Development of an Inquiry-Based Cell Biology Laboratory with Emphasis on Scientific Communication Skills

理科生必须掌握的最重要的技能是批判性思维、有效的沟通和道德推理。此外，基于探究的学习是一种基于项目的教学策略，涉及问题的制定以及回答这些问题的策略的发展和实施，这种类型的学习已被证明可以显著提高批判性思维技能。该项目通过将这些特性纳入克莱姆森大学新颖的探究式细胞生物学实验课程，该课程由三个研究模块（每个模块四个星期）组成，旨在让学生通过实验和合作提出和回答问题。这些模块是围绕重要的细胞生物学概念设计的，如细胞-细胞和细胞-基质相互作用，细胞生长，死亡和分化，囊泡运输和信号转导。学生正在获得各种技术的“动手”经验，包括荧光显微镜，分光光度法和荧光法。重要的是，每周的实验课程都以一个有指导的小组讨论结束，以解释实验结果并为下一组实验提出假设。为了解决沟通问题，每个模块最终通过海报展示，口头展示或标准期刊格式的手稿传播科学数据。科学传播的一个至关重要但经常被忽视的方面是伦理推理，因此，作为科学探究和传播过程的一部分，学生也要参与科学传播伦理的讨论。批判性思维和技术交流的广泛评估是课程评估的一部分，课程参与者的科学态度也是如此，因为有证据表明，获得批判性思维技能可能会对学生在科学领域的保留产生积极影响。每年，大约有225名生物科学、微生物学、遗传学、生物化学、生物工程、化学工程和动物与兽医科学的本科生直接受到该项目的影响。项目团队包括一个跨学科的团队，由来自生物科学、技术传播和教育的教师组成。创建和传播一门独特的细胞生物学实验课程，将探究性研究、科学传播和伦理推理成分显著结合起来，有望为STEM教育的研究做出重大贡献。

Among the most important skills that students of science must acquire are critical thinking, effective communication, and ethical reasoning. Moreover, inquiry-based learning is a project-based pedagogic strategy that involves the formulation of questions and the development and implementation of strategies to answer such questions, and this type of learning has been shown to significantly enhance critical thinking skills. This project addresses these attributes by their inclusion in a novel inquiry-based cell biology laboratory course at Clemson University that consists of three research modules (four weeks each) designed to allow students to ask and answer questions via experimentation and collaboration. The modules have been designed around important cell biology concepts such as cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions, cell growth, death and differentiation, vesicle trafficking, and signal transduction. Students are acquiring "hands on" experience in a variety of techniques including fluorescence microscopy, spectrophotometry, and fluorimetry. Importantly, each week's lab session ends with a guided group discussion to interpret the results of experiments and to develop hypotheses for the next set of experiments. To address communication, each module culminates with the dissemination of the scientific data through a poster presentation, oral presentation, or manuscript in standard journal format. A crucial, but often overlooked, dimension of scientific communication is ethical reasoning so, as a part of the scientific inquiry and communication processes, students also engage in the discussion of the ethics of scientific communication. Extensive assessment in critical thinking and technical communication is part of the evaluation of the course as are science-related attitudes of course participants since evidence suggests that acquiring critical thinking skills may positively impact retention of students in the sciences. Each year, approximately two hundred and twenty-five biological sciences, microbiology, genetics, biochemistry, bioengineering, chemical engineering, and animal and veterinary sciences undergraduate students are being directly impacted by the project. The project team includes an interdisciplinary team of faculty from biological sciences, technical communication, and education. The creation and dissemination of a distinctive cell biology laboratory course that significantly combines inquiry-based research, science communication, and ethical reasoning components is expected to significantly contribute to research in STEM education.