Collaborative Research: Using protein function prediction to promote hypothesis-driven thinking in undergraduate biochemistry education

合作研究：利用蛋白质功能预测促进本科生物化学教育中的假设驱动思维

基本信息

批准号：
1709355
负责人：
Julia Koeppe
金额：
$ 2.69万
依托单位：
SUNY College at Oswego
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-09-01 至 2021-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1709355&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Using protein function

项目摘要

One of the fundamental challenges in STEM education is teaching students what it means to be a scientist. This project will demonstrate that engaging in hypothesis-driven experimental science is a powerful tool in educating students to become scientists. The objective of the project is to train students to think and act like scientists - to propose hypotheses, to design experiments, to analyze data, to draw conclusions, and to communicate with other scientists. Students on six campuses (Rochester Institute of Technology, Hope College, California Polytechnic Institute, Ursinus College, St. Mary's University, and SUNY Oswego) will engage in computational and wet lab approaches to predict protein function. In a previous project, the team of principal investigators created a series of modules to guide student inquiry and video instructions for the computational techniques, which were deployed in biochemistry teaching laboratories across the six campuses. In the present project, the faculty team will classify and characterize the research behaviors that students display during the course and will develop and validate methods for understanding students' development as scientists. Because the students are participating in authentic research, results from their experiments will also be collated into a database that can be used by future students to pursue biologically relevant protein functions, such as the potential discovery of drug targets for diseases.The primary purpose of the project is to introduce cutting-edge biochemistry research into the classroom to investigate whether getting students to participate in hypothesis-driven experimental science is a useful tool in educating students to become scientists. In this second phase of a course-based undergraduate research experience, students' learning and growth as scientists will be assessed by local biochemistry faculty and evaluated by educational researchers at Purdue University, to ascertain students' understanding of research methods, visualization, biological context, and mechanisms of protein function. The faculty team will develop validated assessment tools to measure these objectives, and will balance the homogeneity of curricular materials needed to ensure sound education with the flexibility needed for adaptation in different institutional settings. The course instructors and project evaluators will collaborate using education research techniques to monitor both students' development of research behaviors and changes in instructors' teaching approaches. The refined and tested curriculum will then be ready for wider dissemination into the biochemistry teaching community. The need for significant improvement in undergraduate STEM education and for the inclusion of a more diverse population is widely recognized. The project team includes faculty from a Hispanic-serving institution and from an institution with a large number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students; inclusion of these faculty ensures that the needs and concerns of these communities will be included in the project.

STEM教育的基本挑战之一是教学学生成为科学家的意义。该项目将表明，参与假设驱动的实验科学是教育学生成为科学家的有力工具。该项目的目的是培训学生以科学家的身份思考和行事 - 提出假设，设计实验，分析数据，得出结论以及与其他科学家进行沟通。六个校园的学生（罗切斯特理工学院，希望学院，加利福尼亚理工学院，Ursinus College，St. Mary's University和SUNY OSWEGO）将进行计算和湿实验室的方法，以预测蛋白质功能。在以前的项目中，首席研究人员团队创建了一系列模块，以指导学生的询问和计算技术的视频说明，这些模块是在六个校园内的生物化学教学实验室中部署的。在本项目中，教师团队将对学生在课程中表现出的研究行为进行分类和特征，并将开发和验证理解学生作为科学家的发展的方法。由于学生正在参与真实的研究，因此他们的实验结果也将被整理到一个数据库中，未来的学生可以使用该研究来追求与生物学相关的蛋白质功能，例如潜在地发现该项目的药物目标。该项目的主要目的是，该项目的主要目的是为了吸引学生参与研究生的尖端生物化学研究，以使学生参与型锻炼。在基于课程的本科研究经验的第二阶段中，学生的学习和成长将由地方生物化学教师评估，并由普渡大学的教育研究人员进行评估，以确定学生对蛋白质功能的研究方法，可视化，生物学环境和机制的理解。教师团队将开发验证的评估工具来衡量这些目标，并平衡确保合理教育所需的课程材料的同质性与在不同机构环境中适应所需的灵活性所需的课程材料。课程讲师和项目评估人员将使用教育研究技术进行合作，以监测学生对研究行为的发展和教师教学方法的变化。然后，精致和测试的课程将准备好将更广泛的传播到生物化学教学社区。广泛认识到，对本科STEM教育以及包括更多样化的人群的重大改善的需求得到了广泛认可。该项目团队包括来自西班牙裔服务机构的教职员工，以及来自大量聋哑学生的机构。包括这些教师确保这些社区的需求和关注将包括在项目中。