NSF Award
1725940
This project builds on recent experiences that demonstrate the power of physical models of proteins to engage students' interest in the molecular biosciences. The project will have a dual focus on undergraduate students who are currently underrepresented in the sciences and on undergraduate faculty who teach topics related to molecular structure and function. Faculty will lead small teams of students in an exploration of a current research topic, with a special emphasis on the process of scientific research. In order to enhance the students' understanding of a particular molecular process, the team will design a physical model of a protein that plays a key role in that process. In so doing, the students will be introduced to the community of science and begin to see themselves as legitimate members of that research community. At the same time, faculty in this project will collaborate in the development of hands-on instructional materials that will transform the way this topic is currently taught in their bioscience classrooms. Instructional materials will begin with current student understanding and scaffold their knowledge so that they can better understand the significance of cutting edge research. Both components of our project support current efforts to improve undergraduate education as called for by the National Science Foundation's Vision and Change report. <br/><br/>This project will be carried out in collaboration with the undergraduate student chapters of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). The intellectual merit of this project rests on students' exploration of a topic and modeling of a protein that is related to the research of a scientist who will be honored at the annual meeting of this professional society. Students will bring their models to the annual meeting where they will have an opportunity to meet with the distinguished researcher and their colleagues in an informal "teaching session". Past experience has demonstrated that the physical models will serve as thinking tools to stimulate meaningful conversations between researchers (experts) and students (novices). In a second component of this project, undergraduate faculty will participate in a collaborative summer workshop that will focus on the development of student-centered instructional materials that can be used to enhance students' understanding of structure/function relationships. These instructional materials will include accurate physical models of proteins created by 3D printing technologies as well as schematic models of proteins involved in molecular pathways, digital animations of proteins, and molecular landscapes that place proteins within their cellular contexts. Project assessment will measure both the persistence of underrepresented minority students in their pursuit of a career in science and the impact of the program on the teaching practices of the participating faculty. The results of this project will be disseminated via workshops at future annual meeting of the ASBMB. The project's instructional materials will also be available for loan through the Milwaukee School of Engineering Model Lending Library. <br/><br/>This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/).
