OEIT's Star development team and the MIT Biology Department have recently received an NSF grant to fund the creation of a visualization tool for enriching the teaching and learning of cell and molecular biology concepts. Following a design model succesfully employed in other Star simulation software, the interactive inquiry-based simulator, StarCellBio, will enable students to conduct virtual experiments, analyze data and perform follow-up experiments. The visualizer will use both real biological data (such as microscopy data) and simulated data.
From a pedagogical perspective, this tool promises to surpass any counterpart text-based cell biology problem by virtue of its real-time demonstration of the inherent variability associated with experimental techniques and biological systems. Furthermore, the visualizer will incorporate operator error as well as experimental error into the simuation tool. This type of variablity is something that students would otherwise be able to experience only in an actual laboratory environment. However, StarCellBio will be not be designed to replace cell or molecular biology hands-on laboratory course components, but rather to enhance the course curriculum. It will also have important utility for under-resourced instutitions such as those with limited laboratory space and equipment.
Intended for both MIT undergraduate and graduate study (and possibly highschool use), StarCellBio will be freely available via the internet, where both the tool and curricular materials will be accessible. StarCellBio is also supported by generous funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Link to pdf of Project Summary
Interested instructors are welcome to contact the StarCellBio team for more information and for opportunities to participate in the development and/or assesment of this exciting new tool.
Please send inquiries to star<at>mit<dot>edu.
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