A Competency-based Research Laboratory Curriculum for Life Science Majors Integrating the Professional Development of Future Faculty

由一个具有开发和评估基于项目的本科实验室课程（1型CCLI项目，DUE 0737131）的经验和专业知识的教师团队领导，该项目正在开发，评估和传播大型大学环境中生命科学专业的上层部门间，研究型实验室课程。 学生们从事各种研究项目，包括病毒发现和三维成像，宏基因组细菌群落分析，海胆功能基因组学，植物-微生物相互作用和衣原体基因建模。该计划的主要组成部分包括：1）两个专业（微生物学，免疫学分子遗传学和分子，细胞和发育生物学）的所有本科生的指导研究经验，2）学生以研讨会形式进行的研究演示，3）学生撰写的研究论文，4）由研究和教学教师组成的多学科团队进行的讲座，以及5）基于计算机的生物信息学和数学建模工具（例如NCBI-BLAST，RDP-II和IMG）的调查。 这个项目也得到了2010年HHMI科学教育基金的支持。智力优势：这个项目正在为一个不断增长的关于细菌土壤群落信息的数据库（CURL，本科生研究实验室联盟，在线笔记本）做出贡献。 学生实验室在试点课程中的结果已经导致细菌群落的分离和表征，这对洛杉矶市内的可再生能源项目很重要。此外，目前的项目正在探索和展示有效的方法，以扩大试点项目中开发的教学方法，以适用于生物学中的其他子学科。至于结果密切了解本科教育的有效方法，评估计划包括学生的能力和学生对科学的印象方面的表现的课程前和课程后评估。 纵向评估被用来记录学术成就和科学职业抱负。 更广泛的影响：由课程的非部门配置，这种课程模式正在消除跨学科教学的障碍。通过与当地文理学院和综合大学举办一系列邀请讲习班，以确定它们的需要和满足这些需要的实际方法，正在制定战略，向其他有兴趣发展类似生物本科教育方法的四年制院校传播课程改进。 此外，正在与当地社区学院进行协商，以确保转学生能够充分利用正在制定的新课程。

Led by a team of faculty with experience and expertise in development and assessment of a project-based undergraduate laboratory course (a Type 1 CCLI project, DUE 0737131), this current project is developing, evaluating and disseminating an upper-division interdepartmental, research-based laboratory curriculum for life science majors in a large university setting. Students are engaged in a variety of research projects ranging from virus discovery and three dimensional imaging, metagenomic bacterial community analysis, sea urchin functional genomics, plant-microbe interactions, and Chlamydomonas gene modeling. The principal components of this program include: 1) mentored research experiences for all undergraduates in two majors (Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology), 2) research presentations by students in a seminar format, 3) research papers written by students, 4) lectures by a multi-disciplinary team of research and teaching faculty, and 5) computer-based investigations with bioinformatics and mathematical modeling tools (e.g. NCBI-BLAST,RDP-II and IMG). This project is also receiving support from a 2010 HHMI Science Education grant.Intellectual Merit: This project is contributing to a growing database (the CURL, Consortium of Undergraduate Research Laboratories, Online Notebook) of information about bacterial soil communities. Results from student laboratories in pilot courses have already resulted in isolation and characterization of bacterial communities important to a renewable energy project within the city of Los Angeles. In addition, the current project is exploring and demonstrating effective ways to expand the teaching approaches developed in the pilot project to be applicable to other sub-disciplines within biology. As regards results germane to understanding effective approaches in undergraduate education, the evaluation plan includes pre and post course assessment of student performance with respect to competencies and student impressions of science. Longitudinal assessments are being used to document scholastic achievements and scientific career aspirations. Broader Impacts: Comprised of a non-departmental configuration of courses, this curricular model is removing barriers to interdisciplinary teaching. Through a series of invitational workshops with local liberal arts colleges and comprehensive universities to determine their needs and practical ways of meeting them, strategies are being devised to disseminate the curricular enhancements to other four-year institutions interested in developing similar approaches to undergraduate education in biology. In addition consultation with local community colleges is on-going to ensure that transfer students will be able to take full advantage of the new courses being evolved.