Cell biology apps were surveyed in order to identify whether there are new approaches for modelling cells allowed by the new technologies implemented in tablets and smartphones. A total of 97 apps were identified in 3 stores surveyed (Apple, Google Play and Amazon), they are presented as: education 48.4%, games 26.8% and medicine 15.4%. The apps were arranged by representation similarities of the cell models, and then the groups were nominated. The name of each one was based in recurrent terms on the apps descriptions and the definition is grounded in the literature. Thus, we categorized those apps in six modelling groups, not mutually exclusive: 32% three-dimensional, 25% bi-dimensional, 14% realistic, 14% animation, 11% scale and 4% playful. Each model has unique characteristics. Three-dimensional models can present proportional scales of organelles that allow immersion in the cell model. Realistic models and animations can be used to explore the dynamics of the cell functioning. The cell models designed for smartphones and tablets bring handling capabilities not found in computers and notebooks; they also have the potential to deliver content with high levels of interactivity and are accessible anytime and anywhere. Regarding the applicability of the cell models available in the apps, this paper offers some suggestions of classroom use based on the features of the models and examples found in the literature.
Full article Related workEducational application evaluations are usually focused in functional aspects; however, factors such as learning difficulties can also be investigated. In this study, the potential of Google Analytics (GA) to collect usage data from an educational app was evaluated, aiming to both improve the app interface and empower its educational usage. Thus, the statistics tools available in GA were used to answer the following questions: who are the app users? How long the users stay on the app? How do users interact with the application? What content do users view more frequently? What are the critical dropout points? The obtained results demonstrate, among other things, that the users were spread through all continents, 58.7% of the sessions lasted between 2 and 17 minutes and there is no critical dropout point. GA was able to answer all these questions and it can be an effective tool to evaluate the usage of educational apps.
Full article Related workWe have surveyed the main mobile application stores to identify the coverage of the biochemistry applications and what kinds of applications are available in such stores. We have found that instructional apps, such as Books and Flash Cards, are the most frequent mobile applications, with 46 occurrences. In terms of subject covered by these applications, the most frequent topics are those related to genes and nucleic acids (20 occurrences), and proteins and amino acids (19 occurrences). With the survey we concluded that online stores have to improve their search engines to allow more accurate searches, and biochemistry applications are still presenting information in a traditional way, not exploring the use of connectivity and interactivity allowed by mobile devices.
Full article Related workWe have developed a metabolic pathways visualization skill test (MPVST) to gain greater insight into our students' abilities to comprehend the visual information presented in metabolic pathways diagrams. The test is able to discriminate students' visualization ability with respect to six specific visualization skills that we identified as key to the understanding of metabolic map diagrams. Application of the MPVST to B. S. Biochemistry students showed that their visualization skills develop informally and progressively during their college years. Furthermore, the complex nature of biochemical pathways, together with students' lack of familiarity with metabolic maps, suggests that it is important for instructors to spend more time than usual explaining visual representations to their students.
Full article Related workIn order to better prepare students to design and perform laboratory experiments, we used a virtual learning environment called ‘3DClass’ to deliver homework about laboratory experiments. This must be completed before classes involving the design and performance of experiments. We developed a homework system that allows students to answer quizzes as many times as they wish. Students are scored according to the average among tries and can continue to answer quizzes until they achieve a score of 100%, and even continue to practise to improve their grades. 3DClass gives instructors access to a detailed report which not only provides the student's grades, but also indicates how he or she answers each quiz, including the choice made for each question and the time spent on each attempt. This enables us to detect the student's level of confidence in each question and to identify which details of each technique need to be better explained before students perform experiments. The data from the quizzes are saved in a confidential databank. In the subsequent class or laboratory experiment, the instructors are provided with a summary of the class answers, identifying the questions on which students had more difficulty and those on which they scored more highly.
