Cyberlearning at Community Collegeswww.c3cyberlearning.ning.com

Navigating the cyberlearning landscape: A case study involving teaching the central dogma of biology

Justin Pruneski Sam DonovanDepartment of Biological Sciences

Introduction

Cyberlearning—learning that is mediated by networked computing andcommunications technologies—is increasingly influencing undergraduate scienceeducation and is providing useful new models for engaging students (Borgman, 2008).Finding effective and innovative ways to harness the immense resources available onthe web and applying them to learning is a significant challenge facing educatorstoday. This project sets out to identify and characterize ways that college biologyfaculty can use digital resources to engage students in meaningful learning (Jonassenet al. 2003). We focus on a single core topic area, the central dogma of molecularbiology, highlighting example resources and strategies that can be applied to othertopics and courses. Our goal for the project is to raise faculty awareness about theavailability of diverse online resources and suggest innovative teaching approachesthat take advantage of the new information landscape. This poster contains a sampleof the materials that have been compiled, a pedagogical characterization of the typesof resources available, a discussion of search strategies for finding resources andsuggestions for their use in teaching undergraduate biology.

Examples of cyberlearning resources

How can cyberlearning facilitate meaningful learning?

Listed below are some practices that cyberlearning activities can mediate orencourage. They emphasize student-centered approaches where learning isactive, intentional, constructive, authentic, and cooperative (Jonassen et al. 2003).

Providing high-quality content – A variety of learning resources can be foundonline for any given topic.Student-directed learning – Students are actively involved in the obtaining andprocessing of information.Collaboration – Students work together to build more meaningful work than eachstudent could achieve on his/her own.Using scientific data – Students can view, manipulate, and interpret real scientificdata in order to test hypotheses and form conclusions.Modeling professional practices – Through activities such as case studies andsimulations, students practice skills useful in their future careers.Relevance – Cyberlearning activities often use real-world examples to put topicsinto the correct context.Access to multiple resources and perspectives – By comparing andcontrasting multiple resources, they can achieve more understanding than simplyanalyzing one resource (see example in top right panel).Interdisciplinary investigations – Cyberlearning skills can be used in any subjectand often blend many different disciplines.Adaptability – Many resources can be customized to meet the specific needs ofthe teacher or class.Making the learning process visible – Both teachers and students can monitorstudent work and reflect on what works and what does not.Leaving a digital legacy – Studentsʼ work is preserved online and can be viewedor expanded in the future.

Digital libraries: online sources of learning materialsThe National Science Digital Library program has produced curated collections ofonline teaching and learning materials built through contributions from theeducation and research communities (Mervis, 2009). Unfortunately, there is not onecentralized database, but rather, materials are spread out across many differentlibraries, each having their own organization and focus.

This material is based upon work supported by the NationalScience Foundation under Grants No. 0937791 & 0737474.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendationsexpressed in this material are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

References and resourcesBorgman, C. (2008). Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The CyberlearningOpportunity and Challenge. Report of the NSF Taskforce on Cyberlearning. NSF,Arlington, VA.Brewer, C. and Smith, D. (eds.)(2011). Vision and Change in Undergraduate BiologyEducation: A Call to Action. AAAS, Washington D.C.Glykos, N. (2011). The 11th Misconception? CBE-Life Science Education. 10:1-2.Jonassen D.H. et al. (2003) Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: AConstructivist Perspective. 2nd Ed. Merrill Prentice Hall. Columbus, OH.Mervis, J. (2009). NSF Rethinks Its Digital Library. Science, 323 (5910), 54-58.

Example activity: using multiple animations todissect transcription and translation

The example assignment shown below takes advantage of the many differentrepresentations of the processes of transcription and translation that can be harvestedfrom digital libraries. After viewing three different animations, students answerquestions regarding how each video portrayed a certain aspect of the topic. They canexamine the level of detail of each video and why certain features were portrayed asthey were. By examining multiple sources, the students get different perspectives thatcan be combined to enhance their understanding of the subject. This practice givesthe student more engagement with the material, rather than simply watching a singlevideo, requires comparisons across representations, and allows the student to makedecisions about the quality of each representation, as a teacher would when choosingan animation to show to the class.

NSDLNational Science

Digital Library

 www.nsdl.org - The NSF-funded online library for education and research inScience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

BENBiosciEdNet

www.biosciednet.org/portal - The NSDL pathway for biological sciences educationhousing over 12, 067 reviewed resources covering 77 biological sciences topics.

