Visions: Volunetric Imaging Science

描述(由申请人提供)：这项第一阶段小型企业技术转让(STTR)申请的目标是评估将生物医学研究和实践中使用的先进技术--体积图像处理和分析(VIPA)--应用于正规中学的科学和数学教育的可行性。该项目名为体积成像，用于开放自然(VISION)的科学教学，将制作一种基于CD-ROM的多媒体课程--“面化神经元”--供初中、高中和非正式科学教育中心使用。本课将以梅奥诊所生理科Joseph Szurszewski博士与明尼苏达州罗切斯特市梅奥诊所生物医学影像资源部合作进行的神经元显微解剖可视化研究为基础。本课程将以引人入胜的方式向学习者介绍神经元显微解剖学，并提供一个在线工具，允许学习者通过使用VIPA进行基础科学实验来探索主题，分析在实验期间收集的数据，并了解结果。这一课程还将作为全套光盘材料的原型，其中将包括10节多媒体课程。全套课程将在第二阶段STTR赠款的资助下开发。VIPA用于教育目的的改编将由一家营利性公司Science-Approach进行。Science-Approach将与位于亚利桑那州图森市和BIR的非营利性研究机构教育图像处理中心(CIPE)合作。Science-Approach将与CIPE合作制作教材。BIR将调整其商业上可用的VIPA软件-分析-用于建议的多媒体材料，并提供数据用于建议的课程。VISION项目将有助于在教育环境中舒适地使用技术与不那么舒适但更有价值的实践和教育有益的实践之间建立一座桥梁。该项目希望创建教学材料，将教育工作者培养成各自领域的意见领袖和“前沿”创新者，为改革计算机技术在教育中的应用奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) application is to evaluate the feasibility of adapting an advanced technology employed in biomedical research and practice-volumetric image processing and analysis (VIPA)-for science and mathematics education in formal secondary school settings. The project, entitled Volumetric Imaging for Science Instruction of an Open Nature (VISION), will produce a CD-ROM-based multimedia lesson-"Noodling Neurons"-for use in middle schools, high schools, and informal science education centers. The lesson will be based on neuron microanatomy visualization research being conducted by Dr. Joseph Szurszewski, Department of Physiology, Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with the Biomedical Imaging Resource department of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (BIR). The lesson will introduce the learner to neuron microanatomy in an engaging manner, provide an online tool that allows the learner to explore the topic by conducting a basic science experiment with VIPA, analyze data gathered during the experiment, and understand the results. The lesson will also serve as a prototype for a full set of CD-ROM-based materials that will include ten multimedia lessons. The full set of lessons will be developed with funding from a Phase II STTR grant. The adaptation of VIPA for educational purposes will be conducted by Science-Approach, a for-profit corporation. Science-Approach will work in cooperation with the Center for Image Processing in Education (CIPE), a nonprofit research institution located in Tucson, Arizona, and BIR. Science-Approach will create the educational materials in collaboration with CIPE. BIR will adapt its commercially available VIPA software-Analyze-for use in the proposed multimedia materials and provide data for use in the proposed lesson. The VISION project will help create a bridge between comfortable uses of technology in educational settings to less comfortable but infinitely more rewarding and educationally beneficial practices. The project hopes to create instructional materials that will nurture educators to become opinion leaders and "bleeding-edge" innovators in their field, creating a foundation for reform of the uses of computer technology in education.