Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

BeeSpace: Integrating the Curriculum by Connecting

Learning and Life

Chip BruceLibrary and Information Science, UIUC

with thanks to

Susan FahrbachBiology, Wake Forest University

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Situation in Science Education Science today: colony collapse, global

warming, biodiversity, medicine, space, computers/networks

Science education: pipeline, citizens, education in general, political leaders

BeeSpace opportunity: multidisiplinary, accessible, meaningful questions

Puzzle: complex ideas and tools, under development, diverse constituencies

A project of same scale as BeeSpace itself

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Integrative Learning

"connecting skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences; applying skills and practices in various settings; utilizing diverse and even contradictory points of view; and, understanding issues and positions contextually." –Huber, Hutchings, & Gale, Integrative Learning for Liberal Education (2005)

Fostering students’ abilities to integrate learning–across courses, over time, and between campus and community life–is one of the most important goals and challenges of higher education. –Carnegie Foundation

No "gap in kind (as distinct from degree) between the child's experience and the various forms of subject-matter." –Dewey, The Child and Curriculum (1902)

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Stratified earths?

Experience has its geographical aspect, its artistic and its literary, its scientific and its historical sides. All studies arise from aspects of the one earth and the one life lived upon it. We do not have a series of stratified earths, one of which is mathematical, another physical, another historical, and so on. … All studies grow out of relations in the one great common world. When the child lives in varied but concrete and active relationship to this common world, his/her studies are naturally unified. … Relate the school to life, and all studies are of necessity correlated. –John Dewey, The School and Society (1900)

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Four specific developments (1902) expansion of transportation and the

circulation of ideas so that it is no longer physically possible for one nationality, race, class, or sect to be kept apart from others, impervious to their wishes and beliefs

relaxation of the bonds of social discipline and control

intellectual life, facts, and knowledge more connected with daily occupations and ordinary surroundings

prolongation of continuous instruction

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

School as Social Center

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee, as the model organism, with its recently sequenced genome

Microarray experiments generating a database of gene expressions for social behavior BeeSpace Concept Navigator enables users to navigate a uniform space of diverse

databases and literature sources for hypothesis development and testing; uses statistical literature analyses to discover functional relationships between genes and behavior

An international community of laboratories studying honey bees and related organisms $5 million grant from NSF’s Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research program, 2004-

2009 www.beespace.uiuc.edu

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007Third Annual BeeSpace Workshop, May 21-22, 2007

www.beespace.uiuc.edu

Unpacking the Puzzle

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Education Resources Bee Biology

Booklet by high school biology teacher (D. Stone) Video of talk by G. Robinson, with question set Video footage of bee behaviors

Bee Research Video tour of Bee Lab Links to Honey Bee Genome materials

BeeSpace Research (molecular basis of social behaviors) Video: caring for the BeeSpace bees (K. Pruiett) ‘Anatomy of a BeeSpace Experiment’ (D. Stone) Videos: researchers at work (M. Sarma, A. Boardmann, S. Liang, R.

Velarde) Bees In the Classroom

‘Bioinformatics for Beginners’ freshman seminar (S. Fahrbach) Middle school visits with bee researchers (G. Robinson, N. Ismail) Video: teacher education activities with bees (S. Fahrbach)

Software Support Training for researchers using BeeSpace software – in-house, lab visits,

online help

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

‘Bioinformatics for Beginners’ @WFU First-year seminar taught by S. Fahrbach in Fall 2006 Classes 1x/wk. for 150 minutes

Students introduced to bioinformatics via “nature vs. nurture” issue and BeeSpace Navigator

Students build skills and display mastery by developing new BeeSpace educational materials for younger students

Special features Session with science librarian to create online resource

page Field trip to research apiary Videoconference with Bruce Schatz Access to online BeeSpace educational resources Use of NCBI tools and resources Presentation of final projects to BeeSpace PI’s via

teleconference

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

B4B@WFU Student Projects

Projects were required to conform to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Projects required a “deliverable” for use in the classroom and an accompanying teacher’s manual.

Materials are ready for use Summer 2007, and will be broadly accessible via the BeeSpace website.

Students created: a board game (BeeLand), a Jeopardy game, a web site, several PowerPoint presentations, and rules for a game to be played outdoors.

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Successes/Challenges of B4B@WFU Introduced to bioinformatics concepts, challenges of

effective search, modern formulations of nature/nurture in human behavior

Embraced learning-by-teaching, worked effectively in groups to complete projects

Interacted directly with researchers Proved resistant to idea of gene x environment

interactions Sometimes distracted by minor technical glitches

(delays getting BLAST results, printer failures, videoconferencing problems)

Busy student schedules and low proportion of intended science majors precluded student transition to active participation in outreach

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Next Steps

Additional education resources coming to project website

Summer workshop for grade 8-9 students; Colony Collapse Disorder; activities involving bee biology, insect pollination of plants, and computer search and retrieval of biological information; learners reviewed the learning activities for incorporation into next year’s sessions

Assessing outcomes and challenges of connecting middle school-age through undergraduate learners with leading-edge research

First-year seminar at Wake Forest to be offered in Fall 2007 and Fall 2008; BeeSpace volunteers are needed for videoconferences in Fall 2007

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Lessons

Literature summarized for students => Literature analyzed and explored by students

Laboratory work described to students => Laboratory work done by students

Curriculum development for students => curriculum development by students

Educational research on students => educational research by students

Computational Biology Workshop, July 24,, 2007

Conclusion

One cannot understand the history of education in the United States during the twentieth century unless one realizes that Edward L. Thorndike won and John Dewey lost. –Ellen Condliffe Lagemann

To put the distinction sharply, Thorndike saw humans in the image of the machine; Dewey saw them in the image of life. –Richard Gibboney