CREST3: Engaging Undergraduates in the Community of Science through Modeling

这个项目建立在最近的经验基础上，这些经验证明了蛋白质物理模型的力量，从而吸引了学生对分子生物科学的兴趣。该项目将双重关注目前在科学界代表性不足的本科生，以及教授与分子结构和功能相关主题的本科生教员。教师将带领学生小组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。在这样做的过程中，学生们将被介绍到科学界，并开始将自己视为研究社区的合法成员。与此同时，该项目的教职员工将合作开发实践教学材料，这将改变目前在他们的生物科学课堂上教授这一主题的方式。教学材料将从学生目前的理解开始，并构建他们的知识，让他们更好地理解前沿研究的意义。我们项目的两个组成部分都支持国家科学基金会的愿景与变革报告所呼吁的改善本科教育的当前努力。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。这个项目的智力价值取决于学生对一个主题的探索和对一种蛋白质的建模，这种蛋白质与一位科学家的研究有关，这位科学家将在这个专业学会的年度会议上获得荣誉。学生们将把他们的模型带到年会上，在那里他们将有机会在非正式的“教学会议”中与杰出的研究人员和他们的同事见面。过去的经验表明，物理模型将作为思维工具，刺激研究人员(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暑期研讨会，重点是开发以学生为中心的教学材料，这些材料可以用来增强学生对结构/功能关系的理解。这些教学材料将包括通过3D打印技术创建的蛋白质的准确物理模型，以及分子途径中涉及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。项目评估将衡量未被充分代表的少数族裔学生在追求科学事业方面的坚持性，以及该项目对参与教师的教学实践的影响。这一项目的成果将在今后的ASBMB年度会议上通过讲习班加以传播。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进行借阅。该项目由生物科学局、生物基础设施司和教育与人力资源局、本科教育司联合资助，作为他们应对《本科生物学教育愿景与变革：行动呼吁》(http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/).)中提出的挑战的努力的一部分

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/).