Using Metagenomics to Realize an Education Partnership and Stimulate Curriculum Development

该项目的主要目标是利用具有局部/全球相关性的数据增加课堂研究，利用现代技术和计算方法，并整合分子和生物生物学。使用下一代测序技术收集玉米和大豆(工业和有机)农业生态系统中存在的土壤细菌群落的数据。然后，这些数据被用来开发完整的课程和课程模块，从入门/核心课程(也适用于非专业)到高级选修课。在每门课程中，尽管提出的假设和解决这些假设的工具在内容上有所不同，但它们是相辅相成的，并说明了使用跨学科方法处理科学的力量。例如，在一门课程中，学生研究物种组成的群落差异，而在另一门课程中，他们研究群落在新陈代谢途径方面的差异。在每门课程的开始和结束时都会使用知识调查。课程内部和课程之间的比较评估学生在短期和长期内感知和学习的变化。每个单元还包括以分析学生正式论文或陈述的形式进行的总结性评估，以及对学生使用所涉工具和解释其产生的结果的能力的评估。智力优势：接触到这个项目的学生对土壤生物群的复杂性有了新的认识，特别是当他们穿过以玉米和大豆为主的中西部景观时。他们获得有关细菌流行率、多样性和重要性的第一手知识。他们使用真实的DNA序列来识别有机体，找出土壤中正在发生的生物过程，并始终使用计算机程序来组织、查询和分析数据。教师和学生合作撰写结果，发表在同行评议的科学期刊上。这些数据有助于回答这样的问题：不同的作物和不同的农业实践如何影响土壤细菌群落？取决于农业生态系统，一些潜在的有害细菌是促进的，还是缺少重要的营养途径？更广泛的影响：该团队包括广泛的教职员工、机构和学生，因此该项目充当了测试这种广度的力量的试验场。这个项目的教员团队包括进化生态学家、分子生物学家、一名生物化学家和一名计算机科学家，他们分布在两个相距仅四英里的机构中，这两个机构肩负着不同的使命，服务于不同的学生群体。一个机构是住宿文科学院(厄勒姆学院)，另一个是州立大学的分校(印第安纳大学东部)。这两个机构的学生和教职员工在课程准备、研究和成果分享方面进行互动。这些互动让学生接触到更多的教职员工，并让更多的学生接触到教职员工，因为两所学校都在共同努力，改变他们的课程。该项目还增加了代表性不足的群体参与研究的方式；伊利诺伊州东部大学招收了很高比例(~40%)的第一代大学生，厄勒姆学院的麦克奈尔项目促进了代表性不足的群体参与研究。此外，大多数课程材料都是按模块组织的，可以很容易地采用，而不需要对现有课程的结构进行重大改变。开发的数据和模块正在通过新的和已经建立的教学资源库免费提供和积极传播，也通过在研究和教学研讨会和全国会议上的演讲。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共同资助，作为他们努力实现本科生物学教育愿景和变革的一部分。

The primary goal of this project is to increase in-class research using data that have local/global relevance, utilize modern technologies and computational approaches, and integrate molecular and organismal biology. Data on the soil bacterial communities present in corn and soy (industrial and organic) agroecosystems are collected using next generation sequencing technology. These data are then used to develop full courses and modules for courses ranging from introductory/core courses (that also serve non-majors) to upper-level electives. In each course, while the hypotheses addressed and the tools used to address them differ in content, they are complementary to each other and illustrate the power of using an interdisciplinary approach to science. For example, students in one course examine community differences in species composition while in another they look at how the communities differ in terms of metabolic pathways. Knowledge surveys are used at the beginning and end of each course. Comparisons within and between courses evaluate changes in student perceptions and learning over the short and long-term. Each module also includes a summative assessment in the form of an analysis of students formal papers or presentations and an evaluation of the students' abilities to use the tools involved and to interpret the results they generate. Intellectual merit: Students exposed to this project have a fresh appreciation of the complexity of the soil biome, especially as they pass through the midwestern landscape dominated by corn and soy. They gain first-hand knowledge of bacterial prevalence, diversity, and importance. They use real DNA sequences to identify organisms, to find out what biological processes are occurring in the soil, and throughout use computer programs to organize, query, and analyze the data. Faculty and students collaborate to write results for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The data are helping to answer such questions as: How do different crops and different agricultural practices influence soil bacterial communities? Are some potentially harmful bacteria facilitated or are important nutrient pathways absent depending on the agroecosystem?Broader Impacts: The team includes a broad array of faculty, institutions and students so the project acts as a test site for the strength of such breadth. The faculty team for this project includes evolutionary ecologists, molecular biologists, a biochemist, and a computer scientist spread across two institutions, only four miles apart, that have different missions and serve different populations of students. One institution is a residential liberal arts college (Earlham College) and the other a branch of a state university (Indiana University East). The students and faculty at both institutions interact in course preparation, research, and the sharing of results. These interactions expose students to a greater range of faculty and faculty to a greater range of students, as both institutions work together to transform their curricula. The project also increases the ways by which underrepresented groups can participate in research; IU East enrolls a high proportion (~40%) of first-generation college students and the McNair program at Earlham College promotes the involvement of underrepresented groups in research. In addition, most of the course materials are organized as modules that can easily be adopted without a major change in the structure of established courses. The data and modules developed are being made freely available and actively disseminated, via new and already established repositories for teaching resources, and also through presentations at research and teaching workshops and national meetings.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 toward Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education.