Abstract Aerobic and anaerobic metabolism are two ways for organisms to utilize organics, and the former has been the core of organic metabolism in the biochemistry course. Compared with aerobic metabolism, anaerobic digestion possesses many chemical reactions, intermediates and complex pathways and plays an important role in maintaining ecological balance and sustainable development of human society. Such an important pathway has not been involved in biochemistry textbooks and teaching contents previously, causing an urgent need for teaching reform. In order to supplement another pathway of metabolism, the author systematically introduced the main reactions in anaerobic digestion, redox processes with electron transfer, and thermodynamic changes using the Bloom’s educational goal classification theory, which enriched the knowledge of metabolic network for students and upgraded the teaching system of biochemistry courses. The teaching contents and experiences could provide a valuable reference for the university teachers to carry out the teaching reform of related courses.
