A Software Package for Teaching Neurobiology Through Interactive Laboratory Simulations

生物科学（61）这个项目继续NSF资助的项目，通过交互式模拟来教授本科生神经生物学，模拟在真实的湿实验室中进行实际实验的经验。我们的第一个努力产生了一个软件框架，允许学生通过以积极探索的方式进行模拟实验来学习基本概念，以及一小组互动实验室，通过探索例如静息电位，动作电位和简单的神经调节来练习这个框架。在这里，我们正在进行重大的新的努力，利用我们现有的软件框架：1）教学生定量和分析的技能和方法，在数据分析和实验设计的背景下; 2）使我们的软件和实验室广泛提供给来自各种背景和教育环境的学生（包括非传统学习者）通过一系列涵盖基本概念和使用我们软件的互动教程; 3）开发新的计算机工具，对学生的学习进行客观评估和分级测试。其结果将是我们的软件的第二个版本，包括实验设计，数据分析和学生学习的测试/评估的主要新工具，以及30个经过充分测试的交互式实验室的集合，涵盖了细胞神经生物学的大部分或全部核心概念。

Biological Sciences (61)This project continues an NSF-funded project to teach undergraduate neurobiology through interactive simulations that mimic the experience of doing actual experiments in a real wet lab. Our first effort produced a software framework that allows students to learn basic concepts by doing simulated experiments in an active exploratory way, and a small set of interactive laboratories that exercise this framework through explorations of, e.g. resting potentials, action potentials and simple neuromodulation. Here, we are undertaking major new efforts which exploit our existing software framework to: 1) teach students quantitative and analytical skills and methods in the context of data analysis and experimental design; 2) make our software and labs broadly available to students from a wide variety of backgrounds and educational environments (including non-traditional learners) through a series of interactive tutorials covering fundamental concepts and the use of our software; and 3) develop new computer-based tools for the objective assessment and graded testing of student learning. The result will be a second version of our software, incorporating major new tools for experimental design, data analysis, and testing/assessment of student learning, together with a collection of 30 fully tested interactive laboratories covering most or allof the core concepts in cellular neurobiology.