Full article Related workThe aim of this study is to determine the learning style preference among users of the Digital Library of Science (BDC-IB-UNICAMP) using the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) developed by Kolb in 1976 and adapted and validated in Brazil by Sobral 1992. We observed that 43% of users fit into the style assimilating. This same style is prevalent among teachers (46%) and students (42%). The prevalence of styles Assimilating and Converging was expected, since both are guided by symbols and drawings, common elements in teaching tools and teaching computational biology, an area which concentrates most of the acquis of the BDC. Unlike observed in the literature, there was a prevalence of Assimilating style among users regardless of gender, showing that socio - cultural factors may influence learning style. These data can assist in developing tools to facilitate the teaching-learning process, taking care of each individual student, with the inclusion of digital elements in materials that match users with different profiles.
Full article Related workA glycolysis paper puzzle has been used as strategy to teach metabolic pathways, but this kind of game demands a higher number of instructors and limits the follow up of the students’ difficulties. A technology called Augmented Reality (AR) was applied to enable the puzzle usage in large audiences, and to provide feedback to students and instructors. Drafted as flashcards readable by an app installed in tablets, it conveys information as molecules 3D-structure, clues for correct assembling of the metabolic pathway and results of student progression in the activity. Such technological improvement brought more autonomy to students for solving proposed exercises and an embedded performance data collection system helpful to understand, and after to unravel students’ difficulties.
Full article Related workThis study is a visibility analysis of 196 digital content developed by LTE in five digital content distribution platforms. The study reveals that there are statistically significant difference between materials published on Portal do Professor and the other platforms. The other four platforms studied don’t show significant difference among them. Software’s developed by LTE were more accessible to audios, videos and documents; this visibility, coupled with the projected growth of users of mobile devices such as Tablets and Smartphones are a very promising scene for development of this technology for educational and science communication.
Full article Related workThe paper is part of the discussions about virtual environments as a space for communication, interaction and collaborative work for teaching and learning. This last point will be deepened, highlighting the educational and scientific communities involved with online learning and development, particularly those related to geosciences. It is intended to discuss how social interactions networked and digital cultural tools (DCT) can contribute to the development of online commu- nities, as well as presenting the results of the site Virtual Geosciences (VG), which aims to be collaboration space. VG provides the sharing of digital media and space for interaction and dialogue, enabling expand the relations between stakeholders, kno- wledge construction and catalyze the creation of new communities and opportunities for geosciences, as well as contribute to the discussions about communities in cyberspace as part of a cyclic process between cultural changes and new DCT development.
Full article Related workThe Química Nova Interativa (QNInt) portal was launched in 2009 by the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) to offer free quality content for broad audiences. QNInt provides peer-reviewed articles from SBQ journals on science & society, chemical concepts, classroom activities and educational research. With 3,000,000 visits, QNInt also offers a unique library of interactive molecules. In the International Year of Chemistry QNInt served for distributing pH kits and registering data from IUPAC's Global Water Experiment, yielding Brazil the largest share of the global pH data set. The portal performance makes QNInt a valuable resource for connecting science to education.
Full article Related workMetabolic Pathways Visualization Skill Test: Development and Evaluation. External Representations (ERs) have been reported as important aids in Biochemistry learning process, and it is quite often having ERs to help better describe complex biochemical phenomena. When introduced to the biochemistry, students are also introduced to a whole new world of ERs, used to represent processes that happen at a molecular level. The construction of models is based in abstraction and logical reasoning, and difficulties in understanding such models seem hamper to understand biochemical contents. This article describes the development and implementation of a Metabolic Pathways Visualization Skill diagnoses test. The results obtained shows that the developed tool can be useful to help instructors to diagnosis their students’ visualization skills related to the metabolic pathways.
