The Molecular Rover: Learning Science from Close Engagement with Molecular Phenomena

该项目将开发和应用新的教育技术工具，指导学生探索复杂的3D分子结构和影响它们的力。配备一套工具，例如虚拟探针，学生将在分子上、下和分子中导航，探索分子之间的力，这些力定义了诸如大型生物聚合物（例如DNA或蛋白质）、离子晶格、液晶、细胞膜或配体受体复合物等结构。虚拟探针将帮助学生认识官能团对静电特性和复杂分子表面特性的影响。这些分子结构的普遍性，加上友好界面的使用，允许定性介绍材料科学、物理、化学和分子生物学的分子基础，适用于高中和大学。使用分子工作台，一个开源的建模和创作系统，该项目将创建一个独特的分子动力学和具有教师创作能力的3D环境的混合。将基于Jmol脚本开发一个日志系统，通过模型来探索学生的学习情况。这将有利于研究学生从静态和动态的三维分子模型中学习。将基于相同内容的二维和三维分子模型进行比较。该项目的软件将免费提供，并可能对数百万学生产生广泛的影响。

This project will develop and apply new educational technology tools that will guide students' exploration of complex 3D molecular structures and the forces that affect them. Equipped with a set of tools, e.g. virtual probes, students will navigate above, below and through molecules exploring forces among molecules that define structures such as large biopolymers (e.g. DNA or proteins), ionic lattices, liquid crystals, cell membranes, or ligand-receptor complexes. Virtual probes will help students recognize the effects of functional groups on electrostatic properties and characteristics of complex molecular surfaces. The universality of those molecular structures, coupled with the use of a friendly interface, allows for a qualitative introduction to the molecular underpinnings of material science, physics, chemistry and molecular biology appropriate for both high school and college. Using the Molecular Workbench, an open-source modeling and authoring system, the project will create a unique blend of molecular dynamics and 3D environments with teacher-authoring capabilities. A logging system to explore student learning with models will be developed based on Jmol scripts. This will facilitate the study of students' learning from static and dynamic 3D molecular models. A comparison of 2D and 3D molecular models based on the same content will be made. The software for this project will be freely available and potentially have a broad impact on millions of students.