Producing Interactive Web-Based Animations for Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology

这个项目包括设计一个原型互动动画，用于细胞和分子生物学入门课程的在线教程。正在开发的原型模拟氧化磷酸化，这一过程涉及许多分子机制，可以在细胞水平上进行实验操作。该动画通过一个内置的功能来促进独立的探索和实验，该功能允许学生操纵细胞条件，或添加药剂，并观察模拟过程的变化。建议的互动动画的智力优点是包括了其他动画中不常见的三个特征。首先，动画是交互式的，允许学生通过虚拟实验功能操纵模拟的许多参数。其次，动画包括复习和挑战问题，学生可以立即收到反馈，以监测他或她的理解并揭示任何误解。第三，教师能够跟踪学生对动画的使用情况，从而加深学生对动画的理解。此外，互动动画在设计上很灵活，内容可以修改，以适应不同背景的学生，包括生物专业和非生物专业的学生。这部关于氧化磷酸化的互动动画具有广泛的影响，因为它可以通过一个合作实体获得，供全国其他地方的教师使用。重要的是，该系统是可扩展的；尽管最初集中在开发人员所在的机构，但编程体系结构允许它在未来几年扩展为一个无限制大小的分布式网络，具有遍布全国的互连节点。该系统捕获和处理有关学生学习进度的数据的能力(再加上向学生和教师提供持续反馈的能力)有可能从根本上改变课程的教授方式和学生的学习方式。

This project involves the design of a prototype interactive animation to be used in the on-line tutorials for introductory cell and molecular biology classes. The prototype being developed simulates oxidative phosphorylation, a process that involves many molecular mechanisms and that can be manipulated experimentally at the cellular level. The animation promotes independent exploration and experimentation through a built-in feature that allows a student to manipulate cellular conditions, or add a pharmacological agent, and observe the changes to the simulated process.The intellectual merit of the proposed interactive animation is the inclusion of three features not commonly found in other animations. First, the animation is interactive and allows the student to manipulate many of the parameters of the simulation through a virtual experimentation feature. Second, the animation includes review and challenge questions, for which a student receives immediate feedback, designed to monitor his or her understanding and to reveal any misconceptions. Third, the instructor is able to track the student's use of the animation and therefore, its utility in deepening the student's understanding. Furthermore, the interactive animation is flexible in design so that the content can be modified to accommodate a range of students with different backgrounds, including both biology majors and non-biology majors. This interactive animation on oxidative phosphorylation has broad impacts because it is available through a cooperative entity for use by instructors at other locations around the country. Importantly, the system is scalable; although initially centered at the developer's institution, the programming architecture allows it to be expanded, in future years, into a distributed network of unlimited size, with interconnected nodes spanning the country. The ability of the system to capture and process data about the learning progress of students (coupled with the ability to provide constant feedback to both the student and instructor) has the potential to effect a fundamental change in how courses are taught, and how students approach learning.