The Molecular Rover: Learning Science from Close Engagement with Molecular Phenomena

该项目将开发和应用新的教育技术工具，指导学生探索复杂的3D分子结构和影响它们的力。配备了一套工具，例如虚拟探测器，学生将在分子中导航，探索分子之间的作用力，这些分子定义了大的生物聚合物(例如DNA或蛋白质)、离子晶格、液晶、细胞膜或配体-受体复合体等结构。虚拟探头将帮助学生认识到官能团对静电性质和复杂分子表面特征的影响。这些分子结构的普遍性，再加上友好界面的使用，使我们能够定性地介绍适合高中和大学的材料科学、物理、化学和分子生物学的分子基础。使用开源建模和创作系统分子工作台，该项目将创建具有教师创作能力的分子动力学和3D环境的独特混合。将基于JMOL脚本开发一个探索学生学习模型的日志系统。这将有利于学生从静态和动态三维分子模型中学习。对基于相同内容的2D和3D分子模型进行了比较。这个项目的软件将免费提供，并可能对数百万学生产生广泛影响。

This project will develop and apply new educational technology tools that will guide students' exploration of complex 3D molecular structures and the forces that affect them. Equipped with a set of tools, e.g. virtual probes, students will navigate above, below and through molecules exploring forces among molecules that define structures such as large biopolymers (e.g. DNA or proteins), ionic lattices, liquid crystals, cell membranes, or ligand-receptor complexes. Virtual probes will help students recognize the effects of functional groups on electrostatic properties and characteristics of complex molecular surfaces. The universality of those molecular structures, coupled with the use of a friendly interface, allows for a qualitative introduction to the molecular underpinnings of material science, physics, chemistry and molecular biology appropriate for both high school and college. Using the Molecular Workbench, an open-source modeling and authoring system, the project will create a unique blend of molecular dynamics and 3D environments with teacher-authoring capabilities. A logging system to explore student learning with models will be developed based on Jmol scripts. This will facilitate the study of students' learning from static and dynamic 3D molecular models. A comparison of 2D and 3D molecular models based on the same content will be made. The software for this project will be freely available and potentially have a broad impact on millions of students.