Producing Interactive Web-Based Animations for Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology

这个项目涉及到一个原型的互动动画的设计，用于在线教程的细胞和分子生物学课程的介绍。 正在开发的原型模拟氧化磷酸化，这是一个涉及许多分子机制的过程，可以在细胞水平上进行实验操作。 该动画通过一个内置的功能，允许学生操纵细胞条件，或添加药物制剂，并观察模拟过程的变化，促进独立的探索和实验。拟议的互动动画的智力价值是包含了三个在其他动画中不常见的功能。 首先，动画是交互式的，并允许学生通过虚拟实验功能操纵模拟的许多参数。 第二，动画包括复习和挑战问题，学生会立即收到反馈，旨在监测他或她的理解并揭示任何误解。 第三，教师能够跟踪学生对动画的使用，因此，它在加深学生理解方面的效用。 此外，互动动画设计灵活，内容可以修改，以适应不同背景的学生，包括生物专业和非生物专业。这一关于氧化磷酸化的互动动画具有广泛的影响，因为它可以通过一个合作实体提供给全国其他地方的教员使用。 重要的是，该系统是可扩展的;虽然最初以开发人员的机构为中心，但编程架构允许它在未来几年扩展为无限大小的分布式网络，其中互连节点跨越全国。该系统捕获和处理有关学生学习进度的数据的能力（加上向学生和教师提供持续反馈的能力）有可能影响课程教学方式和学生学习方式的根本变化。

This project involves the design of a prototype interactive animation to be used in the on-line tutorials for introductory cell and molecular biology classes. The prototype being developed simulates oxidative phosphorylation, a process that involves many molecular mechanisms and that can be manipulated experimentally at the cellular level. The animation promotes independent exploration and experimentation through a built-in feature that allows a student to manipulate cellular conditions, or add a pharmacological agent, and observe the changes to the simulated process.The intellectual merit of the proposed interactive animation is the inclusion of three features not commonly found in other animations. First, the animation is interactive and allows the student to manipulate many of the parameters of the simulation through a virtual experimentation feature. Second, the animation includes review and challenge questions, for which a student receives immediate feedback, designed to monitor his or her understanding and to reveal any misconceptions. Third, the instructor is able to track the student's use of the animation and therefore, its utility in deepening the student's understanding. Furthermore, the interactive animation is flexible in design so that the content can be modified to accommodate a range of students with different backgrounds, including both biology majors and non-biology majors. This interactive animation on oxidative phosphorylation has broad impacts because it is available through a cooperative entity for use by instructors at other locations around the country. Importantly, the system is scalable; although initially centered at the developer's institution, the programming architecture allows it to be expanded, in future years, into a distributed network of unlimited size, with interconnected nodes spanning the country. The ability of the system to capture and process data about the learning progress of students (coupled with the ability to provide constant feedback to both the student and instructor) has the potential to effect a fundamental change in how courses are taught, and how students approach learning.