Hartman Mark R, Harrington Kristin T, Etson Candice M, Fierman Matthew B, Slonim Donna K, Walt David R
Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2016 Dec;363(23). doi: 10.1093/femsle/fnw266. Epub 2016 Nov 16.
Sequencing and bioinformatics technologies have advanced rapidly in recent years, driven largely by developments in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Given the increasing importance of these advances, there is a growing need to incorporate concepts and practices relating to NGS into undergraduate and high school science curricula. We believe that direct access to sequencing and bioinformatics will improve the ability of students to understand the information obtained through these increasingly ubiquitous research tools. In this commentary, we discuss approaches and challenges for bringing NGS into the classroom based on our experiences in developing and running a microbiome project in high school and undergraduate courses. We describe strategies for maximizing student engagement through establishing personal relevance and utilizing an inquiry-based structure. Additionally, we address the practical issues of incorporating cutting edge technologies into an established curriculum. Looking forward, we anticipate that NGS educational experiments will become more commonplace as sequencing costs continue to decrease and the workflow becomes more user friendly.
近年来，测序和生物信息学技术发展迅速，这在很大程度上得益于下一代测序（NGS）技术的进步。鉴于这些进展的重要性日益增加，将与NGS相关的概念和实践纳入本科和高中科学课程的需求也在不断增长。我们认为，直接接触测序和生物信息学将提高学生理解通过这些日益普及的研究工具获得的信息的能力。在这篇评论中，我们根据在高中和本科课程中开展和运行微生物组项目的经验，讨论将NGS引入课堂的方法和挑战。我们描述了通过建立个人相关性和采用基于探究的结构来最大限度地提高学生参与度的策略。此外，我们还讨论了将前沿技术纳入既定课程的实际问题。展望未来，随着测序成本持续下降且工作流程变得更加用户友好，我们预计NGS教育实验将变得更加普遍。
