Meta!Blast: A 3D cell and metabolic biology interactive learning environment for

描述(由申请者提供)：本项目的主要假设是互动的、动态的学习环境可以促进学生对复杂生物学概念的理解和学习。为了解决这一假设，我们将开发Meta！BLAST，这是一个关于细胞生物学和STEM的交互应用程序。学生们沉浸在三维的、生物学上准确的植物细胞中。个别的生物学概念被解析成学生任务，同时将这些任务放在整个环境的背景下进行。Meta！BLAST将复杂的模拟技术与准确的生物信息相结合，允许学生探索细胞并与其互动，并在此过程中发现细胞能量学、基因功能和细胞防御。改变环境尺度的能力可以让学生不仅意识到细胞中的个别部分和过程，而且知道它们如何协同工作，使整体发挥作用。我们的目标是(1)在形成性评估的基础上提炼和扩展Meta！BLAST的功能；(2)在非正式环境中实施Meta！BLAST，包括博物馆和课后，并为传统上在科学领域代表性较低的学生提供丰富计划。(3)教育研究所(RISE)对Meta！BLAST的迭代形成性评估，作为目标受众成员的校内干预。目标受众将是来自爱荷华州和密西西比州的教师和学生，爱荷华州有农村人口和西语裔人口，密西西比州有很高比例的代表不足的群体。(4)对使用Meta！BLAST作为高中生物教学补充的效果进行总结性评价。 Meta！BLAST开发的基本原则和内容基于美国国家科学院生命科学学院9-12年级的内容标准。通过对话、互动体验和内置评估精心搭建科学内容的脚手架，将增加体验的复杂性，并要求学生使用以前的信息来成功应对新的挑战。游戏中的评估工具将使教师能够监控学生的进步。 这个项目的成功完成将使教育工作者和儿童接触到细胞和代谢生物学的新概念，改善关键生命科学和STEM概念的教学，并增加我们对使用交互式计算机技术作为教学抽象科学概念的干预的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching hypothesis of this project is that interactive, dynamic learning environments can facilitate student understanding and learning of complex biological concepts. To address this hypothesis, we will have developed Meta!Blast, an interactive application on cell biology and STEM. Students are immersed in a three-dimensional, biologically accurate plant cell. Individual biological concepts are parsed into student tasks, while keeping these tasks in the context of the whole environment. Meta!Blast combines sophisticated simulation technology with accurate biological information, to allow students to explore and interact with a cell and during this process to discover cellular energetics, gene function, and cellular defenses. The ability to change environmental scales can make the student aware of not only the individual parts and processes in the cell but how they work together to allow the whole to function. Our aims are (1) refine and expand features of Meta!Blast based on formative evaluations; (2) Implement Meta!Blast in informal settings, including museums and after-school and enrichment programs for students traditionally underrepresented in sciences. (3) Iterative formative evaluation of Meta!Blast as an in-school intervention by members of the target audience by Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE). Target audiences will be teachers and their students drawn from Iowa, with its rural population and Hispanic populations, and from Mississippi, which has a high proportion of underrepresented groups. (4) Summative evaluation by RISE of the impact of using Meta!Blast as an instructional supplement for high school biology. The fundamental principles and content underlying Meta!Blast development are based on the Content Standards of the National Academy of Sciences for life science, grades 9-12. Careful scaffolding of science content through the use of dialogue, interactive experiences, and built-in assessments, will increase the complexity of the experience, and require students to use previous information to succeed at new challenges. In-game assessment tools will enable teachers to monitor student progress. The successful completion of this project will expose educators and children to new concepts of cell and metabolic biology, improve teaching of key life science and STEM concepts, and add to our understanding of the use of interactive computer technology as an intervention for teaching abstract scientific concepts.