Full article Related workThis paper describes a gamified teaching and learning application for tablets: the 3D Class. The 3D Class acts as an interface between Moodle and Apple’s Game Center, bringing users to play games while learning, and to learn while gaming. For the students enrolled in courses that are available in a Moodle server, the 3D Class can be used to access them from iOS enabled devices. The integration with the Game Center allows users to compete among other apps users. Even for the users that are not enrolled in any course, they can play the open quizzes, and score in the Gaming Center.
Full article Related workEach person has unique physiological, psychological and cognitive characteristics, responsible for generating different learning styles. When an individual knows his learning style, acquisition of knowledge can become more efficient. The new information and communication technologies (ICT) have enabled new forms of exposure and to interact with knowledge. The mastery of these technologies is still very heterogeneous between individuals of different ages and socioeconomic profile. The present study shows an overview of the learning styles among the Digital Library of Science (BDC) users. BDC is an educational portal edited and published by the Educational Technology Laboratory of the Biology Institute of UNICAMP, publicly available (www.bdc.ib.unicamp.br). We assume that users of the BDC have a level of mastery of new technologies of information and communication at least intermediate, given the technological barriers that had to overcome to reach an effectively use the portal. We also investigated possible correlations among age, gender and educational institution regarding BDC users learning styles. Our findings show a predominance of style assimilator in all categories analyzed. Although most authors describe the styles are determined by characteristics of cognitive, emotional and psychological factors such as age, gender, cultural, socioeconomic differences and experiences, this research can not claim that these variables are relevant in determining the preferred style of learning. Thus we conclude that, in our sample, the area of knowledge (Biological Sciences) and familiarity with the use of computers seem to be aspects that determined the prevalence of assimilative style between users of the BDC.
Full article Related workThe identification key was developed taking into account the herbarium specimens from the species of the arboreal stratum sampled, with at least 4.8 cm DBH, in two stretches of Lower Montane Rain Forest. Only morphological vegetative characters were used, such as phyllotaxy, leaf shape, presence or absence of stipules, trichomes and glands, and other aspects relevant to the species identification, besides field observations. The key comprises 193 (4 without identification) species belonging to 114 genera and 50 botanical families, and an interactive electronic version is available online at the site http://www.gama.ib.unicamp.br/gama/index.php.
Full article Related workPractical lab classes are potential learning environments for the development of a series of skills. This article presents the proposal of a practical activity that involves the development of cognitive and laboratory instrumentation skills, in which the amino acids and proteins contents of a discipline of Biochemistry is worked on a scientific research environment. In groups, students are encouraged to solve a previously proposed problem, having autonomy to formulate an experimental strategy. The whole activity is structured in an approach that integrates theory and practice, which aims at seeking information on unknown samples, focusing the practice on the critical and creative observation of the experimental process.
Full article Related workIn this work, we present a panorama of Biology audio program utilization in private and public high school of Campnas area. To gather the data, students and teachers filled in a survey, for identify the importance of media like software, video and audio in the divulgation and learning of Biology. Results show that video is the most used kind of material in class, and that audio and software are underutilized for the most of the interviwed, when studying or in class by Biology teachers. On the other hand, our work reveal that this kind of media is present in class. As this kind of digital content have proved themselves as learning facilitators, this work shows evidences that teachers know how to use ITC, but their methodology should be improved.
Full article Related workThe Sciences at program in Biological recent years, in order character, focused on solving in a inquiry course activities, students go through processes, similar to a solve a problem. In the present work, it is presented the introductory activity of the discipline, which aims to introduce students to notions about the methodology of scientific research. In a simple and relaxed way, every student experiences a little research, going through the various stages of construction of hypotheses, planning development, analysis and interpretation to answer a question. The application of the activity has allowed us to visualize the students' prior knowledge, as well as Biochemistry practical classes of the undergraduate Unicamp went through a series of reformulations in to provide the instrumentation, to be environment. In all of the scientific research, to better teaching conditions, leaving the traditional based on classes aimed at problem to stimulate them to the discovery and development of inquiry skills.
Full article Related workNo abstract is available for this article.
