RCN-UBE: VISABLI, an RCN-UBE for Visualizations, Interactive Simulations, and Animations for Biology Learning & Instruction

生物过程现在支撑着社会的各个方面，从刑事司法系统中DNA的使用，到旨在适应个体之间生化差异的个性化医学的作用。公民，无论是否有高等教育背景，越来越多地需要根据他们对生物学的理解做出有影响力的选择。多媒体学习资源（插图，动画，互动媒体）在生物学教育中扮演着重要的角色，不仅在今天的本科科学教室中，而且在各种非正式学习环境（例如在线/印刷新闻媒体和科学博物馆）中都是一个共同的特征。教师依靠这些视觉学习资源进行教学，学生寻找它们来支持他们的学习。尽管这些资源的普及，很少有人知道他们在支持本科生物学学习的功效。事实上，这些资源的科学准确性、清晰度和质量可能存在很大差异。VISABLI网络的主要目标是解决负责科学可视化设计和评估的社区与在课堂上使用这些材料的教师之间公认的差距。我们寻求将这些不同的学科连接到一个网络中，以促进新知识的共同创造并引发创新研究;这三个基本独立的社区有一个共同的目标，即提高教学可视化的设计效率。网络活动将侧重于深入的需求评估，然后召开会议，将这三个社区的成员聚集在一起，以确定和开发共享资源，最后将建立一个VISABLI网站，以传播这些资源。我们将与生物科学学会合作，组织一系列研讨会，在此期间，像协作故事板这样的活动将使教师更好地了解可视化过程，并对可视化设计和教学法的困难交叉点表示赞赏。这些活动还将有助于确定现有课程没有很好服务的教学领域。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，作为其努力解决本科生物学教育中的愿景和变革所带来的挑战的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Biological processes now underpin all aspects of society, from the use of DNA in the criminal justice system, to the role of personalized medicine designed to accommodate biochemical variation among individuals. Citizens, with and without higher educational backgrounds, are increasingly required to make impactful choices based on their understanding of biology. multimedia learning resources (illustrations, animations, interactive media) play an essential role in biology education and are a common feature not only in today's undergraduate science classrooms, but also in various informal learning settings (online/print news media and science museums for example). Instructors rely upon these visual learning resources for teaching and students seek them out in support of their studies. Despite the popularity of these resources, little is known about their efficacy in supporting learning in undergraduate biology. Indeed, the scientific accuracy, clarity, and quality of these resources can be highly variable. A primary goal of the VISABLI network is to address an acknowledged gap between the communities responsible for the design and evaluation of scientific visualizations and the teachers who use these materials in the classroom. We seek to connect these distinct disciplines into a network fostering the co-creation of new knowledge and sparking innovative research; these three largely independent communities share a common goal of improving the design efficacy of instructional visualizations. The network activities will focus on an in-depth needs assessment, followed by meetings bringing together members of these three communities to identify and develop shared resources, and will conclude with a VISABLI website to disseminate them. We will work with the biology scientific societies to organize a series of workshops during which activities like collaborative storyboarding will give instructors a better sense of the visualization process and an appreciation for the difficult intersection of visualization design and pedagogy. These activities will also help to identify areas of instruction that are not well served with existing curricula.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/finalreport/).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.