Engaging Undergraduates in On-Line Inquiry Learning: A Case-Based CyberLibrary in Human Biology

该项目旨在培养生物学入门学生和未来教师的批判性思维和问题解决能力。这项工作促进了主动学习，并提供了以探究为导向的生物学材料，使所有学生都能兴奋地学习生物学。产品包括：1)人类生物学案例网络图书馆，这是一套功能强大的本科生医学案例研究；2)一套支持学生查询的软件工具。医学案例改编自为医学教育而开发的案例，包括一些来自哈佛医学院的案例。基于CCLI项目和教育部先前提供的资金，我们开发了基础设施软件、查询工具和一个人类生物学案例。目前的项目正在开发几个额外的案例，并测试产品和工具对学生学习的有效性。我们正在研究这些材料对探究性学习的支持程度，并评估可用性和学生对科学推理态度的变化。该材料已被标记为国家科学数字图书馆（NSDL），并提交给BioQUEST进行审查。智力价值：这项工作推动了人工智能、交互式多媒体和基于网络技术在生物教育中的应用。更广泛的影响：研究结果有可能影响出版商、大学、营利性公司和开发非印刷教育材料的个人作者。

This project addresses the need to engage introductory biology students and future teachers in critical thinking and problem solving. The work fosters active learning and provides inquiry-oriented biology materials that make learning biology exciting and relevant for all students. The products include 1) The Human Biology Case CyberLibrary, a powerful suite of medical case studies for undergraduates; and 2) a set of software tools to support student inquiry. Medical cases are adapted from cases developed for medical education, including some from Harvard Medical School. Based on prior funding from the CCLI program and the Department of Education we developed infrastructure software, inquiry tools and one human biology case. The current project is developing several additional cases and testing the effectiveness of the product and tools on student learning. We are examining how well the material supports inquiry learning and evaluating usability and changes in student attitudes towards scientific reasoning. This material is being tagged for the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and submitted to and reviewed by BioQUEST. Intellectual merit: The work pushes the state of the art in the use of artificial intelligence, interactive multimedia, and web-based technology in biology education. Broader impact: The results have the potential to impact publishers, universities, for-profit companies, and individual authors who develop non-print educational materials.