Cargando…

From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students

We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have stron...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chiel, Hillel J., McManus, Jeffrey M., Shaw, Kendrick M.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2931672/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20810957
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-03-0022
_version_ 1782186066386616320
author Chiel, Hillel J.
McManus, Jeffrey M.
Shaw, Kendrick M.
author_facet Chiel, Hillel J.
McManus, Jeffrey M.
Shaw, Kendrick M.
author_sort Chiel, Hillel J.
collection PubMed
description We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have strong negative feelings toward the area of knowledge that they find difficult. To give students a sense of mastery in each area, several complementary approaches are used in the course: 1) a “live” textbook that allows students to explore models and mathematical processes interactively; 2) benchmark problems providing key skills on which students make continuous progress; 3) assignment of students to teams of two throughout the semester; 4) regular one-on-one interactions with instructors throughout the semester; and 5) a term project in which students reconstruct, analyze, extend, and then write in detail about a recently published biological model. Based on student evaluations and comments, an attitude survey, and the quality of the students' term papers, the course has significantly increased the ability and willingness of biology students to use mathematical concepts and modeling tools to understand biological systems, and it has significantly enhanced engineering students' appreciation of biology.
format Text
id pubmed-2931672
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2010
publisher American Society for Cell Biology
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-29316722010-09-02 From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students Chiel, Hillel J. McManus, Jeffrey M. Shaw, Kendrick M. CBE Life Sci Educ Articles We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have strong negative feelings toward the area of knowledge that they find difficult. To give students a sense of mastery in each area, several complementary approaches are used in the course: 1) a “live” textbook that allows students to explore models and mathematical processes interactively; 2) benchmark problems providing key skills on which students make continuous progress; 3) assignment of students to teams of two throughout the semester; 4) regular one-on-one interactions with instructors throughout the semester; and 5) a term project in which students reconstruct, analyze, extend, and then write in detail about a recently published biological model. Based on student evaluations and comments, an attitude survey, and the quality of the students' term papers, the course has significantly increased the ability and willingness of biology students to use mathematical concepts and modeling tools to understand biological systems, and it has significantly enhanced engineering students' appreciation of biology. American Society for Cell Biology 2010 /pmc/articles/PMC2931672/ /pubmed/20810957 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-03-0022 Text en © 2010 H. J. Chiel et al. CBE-Life Sciences Education © 2010 The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).
spellingShingle Articles
Chiel, Hillel J.
McManus, Jeffrey M.
Shaw, Kendrick M.
From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title_full From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title_fullStr From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title_full_unstemmed From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title_short From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students
title_sort from biology to mathematical models and back: teaching modeling to biology students, and biology to math and engineering students
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2931672/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20810957
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-03-0022
work_keys_str_mv AT chielhillelj frombiologytomathematicalmodelsandbackteachingmodelingtobiologystudentsandbiologytomathandengineeringstudents
AT mcmanusjeffreym frombiologytomathematicalmodelsandbackteachingmodelingtobiologystudentsandbiologytomathandengineeringstudents
AT shawkendrickm frombiologytomathematicalmodelsandbackteachingmodelingtobiologystudentsandbiologytomathandengineeringstudents