Reyna Nathan S, Pruett Christin, Morrison Mike, Fowler Jennifer, Pandey Sumali, Hensley Lori
Department of Biology, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, USA.
Department of Work Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Apr 6;23(1). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00326-21. eCollection 2022 Apr.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, biology educators were forced to think of ways to communicate with their students, engaging them in science and with the scientific community. For educators using course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), the challenge to have students perform real science, analyze their work, and present their results to a larger scientific audience was difficult as the world moved online. Many instructors were able to adapt CUREs utilizing online data analysis and virtual meeting software for class discussions and synchronous learning. However, interaction with the larger scientific community, an integral component of making science relevant for students and allowing them to network with other young scientists and experts in their fields, was still missing. Even before COVID-19, a subset of students would travel to regional or national meetings to present their work, but most did not have these opportunities. With over 300 million active users, Twitter provided a unique platform for students to present their work to a large and varied audience. The Cell Biology Education Consortium hosted an innovative scientific poster session entirely on Twitter to engage undergraduate researchers with one another and with the much broader community. The format for posting on this popular social media platform challenged students to simplify their science and make their points using only a few words and slides. Nineteen institutions and over one hundred students participated in this event. Even though these practices emerged as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Twitter presentation strategy shared in this paper can be used widely.
在新冠疫情期间，生物学教育工作者不得不思考如何与学生沟通，让他们参与科学研究并融入科学界。对于采用基于课程的本科研究体验（CUREs）的教育工作者来说，随着世界转向线上教学，让学生开展实际科研、分析工作并向更广泛的科学受众展示研究成果面临着挑战。许多教师能够利用在线数据分析和虚拟会议软件来调整CUREs，以进行课堂讨论和同步学习。然而，与更广泛的科学界互动这一让科学与学生相关联并使他们能够与其他年轻科学家及所在领域专家建立联系的重要组成部分仍然缺失。甚至在新冠疫情之前，一部分学生能够前往地区或全国性会议展示他们的研究成果，但大多数学生没有这样的机会。推特拥有超过3亿活跃用户，为学生提供了一个向广泛多样的受众展示其研究成果的独特平台。细胞生物学教育联盟在推特上举办了一场创新的科学海报展示活动，让本科研究人员相互交流，并与更广泛的群体互动。在这个广受欢迎的社交媒体平台上发布内容的形式要求学生简化科学内容，只用几句话和几张幻灯片来阐述观点。19所机构和100多名学生参与了此次活动。尽管这些做法是在新冠疫情期间因必要而出现的，但本文分享的推特展示策略可以广泛应用。
