Fuller Kathryn, Linden Matthew D, Lee-Pullen Tracey, Fragall Clayton, Erber Wendy N, Röhrig Kimberley J
School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia;
School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia; Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia;
Adv Physiol Educ. 2016 Jun;40(2):176-85. doi: 10.1152/advan.00002.2015.
Advances in science education research have the potential to improve the way students learn to perform scientific interpretations and understand science concepts. We developed active, collaborative activities to teach skills in manipulating flow cytometry data using FlowJo software. Undergraduate students were given compensated clinical flow cytometry listmode output (FCS) files and asked to design a gating strategy to diagnose patients with different hematological malignancies on the basis of their immunophenotype. A separate cohort of research trainees was given uncompensated data files on which they performed their own compensation, calculated the antibody staining index, designed a sequential gating strategy, and quantified rare immune cell subsets. Student engagement, confidence, and perceptions of flow cytometry were assessed using a survey. Competency against the learning outcomes was assessed by asking students to undertake tasks that required understanding of flow cytometry dot plot data and gating sequences. The active, collaborative approach allowed students to achieve learning outcomes not previously possible with traditional teaching formats, for example, having students design their own gating strategy, without forgoing essential outcomes such as the interpretation of dot plots. In undergraduate students, favorable perceptions of flow cytometry as a field and as a potential career choice were correlated with student confidence but not the ability to perform flow cytometry data analysis. We demonstrate that this new pedagogical approach to teaching flow cytometry is beneficial for student understanding and interpretation of complex concepts. It should be considered as a useful new method for incorporating complex data analysis tasks such as flow cytometry into curricula.
科学教育研究的进展有可能改善学生学习进行科学解释和理解科学概念的方式。我们开发了积极的协作活动，以教授使用FlowJo软件处理流式细胞术数据的技能。给本科生提供有偿的临床流式细胞术列表模式输出（FCS）文件，并要求他们设计一种门控策略，以便根据免疫表型诊断患有不同血液系统恶性肿瘤的患者。另一组研究学员获得了未补偿的数据文件，他们在这些文件上进行自己的补偿，计算抗体染色指数，设计顺序门控策略，并对罕见免疫细胞亚群进行定量。使用一项调查评估学生对流式细胞术的参与度、信心和看法。通过要求学生完成需要理解流式细胞术点图数据和门控序列的任务，来评估与学习成果相关的能力。这种积极的协作方法使学生能够实现传统教学形式以前无法实现的学习成果，例如让学生设计自己的门控策略，同时又不放弃诸如解释点图等基本成果。在本科生中，对流式细胞术作为一个领域和潜在职业选择的良好看法与学生信心相关，但与进行流式细胞术数据分析的能力无关。我们证明，这种教授流式细胞术的新教学方法有利于学生理解和解释复杂概念。它应被视为将诸如流式细胞术等复杂数据分析任务纳入课程的一种有用新方法。
