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

描述（由申请人提供）：这个项目的首要假设是互动的、动态的学习环境可以促进学生理解和学习复杂的生物学概念。为了解决这个假设，我们将开发Meta！Blast，一个关于细胞生物学和STEM的交互式应用程序。学生们沉浸在一个三维的、生物学上精确的植物细胞中。个体生物学概念被解析为学生任务，同时保持这些任务在整个环境的背景下。元!Blast将复杂的模拟技术与准确的生物信息相结合，让学生探索和与细胞互动，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使学生不仅意识到细胞中的单个部分和过程，而且意识到它们如何协同工作以使整体发挥作用。我们的目标是：(1)完善和扩展Meta！基于形成性评价的爆破；(2)执行Meta！在非正式的环境中开展活动，包括博物馆和课后活动，为传统上在科学领域代表性不足的学生提供丰富的活动。(3) Meta!的迭代形成性评价爆炸作为目标受众成员在学校的干预由教育研究研究所（RISE）。目标受众将是来自爱荷华州的教师和他们的学生，爱荷华州有农村人口和西班牙裔人口，而密西西比州的弱势群体比例很高。(4) RISE总结性评价使用Meta！作为高中生物的教学补充。

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. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): This project will evaluate and enhance an interactive software module, Meta!Blast, containing biologically accurate 3D cell parts and molecules, integrated with a plot and characters. The application will dynamically illustrate modern concepts in cell and metabolic biology, prepare students for their public role, and stimulate students to join the biological and medical teaching and research professions.