Scaffolding Conceptually Driven Genomics Education

让本科生在课堂上进行真实的研究可以促进科学思维的发展。然而，在拥有20名或更多学生的教学实验室中，学生在开放式研究问题上取得成功的一个限制因素是教师能否实时、个性化地提供指导（引导学生进行更高层次的思考，并解决与学生研究问题相关的复杂问题）。这个项目正在测试这样一个假设，即通过适度地搭建学生研究过程，一个精心设计的网络界面工具，“探索基因组学上下文界面”（EGCI），可以支持课堂教学，促进基因组学的真正研究，而只需要少量的教师投入。EGCI为学生提供了一种迭代的方法，让他们选择使用一系列基因组学工具来提出和解决生物学上有趣的问题的策略。它旨在帮助学生培养以下能力：1)定义生物学上有趣的问题，这些问题可以用数据来解决；2)将基因与生物学功能联系起来；3)分析数据，包括质量方面；4)发展对重要定量方法的基于文献的理解；5)通过将文献、课堂知识和数据分析结合起来，彻底检验一个可行的假设。该项目的具体研究目标是：确定本科学生的科学思维能力如何通过课程背景下的真实研究经验得到增强；2. 分析脚手架在支持学生科研成功中的作用；和3。确定基于计算机的开放式研究脚手架的可推广组件。这些都是使用混合方法研究方法来收集数据的特点：1)个别学生在课程前的技能水平，在特定作业之前的课程中发展，以及在作业之后；2)学生在作业期间的行为(包括结构化观察；学生反思；以及EGCI网络指标的分析)，以及3)教师完成的脚手架（包括教师的结构化观察和反思）。智力优势：基因组学教育是开展这项工作的理想平台，因为基因组学是现代科学的重要前沿，为学生提供了处理大型数据集的机会；并且允许在多个组织层次上构建生物学问题。Chamaecrista（鹧鸪豌豆）和Aiptasia（共生珊瑚的模型）是这项初步工作选择的生物，是理想的测试对象，因为它们受到全球气候变化和进化的威胁，在科学上很重要，最重要的是，对于一个本科项目来说，它们有现成的基因序列和适当的支持分析工具。更广泛的影响：确定脚手架软件的一般元素，支持大规模的真实学生研究，增加了许多机构的本科生发展更高层次的科学思维技能的机会，满足了国家的需求。所有的课程材料、评估工具和EGCI的可编辑表格都可以在教学基因组学网站上免费使用。这项工作是在两个不同的机构进行的——一个将基因组学整合到整个课程中（卡尔顿），另一个具有独特的基因组学和生物信息学课程（瓦萨），从而扩大了这些努力对其他机构的适用性。

Engaging undergraduate students in authentic research in the classroom can enhance development of scientific thinking. However, in a teaching laboratory with 20 or more students, a limiting factor in student success with open-ended research problems is instructor availability for real time, individualized scaffolding (guiding students to higher-level thinking and complex problem solving related to the student's research problem). This project is testing the hypothesis that by moderately scaffolding the student research process a carefully designed web interface tool, the "Exploring Genomics in Context Interface" (EGCI), can support classroom instruction and facilitate authentic research in genomics with only a modicum of faculty input. The EGCI provides an iterative way for students to choose strategies for asking and addressing biologically interesting questions using a range of genomics tools. It is designed to help students develop the ability to: 1) define biologically interesting questions that can be addressed with data, 2) relate a gene to biological function, 3) analyze data including the aspect of quality, 4) develop a literature-based understanding of important quantitative approaches, and 5) test thoroughly a viable hypothesis by bringing together the literature, classroom knowledge, and analysis of data. The project's specific research objectives are to: 1. determine how undergraduate students' scientific thinking skills are enhanced by an authentic research experience in the context of a course; 2. analyze the role of scaffolding in supporting student research success; and 3. identify generalizable components for computer-based scaffolding of open-ended research. These are being explored using a mixed-methods research approach to collect data that characterizes: 1) the skill level of individual students prior to the course, developed through the course prior to the specific assignment, and following the assignment, 2) student behavior during the assignment (including structured observations; student reflections; and analysis of EGCI webmetrics), and 3) the scaffolding accomplished by the faculty member (including structured observations and reflection by the faculty members). Intellectual Merit: Genomics education is an ideal platform on which to initiate this work because genomics, an important frontier in modern science, provides the opportunity for students to work with large datasets; and allows scaffolding of biological questions at multiple levels of organization. Chamaecrista (partridge pea) and Aiptasia (model for symbiotic corals), the organisms selected for this initial work, are ideal test subjects because they are threatened by global climate change and evolution, are scientifically important, and, most important for an undergraduate project, have readily available gene sequences and appropriate supporting analysis tools. Broader Impacts: Identifying general elements of scaffolding software that support authentic student research at scale increases opportunities for undergraduates at many institutions to develop higher order, scientific thinking skills, meeting a national need. All curricular material, assessment tools, and editable forms of the EGCI are being made freely available for adoption on the Teaching Genomics website. The work is being conducted at two different institutions - one that integrates genomics throughout the curriculum (Carleton) and one with distinct genomics and bioinformatics courses (Vassar), thus broadening the applicability of the efforts to other institutions.