OER CommonsOpen Educational

Resources

www.oercommons.org - With over 125 major content partners...access over 20,000open educational resources...OER Commons currently has over 8,000 registeredusers and users from 193 countries.

APS ArchiveAmerican

PhysiologicalSociety

www.apsarchive.org - More than 2,200 peer-reviewed teaching resources includingaudiovisual materials, lesson plans, teaching journal articles, and scientific contentmaterials.

AMSERApplied Math andScience Education

Repository

amser.org - A portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use bythose in Community and Technical Colleges.

MicrobeLibrary www.microbelibrary.org - Over 2000 resources for teaching and learning microbiologyfrom 7 collections.

BioQUESTCurriculum

Consortium Library

bioquest.org - The BioQUEST collection contains Investigative Cases, ProblemSpaces, simulations and datasets collaboratively developed by faculty.

Action Bioscience Actionbioscience.org - A non-commercial, educational web site published by theAmerican Institute of Biological Sciences created to promote bioscience literacy byfocusing on issues with articles provided by scientists and science educators.

Nature Scitable www.nature.com/scitable - A free science library and personal learning tool by NaturePublishing Group currently focusing on Genetics and Cell Biology.

What are the challenges of teaching the central dogma?

http://ocw.num.edu.mn/OcwWeb/Physics/8-592JSpring-2005/LectureNotes/detail/cendogma.html

The central dogma of molecular biology is anessential topic for all Introduction to Biology courses.It is fundamental to understanding biology and isreiterated and built upon in nearly every advancedBiology course. It is often a difficult concept forstudents to grasp, particularly the way in whichinformation flows from DNA to RNA to Protein (e.g.,Glykos, 2011). The processes involved are alsohighly dynamic and require many different factors,making them difficult to visualize.

DNAi – www.dnai.org - A part of the Dolan DNA Learning Center (www.dnalc.org)created by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. This website provides a historicalperspective for the molecular biology revolution, telling the story of DNA through thescientists and experiments that unraveled its mysteries. The site also includesanimations and walkthroughs allowing students to decode the information contained inDNA, use lab techniques to manipulate genetic material, explore genomics, and seereal world applications of DNA science.

NCBI Bookshelf – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books - Provides free access to over 700texts in life science and healthcare. The website is designed to allow easy browsing,retrieval, and reading of science content.

Vieweachofthefollowinganima3onsandanswertheques3ons.Youmaywanttokeepthemopeninseparatebrowserwindowssoyoucanmovebackandforthbetweenthem.#1 #2 #3

#1ClipfromPBSproduc3onDNA:ThesecretoflifehHp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41_Ne5mS2ls&feature=related#2PaHyHainandNathanWambaugh:UniversityofNebraskahHp://www.class.unl.edu/biochem/gp2/m_biology/anima3on/gene/gene_a1.html#3LearnGene3cs:UniversityofUtahhHp://learn.gene3cs.utah.edu/content/begin/dna/firefly/

1.Basedonyourini3alviewing,whichoftheanima3onswasthemostinteres3ngtoyou?Pleasebrieflydescribeyourchoice.

2.Thetablebelowlists3keybiologicalfeaturesthatareimportantforgeneexpression.Ranktheanima3onsonhowclearlytheyrepresenttheprocess.

3.Whereintheeukaryo3ccelldotheprocessesoftranscrip3onandtransla3ontakeplace?Compareandcontrasthowtheanima3onsrepresentedthisfeature.

4.Describeafeaturefromoneoftheanima3onsthatwasveryusefultoyouandonethatwasveryconfusingtoyou.

Animation#1

Animation#2

Animation#3

3 key biological features Rank the animations for each feature.1. The RNA Polymerase is recruited to ageneʼs regulatory elements (promoter).

2. Transcription and translation occur atdifferent times and at different locationswithin the cell.3. tRNA molecules bring amino acids to themRNA in order for the ribosome toassemble the polypeptide chain.

Aipotu – intro.bio.umb.edu/aipotu - Pronounced “ay poh too,” the name is “Utopia”reversed. This software, developed by Brian White at the University ofMassachusetts-Boston, simulates the genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, andevolution of organisms in a biologically reasonable and pedagogically relevant way.