Kiselyov Kirill, Schunn Christian D
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Jul 12;23(2). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00308-21. eCollection 2022 Aug.
Research in a range of disciplines shows that many undergraduate students struggle with aggregating complex knowledge components into a complete picture and incorporating research literature into the learning process. To build and improve on the practice of project-based approaches to teaching cell biology, we transformed an undergraduate cell biology class by introducing the concept of storylines that are selected by groups of students for development throughout the semester. Each storyline integrates molecular and organellar concepts discussed during the semester into the cell- and tissue-level functions, conditions, or diseases shared and discussed during online poster sessions. Three semester-long studies conducted with an undergraduate cell biology class utilized pre- and postassignment assessments of self-efficacy and content knowledge (administered three times during the semester), and these studies showed that both parameters were significantly improved following each assignment. Specifically, student self-efficacy showed large gains, preassignment to postassignment (pre-post) [ = 47.8, < .001], and content knowledge showed moderate pre-post gains [ = 14.5, < 0.002]. Attitude surveys administered at the end of the semester suggest that the approach is seen as beneficial and enriching. We conclude that it is possible to integrate multiple levels of material in a complicated class by using storytelling and that such integration is positive and useful.
一系列学科的研究表明，许多本科生在将复杂的知识组件整合为一个完整的概念，并将研究文献纳入学习过程方面存在困难。为了建立并改进基于项目的细胞生物学教学方法，我们对一门本科细胞生物学课程进行了改革，引入了故事情节的概念，由学生小组选择故事情节并在整个学期中进行拓展。每个故事情节都将学期中讨论的分子和细胞器概念整合到在线海报展示环节中共同分享和讨论的细胞及组织水平的功能、状况或疾病中。我们对一门本科细胞生物学课程进行了为期三个学期的研究，利用了自我效能感和内容知识的作业前和作业后评估（在学期中进行了三次），这些研究表明，每次作业后这两个参数都有显著改善。具体而言，学生的自我效能感在作业前到作业后有大幅提升[ = 47.8， < .001]，内容知识在作业前后有中等程度的提升[ = 14.5， < 0.002]。学期末进行的态度调查表明，这种方法被认为是有益且丰富的。我们得出结论，通过使用故事叙述的方式，有可能在一门复杂的课程中整合多个层次的内容，并且这种整合是积极且有用的。
