Teaching Practice of Medicinal Chemistry Guided by the Modified CREATE Pedagogy: A Case of Quaternary Ammonium Salt Antimicrobial Agents

We report a modified CREATE pedagogy (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze data, and Try Experiments) and implement it in an undergraduate medicinal chemistry course to address limitations of traditional teacher-centered STEM education, particularly the insufficient cultivation of scientific thinking. Compared with the classical CREATE framework, the fifth step was redefined from “Think of the next Experiment” to “Try Experiments”, thereby emphasizing hands-on practice and experiential learning. This approach shifts the instructional focus from passive knowledge acquisition to the development of students’ competencies in reading primary literature, analyzing scientific data, and designing drug discovery strategies. The course was structured around original research articles rather than textbook-based instruction, with modular content organized around the theme of the design and development of quaternary ammonium antibacterial agents, culminating in experimental validation of student-designed strategies. The results show that students enhanced their ability to analyze and synthesize complex literature and interpret scientific data. Their understanding of the scientific process deepened from theoretical awareness to hands-on engagement, creating an integrated, cyclic skill set spanning literature analysis, experimental design, and experimental verification. In addition, students demonstrated enhanced scientific self-efficacy, increased interest in medicinal chemistry and the research process, and made positive gains in classroom engagement and teamwork, highlighting a scalable and effective pedagogical framework for cultivating talent in medicinal chemistry.