Avida-ED: Technology for Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science using Digital Organisms

Avida-ED：使用数字有机体教授进化论和科学本质的技术

• 批准号: 0341484
• 负责人: Robert Pennock
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-02-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0341484&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Avida; ED; Technology; Teaching; Evolution

Interdisciplinary (99) This project is developing Avida-ED, an educational simulation based on a proven artificial life research platform. In the digital environment of Avida-ED, one can observe the evolution of self-replicating, autonomous digital organisms, and perform experiments to test evolutionary hypotheses in ways that no other tool allows. This unprecedented ability to introduce experimental evolution in biology classrooms lets students learn about basic principles of scientific method and see for themselves how evolutionary theory is confirmed. We are developing and testing the Avida-ED environment, formally accessing its pedagogic efficacy in the classroom for undergraduate science and non-science majors, and distributing the software and associated materials to biology educators. The project is addressing significant science education challenges identified in national standards in a novel, rigorous, and promising manner. Our initial results show that by being able to observe the evolutionary mechanism in action, students come to understand the key biological insight of how evolution produces complex information. The intellectual merit of this project is the novel use of information technology - artificial life - that was inspired by evolutionary principles, and has become a revolutionary research tool for biologists. The broader impacts of this project lie in the application of this simulation and the developed materials in a wide range of undergraduate science curricula.

跨学科(99)这个项目正在开发Avida-Ed，一个基于成熟的人工生命研究平台的教育模拟。在Avida-Ed的数字环境中，人们可以观察自我复制的自主数字有机体的进化，并以其他工具所不允许的方式进行实验来测试进化假说。这种在生物课堂上引入实验进化论的史无前例的能力，让学生了解科学方法的基本原理，并亲眼目睹进化论是如何得到证实的。我们正在开发和测试Avida-Ed环境，正式在本科理科和非理科专业的课堂上使用它的教学效果，并将软件和相关材料分发给生物教育工作者。该项目正在以一种新颖、严格和有前途的方式应对国家标准中确定的重大科学教育挑战。我们的初步结果表明，通过能够观察进化的实际机制，学生们逐渐理解了进化如何产生复杂信息的关键生物学见解。该项目在智力上的价值是对信息技术--人工生命--的新颖使用，它受到进化论原理的启发，已经成为生物学家革命性的研究工具。这个项目的更广泛的影响在于在广泛的本科理科课程中应用这种模拟和开发的材料。