PubMed, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune as tools for teaching genetics

An elementary course in human heredity for students not planning to major in the sciences can be based on current scientific literature and on the popular media. Examinations are constructed from questions on recent abstracts obtained from PubMed. The course is designed to promote writing skills in the sciences, and students write two papers in the course of a quarter. In the first paper, students trace the primary source of media reports on genetics and attempt to evaluate the reporter's translation. In a second paper, students write popular articles on the basis of current primary sources.     

基因工程课程双语教学的探索与实践

基因工程处于生命科学的最前沿, 其内容国际前沿性强, 发展和更新迅速。基于培养适应全球化发展的复合型本科生的需要, 福建师范大学生命科学学院生物工程专业自2006年对《基因工程》课程进行双语教学模式的探索。本文根据几年来基因工程双语教学的实践, 介绍了该课程双语教学的体会, 包括教学内容与双语教材选择、教学手段与方式改革以及网络资源的利用等, 并探讨了存在的问题和对策。     

Still More “Fancy” and “Myth” than “Fact” in Students’ Conceptions of Evolution

College students do not come to biological sciences classes, including biological anthropology, as “blank slates.” Rather, these students have complex and strongly held scientific misconceptions that often interfere with their ability to understand accurate explanations that are presented in class. Research indicates that a scientific misconception cannot be corrected by simply presenting accurate information; the misconception must be made explicit, and the student must decide for him or herself that it is inaccurate. The first step in helping to facilitate such conceptual change among college students is to understand the nature of the scientific misconceptions. We surveyed 547 undergraduate students at the University of Missouri-Columbia on their understanding of the nature and language of science, the mechanisms of evolution, and their support for both Lamarckian inheritance and teleological evolution. We found few significant sex differences among the respondents and identified some common themes in the students’ misconceptions. Our survey results show that student understanding of evolutionary processes is limited, even among students who accept the validity of biological evolution. We also found that confidence in one’s knowledge of science is not related to actual understanding. We advise instructors in biological anthropology courses to survey their students in order to identify the class-specific scientific misconceptions, and we urge faculty members to incorporate active learning strategies in their courses in order to facilitate conceptual change among the students.     

全国大学生生命科学竞赛助力高校生命科学人才培养

全国大学生生命科学竞赛历经5届赛事,已成为国内最具规模和影响力的生命科学领域赛事。竞赛坚持“兴趣驱动、科学探究、过程评价、能力提升”的方针,竞赛的举办有效提升了高校生命科学类专业人才培养质量。本文介绍了竞赛的发展、组织和管理,总结了竞赛的组织特色,可为各高校竞赛组织和学生参赛提供指导,助力全国高校生命科学领域的人才培养。     

美国生命科学两用性研究监管政策分析

目的:近年来高致病性禽流感H5N1病毒基因改造研究及美国国家生物安全科学咨询委员会的监管建议引起广泛争议,美国发布了生命科学两用性研究监管政策。本研究旨在通过对美国生命科学两用性研究监管政策进行分析,探讨两用性研究发展和监管趋势。方法:通过文献检索,获取生命科学两用性研究监管政策相关的情报源,对美国政府生命科学两用性研究监管的政策背景、主要内容、政策评论、政策动因进行系统梳理与分析。结果:美国政府出台的生命科学两用性研究监管政策,有助于美国对整个生命科学研究周期(从最初提交资助申请到研究结论和研究成果交流)潜在的误用风险进行管理。结论:美国生命科学两用性研究引发极大争议,两用性研究监管主要依靠生命科学团体的自我管理,政策具有指导性而非强制性。     

Misconceptions About Evolution in Brazilian Freshmen Students

Regarding such an important issue as our origin, as well as the origin of all biological diversity, it is surprising to realize that evolution still faces drawbacks in keeping its deserved notability as a unifying theory in biology. This does not happen because evolutionism lacks validity as a scientific theory, but rather because of several misconceptions regarding evolutionary biology that were and continue to be found in elementary and secondary education. Furthermore, mistaken evolutionary ideas also affect some philosophical and social issues. The aim of the present study was to evaluate knowledge about evolution among freshman students from distinct majoring areas at Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste do Paraná (UNICENTRO), Brazil. The research was carried out based on a ten-question questionnaire about evolution with distinct levels of difficulty, comprising the most observed misconceptions. In this study, 231 students attending classes in biological sciences (morning and evening schedule), exact sciences (agronomy, physics, chemistry, and math), and human sciences (history, geography, and pedagogy) were interviewed. The total average of right answers was 48.8%, and the highest average per course obtained was 58.7% from the students attending biological sciences (evening schedule). Although evolutionary biology and ecology are supposed to represent teaching guide issues according to the recommendations of the National Curricular Parameters for the Secondary School, the data obtained suggest that the evidence for evolution, the role of natural selection and random events, as well as the sources of variation, must be better focused at schools.     

