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

1. 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: jpr@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu WEB: http://www.cyto.purdue.edu Faculty Lecture at Kitasato University, Towada, Japan June 26-July 4, 2000

2. 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technologies using 3D animations, modeling and server-updating makes the CD-ROMs updateable preventing them becoming outdated quickly.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.

3. 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

4. What are the solutions? • Better training • Better material • Use current methods

5. 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

6. 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 only image of epithelial cells from the school text This is a typical image under a school microscope

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. Summary of the Technological Features of BioScope Material would be • platform independent (MACS, PCs, UNIX) • written in HTML for use with a regular browser • teacher driven • interactive in some way • use state-of-the artscience research tools • evaluated by professional educators • quality-controlled by current scientists • not be limited by bandwidth considerations

11. 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

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

13. Key Philosophy • Science should be FUN • Science should be ACCURATE • Science should be INTERACTIVE • DO NOT CONFUSE Information as knowledge!

14. the BioScope Initiative • Demonstration of BioScope Initiative CD-ROM – Cells and Function