Chemistry and Biochemistry of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS): A Second Chemistry/Biochemistry Transdisciplinary Workshop at MEDTEC School

Chemistry is a core requirement in medical curricula, yet first-year students often perceive it as abstract and disconnected from their professional goals. Context-based education and transdisciplinary approaches can enhance relevance and cognitive engagement by linking chemical principles to authentic biomedical problems. We report the design, implementation, and evaluation of a 4-h workshop on the chemistry and biochemistry of reactive oxygen species (ROS), delivered to first-year medical and biomedical engineering students in a double-degree program. The workshop combined active, collaborative, and gamified strategies through five activities, including think–pair–share exercises, a prior knowledge test, peer review, and a multistep problem-solving challenge. Students applied prior knowledge of bonding, redox chemistry, and organic reaction mechanisms to explore ROS reactivity, lipid peroxidation, and the pathophysiological roles of ROS-derived aldehydes. The central guiding question─“ROS: Is it all bad?”─framed discussions on the dual role of ROS as signaling mediators and sources of oxidative stress. Over six consecutive cohorts (from 2019 to 2020 to 2025–2025), participation was consistently high (>60% of students) despite voluntary attendance. Performance outcomes indicated strong achievement of learning objectives, while anonymous surveys revealed that >90% of participants found the workshop useful for integrating chemistry with biochemistry and >80% reported heightened interest in transdisciplinary connections. Students also recognized gains in transferable skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. This workshop illustrates how context-based, transdisciplinary activities can effectively bridge disciplinary boundaries, increase motivation, and support both scientific understanding and soft skill development in medical education.