A project-based approach to the use of biological literature

A course is described which has been designed to increase students' ability and willingness to use and read the scientific literature, and ultimately to enable them to make their own contributions to the literature in an acceptable style and format. The objectives and methods of the course differ from those of traditional library-use courses by concentrating on making students read and evaluate the literature rather than on information retrieval per se. Reactions have been favourable. Students make more and better use of the literature and the standard of presentation of written work has improved. The work habits generated by the course assist students throughout their academic careers. The course may have considerable implications for other library user-education programmes.     

Learning developmental biology has priority in the life sciences curriculum in Singapore

Singapore has embraced the life sciences as an important discipline to be emphasized in schools and universities. This is part of the nation's strategic move towards a knowledge-based economy, with the life sciences poised as a new engine for economic growth. In the life sciences, the area of developmental biology is of prime interest, since it is not just intriguing for students to know how a single cell can give rise to a complex, coordinated, functional life that is multicellular and multifaceted, but more importantly, there is much in developmental biology that can have biomedical implications. At different levels in the Singapore educational system, students are exposed to various aspects of developmental biology. The author has given many guest lectures to secondary (ages 12-16) and high school (ages 17-18) students to enthuse them about topics such as embryo cloning and stem cell biology. At the university level, some selected topics in developmental biology are part of a broader course which caters for students not majoring in the life sciences, so that they will learn to comprehend how development takes place and the significance of the knowledge and impacts of the technologies derived in the field. For students majoring in the life sciences, the subject is taught progressively in years two and three, so that students will gain specialist knowledge in developmental biology. As they learn, students are exposed to concepts, principles and mechanisms that underlie development. Different model organisms are studied to demonstrate the rapid advances in this field and to show the interconnectivity of developmental themes among living things. The course inevitably touches on life and death matters, and the social and ethical implications of recent technologies which enable scientists to manipulate life are discussed accordingly, either in class, in a discussion forum, or through essay writing.     

新冠疫情下“细胞生物学”课程思政教学研究

立德树人是教育事业的根本任务,课程思政是将立德树人融入教育各环节、各领域的重要手段。"细胞生物学"既是现代生命科学的前沿分支学科之一,也是高校生命科学类专业的重要课程。该文在课程思政的背景下,选择新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情(简称:新冠疫情)为载体,以"细胞生物学"课程中"病毒的特征、入侵、增殖"为主线,从"教学内容的甄选"和"实施策略"两个方面着手,开展聚焦新冠疫情下"细胞生物学"课程思政教学的深入探讨。该研究旨在引导学生在研习专业知识的基础上,提升其科学素养、树立其正确的价值观,为侧重新冠疫情的课程思政研究提供重要参考。     

Communicating the consensus on climate change to college biology majors: The importance of preaching to the choir

College and university biology majors who are not climate change deniers may yet be unaware of the degree of scientific consensus on climate change and unprepared to communicate about climate science to others. This study reports on a population of climate change accepting biology majors at a large, private research university in the American northeast. Our students tended to greatly underestimate the degree of scientific consensus around climate change, to be only moderately worried about climate change, and to be unconfident in their ability to communicate about the state of the scientific consensus around climate change. After an introduction to the scholarly literature that substantiates and quantifies the scientific consensus on climate change in the context of a course on biological research literature, our students showed significant increases in their estimates of the consensus on climate change, and their estimates were more accurate. Additionally, they became more worried about climate change as well as more confident in their ability to communicate about the scientific consensus to others. These results are in line with the Gateway Belief Model, which positions perception of scientific agreement on climate change as an important driver of acceptance and motivation toward action.     

Improving life sciences information retrieval using semantic web technology

The ability to retrieve relevant information is at the heart of every aspect of research and development in the life sciences industry. Information is often distributed across multiple systems and recorded in a way that makes it difficult to piece together the complete picture. Differences in data formats, naming schemes and network protocols amongst information sources, both public and private, must be overcome, and user interfaces not only need to be able to tap into these diverse information sources but must also assist users in filtering out extraneous information and highlighting the key relationships hidden within an aggregated set of information. The Semantic Web community has made great strides in proposing solutions to these problems, and many efforts are underway to apply Semantic Web techniques to the problem of information retrieval in the life sciences space. This article gives an overview of the principles underlying a Semantic Web-enabled information retrieval system: creating a unified abstraction for knowledge using the RDF semantic network model; designing semantic lenses that extract contextually relevant subsets of information; and assembling semantic lenses into powerful information displays. Furthermore, concrete examples of how these principles can be applied to life science problems including a scenario involving a drug discovery dashboard prototype called BioDash are provided.     

