Design, delivery and evaluation of a bioinformatics education workshop for 13-16-year-olds
Design, delivery and evaluation of a bioinformatics education workshop for 13-16-year-olds
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DOI：
10.1080/00219266.2020.1858932
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发表时间：
2020-12-28
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Meagher, Thomas R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Barker, Daniel;Bain, Stevie A.;Meagher, Thomas R.
生物信息学是计算机在生物学中的应用，特别是分析DNA和蛋白质序列以及相关数据。生物信息学已成为生命科学研究的大多数领域的关键。然而，生物信息学教育没有跟上这些进步的步伐。为了帮助解决这个问题，我们为中学生物学生设计了一个开放式的生物信息学研讨会。该研讨会与苏格兰的课程有关，涉及苏格兰资格管理局高等生物学和人类生物学的学习目标。此外，它旨在更普遍地激励学生，并将对证据的批判性评估作为一项更通用的技能。我们提供了这个研讨会，在苏格兰的七所学校的生物学生，并进行了学生和教师的反馈评估。学生和教师的定量反馈表明，讲习班是有益的和愉快的，没有统计学上的显着差异，学生确定为女性和学生确定为男性。定性反应表明，讲习班提供了生物信息学领域的知识及其在日常生活中的重要性增加，学生喜欢小组工作。教师们还强调了课堂实践经验的重要性。我们的结论是，讲习班是成功的，其目标，并适合更广泛的部署。
Bioinformatics is the use of computers in biology, particularly to analyse DNA and protein sequences and associated data. Bioinformatics has become crucial to most areas of life sciences research. However, bioinformatics education has not kept up with the pace of these advances. To help address this problem, we have designed an open-access bioinformatics workshop for secondary school biology pupils. The workshop is linked to the curriculum in Scotland, addressing learning objectives for Scottish Qualifications Authority Higher Biology and Human Biology. Furthermore, it aims to inspire pupils more generally and includes critical evaluation of evidence as a more generic skill. We delivered this workshop to biology pupils of seven schools in Scotland and conducted evaluations of pupil and teacher feedback. Quantitative pupil and teacher feedback suggests the workshop is useful and enjoyable, with no statistically significant difference between pupils identifying as female and pupils identifying as male. Qualitative responses suggest the workshop gives an increased knowledge of the field of bioinformatics and its importance in everyday life, and that pupils enjoy working in groups. Teachers also highlight the importance of hands-on experience in the classroom. We conclude the workshop is successful in its aims and is suitable for wider deployment.