Full article Related workCourses with practical and theoretical classes are potentially didactic structures for the development of motor and complex cognitive skills when operated in an integrated manner. When worked aligned, theory and practice enable a clearer view of the issue, opening scope for introducing concepts from other disciplines and for the development of lab skills. This paper presents a methodology for biochemistry labwork that promotes the teaching of the buffering systems contents together with to the development of scientific research practice concepts in an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates theory and practice.
Full article Related workThere are several emerging initiatives involving the educational materials production in large scales, to manage such projects it is mandatory having an environment that enhances the collaborative work. In this context was created a project management system (PMS) environment, containing tools that empower the synergy process. This environment was integrated to the Unicamp’s Digital Library of Science (Biblioteca Digital de Ciências - BDC) which was created by researchers from the Biology Institute of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), and it was named GPK. We will demonstrate a project case that use the GPK to develop multimedia educational resources (audio, video, lab classes and software). The use of GPK made possible to setup the basic project structure and to insert each of the materials, to create job scripts, functions, tasks, and designate responsibilities to specific tasks. The tools are integrated to each other, so its possible track the progress of the material, materials groups, users work, and allow the management of global and partial development.
Full article Related workThis paper describes an authoring tool called “Odyssey - the Adventure Maker”. Odyssey was developed to allow the creation of educational games in the Adventure style without the need of computer programming knowledge, allowing teachers and/or students to create their own games and use it. Furthermore, Odyssey’s site provides an environment to share the Odyssey based games with other users, who can use, modify and even improve them.
Full article Related workIn this work we will present the Unicamp Digital Library of Science (Biblioteca Digital de Ciências da Unicamp - BDC), which was created by researchers from the Biology Institute of the Campinas University (Unicamp), and will also show how it has been used by High School Biology teachers. Its goals are: to disseminate scientific information and educational resources, specially those related to biology, and promote the teaching and collaborative learning, and authoring, in a web-based environment. The BDC also has resources and tools that allow the conducting of researches about its users and about how it is used by them. One of these researches is the investigation of how biology teachers navigate in the BDC environment, and what their needs are, considering resources for planning lessons and information for self-education. Preliminary results of this study with the profile of the teachers will be presented in this article.
Full article Related workNo abstract is available for this article.
Full article Related workComputational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB) are indispensable components in the training of life scientists. Current curricula in the life sciences should prepare graduates who master quantitative and computer skills for increased levels of performance. Equally important is that the application of the curricula is driven by an appropriate instructional paradigm and effective learning experiences. Teaching and learning with computers bring specific issues that should be considered beforehand by any instructor. The following Quick Guide for Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) outlines ten principles for effective teaching. The principles are aligned with current developments on human cognition and learning and have been drawn from our own experience using CAI in seminars, tutorials, and distance education, in courses on Molecular Life Sciences at the undergraduate level, taught to majors in biology or in other subjects (e.g., nutrition, teaching of physics and chemistry, teaching of biology, sports). The Guide refers to the preparation, presentation, and assessment of CAI. It should be an aid for those who teach CBB with CAI in class, and it is expected to stimulate student motivation and deeper learning in CBB, thus making class time more effective and improving satisfaction of both students and instructors.
Full article Related workObesity has been recognized as a worldwide public health problem. It significantly increases the chances of developing several diseases, including Type II diabetes. The roles of insulin and leptin in obesity involve reactions that can be better understood when they are presented step by step. The aim of this work was to design software with data from some of the most recent publications on obesity, especially those concerning the roles of insulin and leptin in this metabolic disturbance. The most notable characteristic of this software is the use of animations representing the cellular response together with the presentation of recently discovered mechanisms on the participation of insulin and leptin in processes leading to obesity. The software was field tested in the Biochemistry of Nutrition web-based course. After using the software and discussing its contents in chatrooms, students were asked to answer an evaluation survey about the whole activity and the usefulness of the software within the learning process. The teaching assistants (TA) evaluated the software as a tool to help in the teaching process. The students' and TAs' satisfaction was very evident and encouraged us to move forward with the software development and to improve the use of this kind of educational tool in biochemistry classes.
