The Impact of a Web-Based Research Simulation in Bioinformatics on Students’ Understanding of Genetics

Abstract

Providing learners with opportunities to engage in activities similar to those carried out by scientists was addressed in a web-based research simulation in genetics developed for high school biology students. The research simulation enables learners to apply their genetics knowledge while giving them an opportunity to participate in an authentic genetics study using bioinformatics tools. The main purpose of the study outlined here is to examine how learning using this research simulation influences students' understanding of genetics, and how students' approaches to learning using the simulation influence their learning outcomes. Using both quantitative and qualitative procedures, we were able to show that while learning using the simulation students expanded their understanding of the relationships between molecular mechanisms and phenotype, and refined their understanding of certain genetic concepts. Two types of learners, researchoriented and task-oriented, were identified on the basis of the differences in the ways they seized opportunities to recognize the research practices, which in turn influenced their learning outcomes. The research-oriented learners expanded their genetics knowledge more than the task-oriented learners. The learning approach taken by the research-oriented learners enabled them to recognize the epistemology that underlies authentic genetic research, while the task-oriented learners referred to the research simulation as a set of simple procedural tasks. Thus, task-oriented learners should be encouraged by their teachers to cope with the scientists' steps, while learning genetics through the simulation in a class setting.

Characterisation of the Context-Dependence of the Gene Concept in Research Articles

“…Another is how the meaning of concepts in a university entomology class, need to be mangled with real pinned insects (with a zoologist) to make sense about, for example, the form of an insect wing (Wickman and Östman 2002a, b). Further example is Gelbart et al (2009) that developed a simulation of genetic research for students in high school in a way that differs from typical school problems. The students applied the concepts and processes from genetics while carrying out the practice of linkage analysis and using the bioinformatics tools.…”

Bio‐organic reaction animations (BioORA): Student performance, student perceptions, and instructor feedback

“…Studies suggest that 3-D simulations enhance student performance on both quantitative and conceptual problems in chemistry and biology [3,[5][6][7][8][9]. In fact, molecular visualization has been found to be crucial for science education [10][11][12][13].…”

Teaching with simulations (print)

“…However, a word of caution is warranted, as short-term increased understanding does not necessarily lead to meaningful learning over the long term-as Stern et al (2008) point out-and most studies in this category investigated only short-term results. In order to ensure that meaningful learning takes place, it is necessary to attune teaching strategies and the curriculum to the use of simulations and vice versa (Stern et al, 2008), such as by the encouragement of students to follow a research-oriented approach (Gelbart et al, 2009) or by focusing curriculum on the development of scientific reasoning skills (McKagan et al, 2009). …”

“…In comparing a research simulation with regular class work within the domain of genetics, Gelbart, Brill and Yarden (2009) found a significantly positive influence of the computer simulation on learning outcomes. Students' understanding was measured by testing their ability to respond correctly to true/false statements (d = 0.87) and to provide explanations for their choices (d = 0.80).…”

“…This may clarify students' ideas and misconceptions for the teacher. Supplementing classroom use of computer simulations with a teacher-led discussion allows for guiding the learners' attention to important aspects of the research process and connecting the different stages of inquiry learning (Gelbart et al, 2009). However, the most effective classroom use of computer simulations (Adams et al, 2008), how the learning processes can be mediated by the teacher (Hennessy, 2006), and how to integrate computer simulations into a physics curriculum (Zacharia & Anderson, 2003) appear to have been sparsely researched.…”