Making heads or tails: planarian stem cells in the classroom.
Making heads or tails: planarian stem cells in the classroom.
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正面还是反面：课堂上的涡虫干细胞。
DOI：
10.1128/jmbe.v15i1.692
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发表时间：
2014
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Carson,Susan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Srougi,MelissaC;Thomas-Swanik,Jackie;Chan,JohnD;Marchant,JonathanS;Carson,Susan
干细胞在治疗从癌症到痴呆症的疾病方面具有巨大的前景。然而，随着干细胞生物学领域的迅速出现，激烈的政治辩论也随之而来，仔细审查干细胞使用的伦理影响。因此，必须通过对学生进行干细胞生物学教育来提高科学素养。然而，在基础科学一级，确实缺乏让学生参与这一主题的材料。因此，我们已经开发和实施了一个动手介绍实验室模块，向学生介绍干细胞生物学，可以很容易地纳入现有的课程。学生学习干细胞生物学使用anin vivoplanarian模型系统，其中他们下调两个基因的重要干细胞分化使用RNA干扰，然后观察再生表型。该模块在高中、社区学院和大学各级进行了试点。在这里，我们报告说，在社区学院入学的生物学入门学生能够证明在三周的课程完成一个小时的讲座和四个45分钟的实验室会议后，学习的收获。这些学习成果的收益进行了客观的评估之前和之后，使用学生测验和实验结果执行。此外，学生的自我评估显示，感知知识的增加以及对干细胞的普遍兴趣。因此，这些数据表明，这个模块是一个简单，有用的方式来吸引和教学生有关干细胞生物学。
Stem cells hold great promise in the treatment of diseases ranging from cancer to dementia. However, as rapidly as the field of stem cell biology has emerged, heated political debate has followed, scrutinizing the ethical implications of stem cell use. It is therefore imperative to promote scientific literacy by educating students about stem cell biology. Yet, there is a definite lack of material to engage students in this subject at the basic science level. Therefore, we have developed and implemented a hands-on introductory laboratory module that introduces students to stem cell biology and can be easily incorporated into existing curricula. Students learn about stem cell biology using anin vivoplanarian model system in which they down-regulate two genes important in stem cell differentiation using RNA interference and then observe the regenerative phenotype. The module was piloted at the high school, community college, and university levels. Here, we report that introductory biology students enrolled at a community college were able to demonstrate gains in learning after completion of a one-hour lecture and four 45-minute laboratory sessions over the course of three weeks. These gains in learning outcomes were objectively evaluated both before and after its execution using a student quiz and experimental results. Furthermore, students’ self-assessments revealed increases in perceived knowledge as well as a general interest in stem cells. Therefore, these data suggest that this module is a simple, useful way to engage and to teach students about stem cell biology.