Collaborative Research: Six Short Weeks: A Classroom Strategy for Supporting Undergraduate Research in Mathematical Biology

数学科学(21)来自西雅图中央社区学院、加州州立大学蒙特利湾分校和达特茅斯学院的一组研究人员正在开发一门数学生物学课程、文本和支持交互软件，旨在在这些不同的机构中取得成功。这门课程和教材是针对只有一学期微积分准备和对医学预科学习有浓厚兴趣的学生。所有课程材料都会引出撒哈拉以南非洲当前具有医学或生态意义的建模问题。这门完整课程的目标是，学生应该能够在六周的教学后阅读研究文献，并进行自己的研究。此外，正在设计这些材料，以便它们也可以整合到现有的微积分课程中。对所有三所院校的学生反应进行形成性评估，确保材料得到修改，以满足不同学生群体的需求。智力优势：该项目旨在满足向非数学专业学生提供数学生物体验的需求。为医学生涯做准备的学生并不总是接触到以批判性方式阅读专业文献所需的工具。这些新材料试图让学生参与有趣和相关的建模问题，使他们能够将本科生的研究整合到他们的课程中。一门引人入胜的学科、本科生的研究经验和动态的互动课堂经验相结合，为科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)专业的数学教育提供了一个有用的原型。广泛的影响：项目中正在开发的课程和材料将学生的注意力吸引到当前关注的话题上。全球健康问题、环境问题，以及这些问题发生的背景，有助于学生理解生物学不仅仅是在实验室里，数学也不仅仅是常规计算。两年制和四年制机构之间的合作，公立和私立机构之间的合作，以及生物学家和数学家之间的合作，使这些材料能够服务于广泛不同的学生群体。

Mathematical Sciences (21)A team of researchers from Seattle Central Community College, California State University Monterey Bay, and Dartmouth College are developing a mathematical biology course, text, and supporting interactive software that are designed to succeed across these diverse institutions. The course and the materials are aimed at students with only one term of calculus preparation and a strong interest in premedical studies. All course materials lead to modeling problems of current medical or ecological interest in Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal for the complete course is that students should be able to read the research literature after six weeks of instruction and conduct their own research. In addition the materials are being designed so that they may also be integrated into existing calculus courses. A formative evaluation of student responses at all three institutions ensures that the materials are revised to meet the needs of a diverse student body.Intellectual Merit: The project is addressing the need to provide a mathematical biology experience to students who are not mathematics majors. Students who are preparing for a career in medicine are not always exposed to the tools required to read the professional literature in a critical way. These new materials seek to engage students with interesting and relevant modeling problems that allow them to integrate undergraduate research into their coursework. The combination of a compelling subject, an undergraduate research experience, and a dynamic interactive classroom experience serves as a useful prototype for the mathematical education of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors.Broader Impacts: The course and materials being developed in the project draw the attention of students to topics of current concern. Global heath issues, environmental issues, and the context in which these occur help students to understand that biology is about more than being in the laboratory, and that mathematics is about more than routine calculation. The collaborations between two and four-year institutions, between public and private institutions, and between biologists and mathematicians, allow these materials to serve a broad diversity of student populations.