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
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becoming outdated quickly.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.
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
What are the solutions?
• Better training
• Better material
• Use current methods
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
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
This is a typical
only image of
image under a
epithelial cells
school
from the school
microscope
text
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
History of the BioScope Initiative
• If kids can’t see basic cells, how can they be interested in
science????
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
Summary of the Technological Features
of BioScope
Material would be
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platform independent (MACS, PCs, UNIX)
written in HTML for use with a regular browser
teacher driven
interactive in some way
use state-of-the art science research tools
evaluated by professional educators
quality-controlled by current scientists
not be limited by bandwidth considerations
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
WEB Developments
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Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Adobe Acrobat files
Dynamic HTML
VMRL - - Virtual Reality Modeling Language
WEBChat
• Internet Explorer & Netscape
dominant browsers
Key Philosophy
• Science should be FUN
• Science should be ACCURATE
• Science should be INTERACTIVE
• DO NOT CONFUSE Information as knowledge!
the BioScope
Initiative
• Demonstration of BioScope Initiative CDROM – Cells and Function