BIRDD Digital Library: Enhancing Evolution Education

Beagle Investigations Return With Darwian Data(BIRDD)数字图书馆是一个突破性的课程资源原型，用于教学进化论。自从达尔文的经典访问以来，BIRDD提供了大量的数据，这些数据是从加拉帕戈斯群岛的无数次科学考察中收集的。尽管这个原型得到了学生、教授和研究生物学家的热烈响应，但BIRDD正在得到显著的改进和扩展。阿尔法原型的生物多样性有限(它只包含关于雀类的信息，而不是乌龟、鬣蜥、蜥蜴、乳房鸟、护卫舰鸟类、企鹅或任何植物、真菌、无脊椎动物或原核生物的信息)，新手很难导航，数据集之间的联系有限，没有用于行为或其他时间分析的视频，数据很难导出到其他软件包，除非是制表符分隔的数据。因此，BIRDD正在通过(1)新的软件开发，(2)获得重要的生物、地质、气象和海洋数据的新资源，(3)建立相互联系和更多的输出功能，以便能够从系统发育、空间和时间上分析数据，(4)通过密集的研讨会和课堂实地测试和形成性评估进行参与式设计，以及(5)利用BIRDD数字图书馆开发学生研究问题。正在对这些材料进行实地测试，进行形成性评估，并向其他教育工作者传播，以改善BIRDD的可用性和教学潜力。我们认为，普通学生和预科学生的生物学教育质量直接关系到我们帮助他们理解进化生物学基本概念的程度。公民对进化的总体理解程度是不够的。为了改善这种情况，学生需要能够获得支持实验室和实地工作的大量数据和工具，教育工作者需要能够获得用于进化的实验室的教学模型。BIRDD两者都能提供。

The Beagle Investigations Return with Darwinian Data (BIRDD) Digital Library is an "alpha" prototype of a groundbreaking curricular resource for teaching evolution. BIRDD makes accessible a tremendous variety and quantity of data that have been collected from numerous scientific expeditions to the Galapagos ever since Darwin's classic visit. Even though this prototype has received enthusiastic response from students, professors, and research biologists, BIRDD is being significantly improved and extended. The alpha prototype had limited bio-diversity (it only contained information on finches not tortoises, iguanas, lizards, boobies, frigate birds, penguins, or any plants, fungi, invertebrates, or prokaryotes), it was difficult for novices to navigate, had limited linkages between data sets, contained no videos for behavioral or other temporal analyses, and data were difficult to export to other software packages except as tab delimited data. Thus, BIRDD is being expanded through (1) new software development, (2) acquisition of important new resources of biological, geological, meteorological, and oceanic data, (3) construction of inter-linkages and more export functions so that the data can be analyzed phylogenetically, spatially, and temporally, (4) participatory design through intensive workshop and classroom field testing and formative evaluation, and (5) the development of student research problems using the BIRDD Digital Library. The materials are being field-tested with formative evaluation with dissemination to other educators to improve BIRDD's availability and pedagogical potential. We make a case that the quality of biology education for general and pre-professional students alike is directly related to how well we help them understand fundamental concepts of evolutionary biology. The general level of understanding of evolution by citizens is inadequate. To improve this situation, students need to have access to extensive data and tools that support laboratory and fieldwork, and educators need to have access to pedagogical models of laboratories for evolution. BIRDD provides both.