Does The Krebs Cycle Go Counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere?

    Recently, I have been reintroduced to a childhood hobby, boardgames. One of these board games, Seven Wonders, has many cards, each with  several symbols which the player has to recognize to be able to play the game.  Struggling with this game and with playing and teaching games with similar iconography has made me think about the trouble my students have with all the representations used in teaching biology.
   So now I can get  to the point of the title of this blog. I had originally made that comment as a snarky comment on how most biological and biochemical cycles are diagrammed clockwise.  Then I read an article (sorry I don't have the cite handy) which suggested that when students see arrows they think "direction" rather than "sequence". Most arrows they see growing up represent directions; why should they think otherwise? I do not know whether the typical chemical equilibrium reaction symbols <----> help this issue.  The reaction goes to the right......

      Below is a typical membrane picture from wikimedia commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cell_membrane_detailed_diagram_blank.svg

I can tell my students what all the squiggles and blobs are supposed to be, but what does it really mean to them? . Last night I showed my students the picture and asked them to list the images that they recognized.  The students recognized about 2.5 structures on average. One student said that this was a thylakoid membrane and that Photosystem II was one of the structures. We haven't discussed photosynthesis.
      I suppose they would have done better if I had given the picture beforehand and asked them to label it. A favorite activity of biology instructors is to give students an image and ask them to label it. This is a worthwhile activity but sometimes it can be a bit much. Those tiny little sticks are cytoskeletal elements. That tiny circle is a peroxisome. That slightly larger circle is a lysosome. Some instructors insist that their students recognize large numbers of abstract shapes in cells. I have a second job tutoring high school students in Biology and Chemistry and one of my students is overwhelmed when she gets questions like that in exams. She has ADD. That can't help.
    I have heard that some students get upset if the test image is not exactly like the practice image. (This seems especially true in A&P classes, which I do not teach). Our textbook has a site with practice questions and their images are exactly the same as in the book. I would rather the students get the general shape and position in the cell correct. I created this activity for them. (The image is from wikimedia commons, not the textbook)
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/11670589/
  But even if I can get the students to recognize all the parts, I am not sure it helps their understanding of the cell.  Do these images have much meaning?
   
  Am I better off using real images? I can try with cells and some portions of cells (EM images for example) but for  smaller objects I am usually out of luck. For a wonderful exception see
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/09/first-pictures-hydrogen-bonds-unveiled-afm

     I have been told  that it is very useful for students to actually draw. I have tried this and they do seem to struggle. I recently gave my students an article with (gasp!) no pictures about genetic resistance to HIV. I told them to draw a cell from a sensitive individual and one from a resistant individual. Only a few could readily show the difference (the resistant individuals lack a membrane receptor needed for HIV to enter the cell). Perhaps others have had better luck with such an assignment?
      Another  activity I have tried is pictionary
Games? Check!
Active learning? Check!
Fun? They seem to like it?
Improvement on tests? Doesn't look like it...
Perhaps someone out there will have more insight into this question. I would love to hear it....