医药类高等院校生物物理课程建设的思考

医用生物物理学是研究生命物质的物理性质,生命过程的物理和物理化学规律以及物理因素对生物系统作用机制的科学,是物理学和生物学相结合而产生的一门边缘学科。在促进物理学和生命科学进步方面都显现出强大的生命力和推动力。基于医用生物物理学发展和我校学科建设发展的现实需要,本文讨论了我校建设医用生物物理学必修课或者选修课的必要性,并从本课程和学校学生特点两个方面考虑,对该课程建设的内容进行了初步的整合。旨在对教学内容进行整合、优化,增加一些新概念、新知识及前沿动态,把新旧知识联系到了一起,教会学生如何应用基础知识解决问题的方法以及缓解目前学时少、内容多这一矛盾。     

Biochemistry,Coming Along with Melodies: Instructional Design and Teaching Tips for Introduction of Biochemistry Course

The first class of a higher education course, in most cases, is an introduction that covers the learning goals, course overview, syllabus, and evaluation mode. The effectiveness of an introduction lecture is vital for students to develop an interest in the course. Biochemistry is the foundation of a vast array of scientific disciplines; therefore, it is a core course required for medical schools and life science majors. However, many students are often intimidated by the complex, intertwined metabolic pathways composed of a great variety of structurally diverse biomolecules. Well begun is half done: a good introduction is essential for the success of a course and this is particularly true for teaching of biochemistry. As an educator with over twenty years of teaching experience in biochemistry to students of biology, medicine, pharmacy, and nursing at Peking University, I have successfully enriched the introduction class with delightful biochemistry songs, multiple sources of educational materials, and biochemistry-related knowledge in medical humanities. These strategies and tips have proven effective, and I hope it can be enlightening and helpful to the teaching of biochemistry.     

独立学院分子生物学引导式教学改革实践

分子生物学是生命科学专业的基础课程,但由于信息量大、知识更新快、生物大分子之间的作用关系错综复杂,使得该课程内容庞杂抽象、较难理解。学生在学习过程中往往感到十分枯燥,从而失去了学习兴趣,学习效率不高。生物科学教研室通过学业自我效能感评价,科学地分析出独立学院学生的学习特点,并使用信息化引导、双语引导、模块引导及互动引导等方式对分子生物学教学进行了改革。教学改革评价显示,此次教学改革提高了分子生物学的教学效果,增强了学生学习的主动性,激发了学生的科研兴趣,为分子生物学教学改革提供了理论依据。     

关于现代细胞生物学专题课程建设的探索

细胞生物学是现代生命科学研究中最活跃的领域,对农业科学院校的学生来说掌握其基本原理、基本方法和研究前沿是非常必要的。该文从教学理念、课程内容设置、教学方法与考核方式、教学效果等方面介绍了近两年来为该校本科生开设现代细胞生物学专题的经验和思考。通过以专题的形式开展了完善细胞生物学立体化教学体系的探索,在尊重学生个性化的基础上,对引导学生了解这门学科的前沿进展、科研思路,帮助学生拓宽视野、建立科学世界观都产生了重要的意义。     

Teaching evolution: challenging religious preconceptions

Teaching college students about the nature of science should not be a controversial exercise. College students are expected to distinguish between astronomy and astrology, chemistry and alchemy, evolution and creationism. In practice, however, the conflict between creationism and the nature of science may create controversy in the classroom, even walkouts, when the subject of evolution is raised. The authors have grappled with the meaning of such behaviors. They surveyed 538 students in a public, liberal arts college. Pre/post course surveys were analyzed to track changes in student responses to questions that were either consistent or inconsistent with the Theory of Evolution after a semester of instruction in a college biology or zoology course in which evolution was taught. Many students who were initially undecided about issues regarding evolution had shifted in their viewpoints by the end of the course. It was found that more education about the evidence for and the mechanics of evolutionary processes did not necessarily move students toward a scientific viewpoint. The authors also discovered a "wedge" effect among students who were undecided about questions pertaining to human ancestry at the beginning of the course. About half of these students shifted to a scientific viewpoint at the end of the course; the other half shifted toward agreement with statements consistent with creationism.     

