CREST3: Engaging Undergraduates in the Community of Science through Modeling

这个项目建立在最近的经验，证明蛋白质的物理模型的力量，从事学生的兴趣在分子生物科学。该项目将有一个双重的重点是本科学生谁是目前在科学和本科教师谁教有关分子结构和功能的主题代表性不足。教师将带领学生小团队探索当前的研究课题，特别强调科学研究的过程。为了增强学生对特定分子过程的理解，该团队将设计一个在该过程中起关键作用的蛋白质的物理模型。这样做，学生将被介绍给科学界，并开始看到自己作为该研究社区的合法成员。与此同时，该项目的教师将合作开发实践教学材料，这些材料将改变目前在生物科学课堂上教授这一主题的方式。教学材料将开始与当前的学生理解和支架他们的知识，使他们能够更好地理解尖端研究的意义。我们的项目的两个组成部分支持目前的努力，以改善本科教育所呼吁的国家科学基金会的愿景和变化报告。 该项目将与美国生物化学和分子生物学学会（ASBMB）的本科生分会合作进行。该项目的智力价值在于学生对一个主题的探索和蛋白质的建模，该主题与一位科学家的研究有关，该科学家将在该专业协会的年会上获得荣誉。学生们将把他们的模型带到年会上，在那里他们将有机会与杰出的研究人员和他们的同事在一个非正式的“教学会议”。过去的经验表明，物理模型将作为思维工具，激发研究人员（专家）和学生（新手）之间有意义的对话。在这个项目的第二部分，本科教师将参加一个合作的夏季研讨会，将重点放在以学生为中心的教学材料，可用于提高学生的结构/功能关系的理解的发展。这些教学材料将包括通过3D打印技术创建的蛋白质的精确物理模型，以及参与分子途径的蛋白质的示意图模型，蛋白质的数字动画，以及将蛋白质置于其细胞环境中的分子景观。项目评估将衡量代表性不足的少数民族学生在追求科学事业的持久性，以及该计划对参与教师教学实践的影响。该项目的成果将在咨询、预算和监测委员会今后的年度会议上通过讲习班传播。该项目的教学材料也将通过密尔沃基工程学院模型借阅图书馆提供借阅。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，作为其应对本科生物学教育中的愿景和变革所带来的挑战的努力的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange.org/finalreport/）。

This project builds on recent experiences that demonstrate the power of physical models of proteins to engage students' interest in the molecular biosciences. The project will have a dual focus on undergraduate students who are currently underrepresented in the sciences and on undergraduate faculty who teach topics related to molecular structure and function. Faculty will lead small teams of students in an exploration of a current research topic, with a special emphasis on the process of scientific research. In order to enhance the students' understanding of a particular molecular process, the team will design a physical model of a protein that plays a key role in that process. In so doing, the students will be introduced to the community of science and begin to see themselves as legitimate members of that research community. At the same time, faculty in this project will collaborate in the development of hands-on instructional materials that will transform the way this topic is currently taught in their bioscience classrooms. Instructional materials will begin with current student understanding and scaffold their knowledge so that they can better understand the significance of cutting edge research. Both components of our project support current efforts to improve undergraduate education as called for by the National Science Foundation's Vision and Change report. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the undergraduate student chapters of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). The intellectual merit of this project rests on students' exploration of a topic and modeling of a protein that is related to the research of a scientist who will be honored at the annual meeting of this professional society. Students will bring their models to the annual meeting where they will have an opportunity to meet with the distinguished researcher and their colleagues in an informal "teaching session". Past experience has demonstrated that the physical models will serve as thinking tools to stimulate meaningful conversations between researchers (experts) and students (novices). In a second component of this project, undergraduate faculty will participate in a collaborative summer workshop that will focus on the development of student-centered instructional materials that can be used to enhance students' understanding of structure/function relationships. These instructional materials will include accurate physical models of proteins created by 3D printing technologies as well as schematic models of proteins involved in molecular pathways, digital animations of proteins, and molecular landscapes that place proteins within their cellular contexts. Project assessment will measure both the persistence of underrepresented minority students in their pursuit of a career in science and the impact of the program on the teaching practices of the participating faculty. The results of this project will be disseminated via workshops at future annual meeting of the ASBMB. The project's instructional materials will also be available for loan through the Milwaukee School of Engineering Model Lending Library. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/).