Poster: Education

Abs # 28: Applied and Inquiry-based Molecular Biology (AIM): Virtual Labs for the Community College Classroom

Presenter:	Gubrium, Erika K, ekgu@ufl.edu
Authors	Gubrium, Erika K (A)   Hrabak, Estelle M (B)   Harmon, Alice C (C)
Affiliations:	(A): Dept of Social Foundations, College of Education, University of Florida (B): Dept of Plant Biology, University of New Hampshire (C): Dept of Botany, Program in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Florida

One important aspect of conducting work within the sciences is learning how to critically analyze experimentally generated data to form a set of conclusions. While in the everyday world of molecular biology experimental data and results rarely offer one, easily reached conclusion, science laboratories traditionally have taught students how to gather results and from a single conclusion from a given data set. Increasingly, teachers are relying on the wide array of computer-based teaching and learning resources that are available. Many of these educational materials have been criticized for their failure to use pedagogical approaches that might allow students to develop a better understanding of scientific concepts. In response to this, online exercises have begun to reflect an inquiry-based model of learning, rather than merely relying on rote memorization. A web-based "virtual laboratory" module, “Applied and Inquiry-based Molecular Biology,” (AIM) has been developed to teach community college students about working with plant protein kinases and genomics in the lab using an inquiry-based model. The AIM module consists of three lessons (“virtual labs”). Each lesson allows students to develop a deeper understanding of the techniques that they will encounter in their hands-on lab as well as how to interpret the types of inconclusive data or unexpected results that they might later encounter on the job. Most importantly, these lessons follow a heuristic model and allow students to develop the key skill of forming and answering questions and choosing follow-up experiments when working in a real-life lab setting. This work was supported by grant MCB 0114769 from the National Science Foundation to A.C.H., E.M.H. J.C. Cushman, J.F. Harper, and M.R. Sussman.