of the enzyme and approaches in biology textbooks

Abstract The use of the history and philosophy of science in teaching and learning is commonly neglected, linear, and/or out of context in textbooks. This article investigates whether this also occurs with the concept of enzymes. A brief review of the literature establishes the theoretical foundation to investigate how the concept of enzymes is presented in nine textbooks, following three different lines of analysis. A general lack of interconnection was seen in biochemistry topics, with enzymes usually only presented via the “lock-and-key” model, which does not best represent their complexity. Furthermore, conceptual limitations resulting from a lack of historical contextualization (partial or complete) were also observed.

摘要：在教学活动中融入科学史与科学哲学内容的做法，在教科书中常遭忽视、以线性方式呈现，或脱离具体语境。本文以酶（enzymes）的概念为研究对象，探究上述问题是否同样存在于相关教材中。首先通过简要的文献综述搭建研究的理论基础，随后围绕三条分析路径，对九本教科书中酶概念的呈现方式展开研究。研究发现，生物化学相关主题普遍缺乏内容关联性，酶的介绍通常仅依托锁钥模型（lock-and-key model）展开，而该模型无法充分体现酶的复杂性。此外，研究还观察到因缺乏历史语境化处理（部分或完全缺失）所导致的概念局限性。