An innovative computational modeling intervention to facilitate learning of biology in university courses using simulation and dynamical systems approaches

在这个国家，推动经济和社会进步的创新能否持续下去，将取决于全体公民获取21世纪解决问题技能的能力。美国劳工统计局的一份报告显示，在美国增长最快的30个职业中，超过一半需要熟悉生命科学；这一学科正在迅速转向更具系统水平的大型数据库驱动的方法，以了解我们自己和我们生活的世界。这项提议是来自内布拉斯加-林肯大学的生命科学教育工作者和计算生物学家共同努力，以开发创新的方法来应对这种新方法在生命科学中带来的挑战。该项目通过提供一个完整的学习环境，使学生能够通过构建、模拟、分析和询问生物有机体的动态和系统属性来进行学习，从而有可能显著改变生物学的学习。它是根据美国科学促进会根据大量生物学家的发现编写的一份文件，直接响应了愿景与变化：本科生生物学教育中的行动呼吁。该文件强调了系统思维、学习生物学动力学以及将计算机模拟整合到本科生物学教育中的重要性。这个项目的长期目标是改变生物学学生学习复杂生命系统的方式。该项目将开发、实施和评估计算建模，将其作为一种独特的、用户友好的教学辅助手段。它使用细胞集体，这是一个基于网络的计算机模拟平台，已成功应用于计算生物学研究，作为一种教学工具，促进在广泛的大学生命科学课程中学习复杂的生物过程。这项技术已经成功地作为免疫学和微生物学课程的教育工具进行了试验，并被列入以探究为基础的癌症生物学教科书。本申请中提出的教育研究旨在扩展这一平台，并开发一个全面且易于访问的学习环境，为大学生和教师提供生物入门课程和专业课程中教授的主题的计算机模型和学习内容。它将使学生能够通过交互模拟实时了解生命系统的动力学，同时提供模拟和评估结果的即时反馈。此外，该资源的网络性质将使学生及其教师能够参与本地和全球范围内的协作学习活动。开发的资源将提供给有兴趣将这种方法纳入他们自己的学习技术和方法的研究人员和教师。一种基于设计的研究和开发方法被用来学习如何通过这种干预来支持学生的概念改变。来自学生概念模型和生物评估评估的定量数据和探索性访谈的定性数据将被分析以改进软件技术。该项目由生物科学局和教育与人力资源局本科教育司联合资助，以支持应对《展望与改变本科教育：行动的呼吁》中提出的挑战：A Call to http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/

Sustaining the innovation that leads to economic and social progress in this country will depend on the capacity of all citizens to acquire 21st century problem solving skills. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicates that over half of the thirty fastest growing careers in this nation require familiarity with the life sciences; a discipline that is rapidly shifting to a more systems-level, large database driven approach to understanding ourselves and the world we live in. This proposal is a collaborative effort between life sciences educators and computational biologists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to develop innovative methods to meet the challenges posed by this new approach within the life sciences. This project has the potential to significantly transform the learning of biology by providing a complete learning environment that enables students to learn by constructing, simulating, analyzing, and interrogating the dynamic and systems properties of living organisms. It was developed in direct response to Vision and Change: a Call to Action in Undergraduate Biology Education, a document produced by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, based on the findings of a large number of biologists. That document emphasizes the importance of systems thinking, learning about the dynamics of biology, and integration of computer simulations into undergraduate biology education. The long-term goal of this project is to transform the way biology students learn about complex living systems. The project will develop, implement, and evaluate computational modeling as a unique and user-friendly pedagogical aid. It uses the Cell Collective, a web-based computer simulation platform that has been successfully applied in computational biology research, as a pedagogical tool to facilitate learning about complex biological processes in a broad set of university life sciences courses. The technology has been successfully piloted as an educational tool in immunology and microbiology courses and has been included as part of an inquiry-based cancer biology textbook. The educational research proposed in this application aims to extend this platform, and develop a comprehensive and easily accessible learning environment that will provide university students and instructors with computer models and learning content for topics taught in both introductory and specialized biology courses. It will enable students to learn about the dynamics of living systems in real-time through interactive simulations, while providing instant feedback with simulation and assessment results. In addition, the web-based nature of the resource will enable students and their teachers to participate in collaborative learning activities on both a local and global scale. Developed resources will be made available to researchers and teachers interested in incorporating this approach into their own learning technologies and methodologies. A design-based research and development approach is being used to learn about how student conceptual change can be supported by this intervention. Quantitative data from the students' conceptual models and biology evaluation assessment and qualitative data from exploratory interviews aimed at perceptions of difficulty, language barriers, and areas of greater clarification will be analyzed to refine the software technology.This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/