Self-expression assignment as a teaching approach to enhance the interest of Kuwaiti women in biological sciences

Stimulating the interest of students in biological sciences necessitates the use of new teaching methods and motivating approaches. The idea of the self-expression assignment (SEA) has evolved from the prevalent environment at the College for Women of Kuwait University (Safat, State of Kuwait), a newly established college where the number of students is low and where students have varied backgrounds and interests and are being instructed biological sciences in English for the first time. This SEA requires each student to choose a topic among a long list of topics and interact with it in any way to produce a finished product without the interference of the course instructor. Students are told that the SEA will be graded based on their commitment, creative thinking, innovation in developing the idea, and finishing up of the chosen assignment. The SEA has been implemented in three introductory courses, namely, Biology, Introduction to Human Nutrition and Food Science, and The Human Body. Many interesting projects resulted from the SEA, and, based on an administered survey, students assessed this assignment very favorably. Students expressed their pleasure of experiencing freedom in choosing their own topics, interacting with such topics, learning more about them, and finishing up their projects. Students appreciated this type of exposure to biological sciences and expressed that such an experience enhanced their interest in such sciences.     

Elementary education majors experience hands-on learning in introductory biology

Faculty members from the University of South Dakota attended the Curriculum Reform Institute offered by the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, WI, during the summer of 2002 to design a course sequence for elementary education majors that better meets their needs for both content and pedagogy based on the science education standards. The special section of introductory biology that resulted from this workshop is designed to use laboratories and activities that either help students learn major concepts in the life sciences or model how to teach these concepts to their future K-8 students. This study describes how the active, hands-on learning opportunity for preservice teachers with its emphasis on both content and performance-based assessment was implemented in an introductory biology course for elementary education majors during the spring of 2004. During the initial offering of this course, student perceptions about what helped them to learn in the special section was compared with their nonscience major peers in the large lecture-intensive class that they would have taken. Each group of students completed early and late web-based surveys to assess their perceptions about learning during the courses. After the completion of the course, students in the special section appreciated how the relevance of science and conducting their own scientific experimentation helped them learn, enjoyed working and studying in small groups, valued diverse class time with very little lecture, were more confident in their abilities in science, and were more interested in discussing science with others. This course format is recommended for science classes for preservice teachers.     

弗洛伊德“人格结构”与麦克林“脑三位一体”学说--《神经美学》教学中遇到的问题、解决方案与讲义

《神经美学》课程在中国科学院大学(国科大)生命科学学院首次开设,吸引了来自生命科学学院内外34种不同专业的99位研究生选课.神经科学或心理学专业的学生占26.5%,虽来自生命科学专业但神经科学知识基础相对薄弱的学生占63.5%,完全没有涉猎过神经科学和心理学的理工科学生占10%.因此,在教学过程中,既要讲授神经科学等方面的基础知识使初学者得以理解《神经美学》,又要时时吸引神经科学和心理学专业研究生的学习兴趣.为此,我们设计了一个有针对性的教学方案,即把《神经美学》专业内容与相关神经科学的基础知识和前沿研究成果匹配在一起讲授,同时注意与学生互动、讨论.比如,在讲授弗洛伊德"人格心理结构"时,先介绍麦克林"脑三位一体"学说和"脑的弥散性调节系统",再讲解"本我"与原始皮层和古皮层、"超我"与新皮层,以及"自我"、"本我"和"超我"的关系.然后讨论艺术创作、审美体验的神经基础,以及对经典画作的理解和审美等.课程内容从人格心理、脑结构、神经元、分子(神经递质)四个层次,为学生构建了一个较为宽广的思维空间.从学生课后提交的学习心得来看,此次教学不仅激发了他们对《神经美学》的兴趣和学习热情,同时提高了学生从美学角度进行思考以及追求美的意识.     

Evolution: Improving the Understanding of Undergraduate Biology Students with an Active Pedagogical Approach

Students in a large introductory biology course at Flinders University, South Australia, were quizzed on misconceptions relating to evolution and their acceptance of evolutionary theory before and after completing the course. By providing students with a course featuring a multifaceted approach to learning about evolution, students improved their understanding and decreased their overall misconceptions. A variety of instructional methods and assessment tools were utilized in the course, and it employed an active and historically rich pedagogical approach. Although student learning and understanding of evolutionary theory improved throughout the course, it did not alter the beliefs of students who commented both before and after the course that religious theories provided adequate explanation for the diversity of life. Interestingly, students who maintained this belief scored more poorly on the final examination than students who considered evolution as the best explanation for the diversity of life.