Full article Related workChemicals binding to membrane receptors may induce events within the cell changing its behavior. Since these events are simultaneous and hard to be understood by students, we developed a computational model to dynamically and visually explore the cAMP signaling system to facilitate its understanding. The animation is shown in parts, from the hormone-receptor binding to the cellular response. There are some questions to be answered after using the model. The software was field-tested and an evaluation questionnaire (concerning usability, animations, models, and the software as an educational tool) was answered by the students, showing the software to be a valuable aid for content comprehension.
Full article Related workInternet-based distance education seems to be an attractive alternative to offer courses dealing with specific topics that are not conveniently explored in undergraduate courses. This is a good way to provide access to the recent and updated discoveries in this research area and to reach people who could not take the classes in the traditional mode. Using the communication advantages available via the Internet, we adapted the course “Biochemistry of Nutrition,” first offered as a summer course to be entirely carried out at distance. The adaptation explored the use of online tools such as E-mail communication among students and teachers, computer conferencing in small groups to discuss specific subjects, and texts and software downloads to be used as main references. Graduate students had their first real experience as teachers, which proved to be very productive for both the development of the Internet version of the course and their integration with undergraduate students.
Full article Related workThe rigorous selection of contents to be included in a Biochemistry course both attends the interest of each specific undergraduation course and excludes many subjects of general interest. The great number of enrollment in non-obligatory courses dealing with subjects not deeply treated in most introductory Biochemistry course suggests the concern of the students in improving their knowledge in the field [1]. During the Biochemistry of Nutrition distance education course in 2000 and 2003, we collected studentsreports about their interest on the course and their satisfaction with the developed activities. For this purpose we made several courses evaluation (during and at the end of each course). The detailed analysis of these data let us to verify studentsexpectations related to the Biochemistry contents according to their graduate courses. From this analysis, it was possible to conclude that even though students from different courses have specific interests in biochemistry contents, the aspect that promoted more satisfaction in Biochemistry of Nutrition distance education course was the participantsinteraction and the exchange of information even superficially considered among students with different knowledge background. Nevertheless, courses about specific contents should be offered to a more restrict public, with restrictive pre-requisite so that deepening discussions can be held
Full article Related workThis work describes software designed to promote the association between the content of a basic undergraduate biochemistry course and the professional activities of physical education students. The software contains three main content sections: (A) Structure of skeletal muscle, (B) Contraction mechanism, and (C) Adaptations to physical exercise. A fourth section asks questions of the students. The software offers students a brief introduction on muscle structure and function, focusing on the energy sources required by different kinds of physical activities. The software was field tested at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil and has been adopted by several Brazilian universities. The students are required to examine the software, to discuss its contents, and to produce a list of questions arising from their work with the software. These questions are answered during the development of the curriculum, thereby connecting biochemical knowledge with the energetic needs for the practice of sports.
Full article Related workThough Free Radicals is one of the most frequently explored scientific subjects in mass communication media, the topic is absent of many Biochemistry introductory courses, especially those in which the students do not have a good chemical background. To overcome this contradictory situation we have developed a software treating this topic in a very simple way. The software is divided in four sections: (1) definition and description of free radicals, (2) production pathways, (3) mechanism of action and (4) enzymatic and non enzymatic protection. The instructional capacity of the software has been both qualitative and quantitatively evaluated through its application in undergraduate courses.
Full article Related workA computer program for teaching is described which stimulates oxygen consumption by isolated mitochondria. The effects of different compounds (substrates, inhibitors, uncouplers) may be tested. Results from evaluation with 166 undergraduate and 11 postgraduate students are presented.
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Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology
University of Campinas
