The University and the High School: Scientists Participating in Education at all Levels

J.Paul Robinson Professor of Immunopharmacology Professor of Biomedical Engineering Purdue University Email: [email protected]

WEB: http://www.cyto.purdue.edu

Faculty Lecture at Kitasato University, Towada, Japan June 26-July 4, 2000

Lecture abstract

In this lecture we will introduce an important new educational development from the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. This program is known as the

BioScope Initiative

and involves a large group of faculty, staff and students committed to developing much better basic biology teaching material than currently exists for our high school students. This program has been funded by the United States

National Science Foundation

and has, as its primary goal, production of high quality, scientifically accurate biology teaching material that focuses on current research technologies, current information superhighway delivery systems and

state-of-the-art

multimedia tools to create and deliver the material.

A key feature of this program is that it is centered in our research laboratory. This alone is enough to strongly influence the material developed so that future generations of university students will already have been exposed to current scientific techniques, theories and applications. They will be better prepared for college experiences in the sciences. There is an other, perhaps more important reason however for the

BioScope Initiative

. This is to make science fun, interesting and perhaps even a desirable field for future employment. If time permits, we will demonstrate some of the exciting material developed to teach students about cells and their function. The material is designed to operate on a CD-ROM with active connections to the internet. Current technologies using 3D animations, modeling and server-updating makes the CD-ROMs updateable preventing them becoming outdated quickly. We have implemented many new technical ideas in the WEB programming environment. All of our CD-ROMs operate on standard browsers on either MACs or PCs without modification. This platform independence has been a basic component of the program.

This lecture will discuss the importance of involvement of fellow scientists, college students and staff in making sure that we assist high school and elementary science teachers, encourage them by providing sources of quality information, create laboratory visits for their students and participate in the learning experience of our young students. We must develop quality learning experiences for our children, not just push information at them. The transformation of information into knowledge in an exciting way is the pathway to successfully influencing future generations of scientists.

Problems in Education

• • • Students in high school are not performing as well in science and math at college • Less emphasis is placed on science and math Teachers do not have adequate material Teachers are poorly prepared

What are the solutions?

• • • Better training Better material Use current methods

The origins of Multimedia Learning systems •Ted Nelson - 1960s-70s Invented the term HYPERTEXT . •In 1984 the Mac computer was introduced which incorporated the Graphics User Interface ( GUI ) •In 1987 the HYPERCARD system was introduced commercially with the Macintosh computer •In 1990 Microsoft together with other developers defined the Multimedia PC - ( MPC standard) •In 1993 the world wide web became available •In 1996 many people first became aware of the WWW

History of the BioScope Initiative • • • 1997 my son Tim was doing biology in High School He was learning about epithelial cells (cheek) He found it hard to see much on the school microscopes This is a the This is a typical only image of image under a epithelial cells school from the school microscope text

History of the BioScope Initiative • • I took him into my laboratory and made a preparation I stained it and put it under the confocal microscope

History of the BioScope Initiative • If kids can’t see basic cells, how can they be interested in science????

History of the BioScope Initiative • 10 days later, a high school high school science teacher Mr. Marshall Overley and myself had drafted and submitted a pre-proposal to NSF • 6 weeks later we were invited to submit a full grant which was submitted 6 weeks after that • 4 months later the grant was funded for $2 million

Summary of the Technological Features

• • • • • • • •

of BioScope

Material would be

platform independent teacher driven (MACS, PCs, UNIX) written in HTML for use with a regular browser interactive in some way use

state-of-the art

science research tools evaluated by professional educators quality-controlled by current scientists not be limited by bandwidth considerations

Summary - Philosophical Approach

• • Use the WEB/CD-ROM--Hybrid for delivery Use multimedia tools to immerse the student in a learning environment • • Create Quality Learning Experience ( QLE ) Promote engagement by use of games and animations from which there is a continuum from stimulation to games to virtual reality • Maintain the Scientist-Student Partnership

WEB Developments

• • • • • • • Style Sheets Cascading Style Sheets Adobe Acrobat files Dynamic HTML VMRL - - Virtual Reality Modeling Language WEBChat Internet Explorer & Netscape dominant browsers

Key Philosophy

• Science should be

FUN

• Science should be

ACCURATE

• Science should be

INTERACTIVE

• DO NOT CONFUSE Information as knowledge!

the

BioScope Initiative

• Demonstration of BioScope Initiative CD ROM – Cells and Function