Projects & Collaborations

• BEDROCK

  BEDROCK (Bioinformatics Education Dissemination: Reaching Out, Connecting, and Knitting-together) is a National Science Foundation sponsored project to integrate bioinformatics throughout the undergraduate biology curriculum, using an inquiry-based approach in which students explore and analyze actual data in a way that recreates the experience of conducting research. The concept of problem spaces developed during this project.

• BEN

  The BioSciEdNet (BEN) Portal is a National Science Foundation project managed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Over 11,793 reviewed resources covering 77 biological sciences topics are available through the efforts of the BEN Collaborators.

• BioQUEST Library

  The BioQUEST Library Online is an ongoing peer-reviewed community publication of software simulations, tools, datasets, and other supporting materials from educators and developers engaged in education and research in science. The modules are freely downloadable for educational use per our agreement with individual authors. Teachers, curriculum developers, and students are welcome to download these materials for classroom use.

• BIRDD

  The Galapagos Finches Problem Space provides a collection of introductory materials and data resources designed to provide support for students as they reason about the evolutionary relationships between species. This National Science Foundation project was a collaboration between University of Wisconsin-Madison and Beloit College.

• BQ Summer Workshops

  Each summer since 1989, BioQUEST invites faculty interested in the tools, data, and resources used in undergraduate curricula with a special emphasis on problem solving. This 9-day workshop is usually held at Beloit College in Wisconsin during June. Recent workshops have focused on bioinformatics, quantitative reasoning, visualization and inquiry-based learning.

• CASE IT!

  Case It! is a National Science Foundation sponsored project providing a framework for collaborative case-based learning via free, open-ended molecular biology computer simulations using DNA or protein sequences. Case It! is a collaborative BioQUEST project between the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Michigan State University.

• ESTEEM

  Biological ESTEEM (Excel Simulations and Tools for Exploratory, Experiential Mathematics) is a collection of freely downloadable modules for areas such as: “discrete mathematics, linear algebra, probability, and modeling topics” will be illustrated through materials that were developed in biochemistry, bioinformatics, biometrics, developmental biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology, and physiology.

  The Biological ESTEEM Collection is an open collection of Excel modules and invites biologists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and others to contribute new modules or revised modules.

• Investigative Cases

  This 2000-2003 National Science Foundation ptoject continues to support a community college community and others with cases, implementation, and assessment strategies for Investigative Case-Based Learning (ICBL), a variant of Problem Based Learning. Learners develop questions, gather data and information for testing their hypotheses, and produce materials to persuade others of their findings. Students employ traditional laboratory and field techniques as well as cyberlearning strategies.

• Microbes Count!

  Microbes Count! features 40 lab activities including multimedia resources, simulations, and tools that offer an interactive, open-ended environment for learning about microbiology. Microbes Count! can be purchased from ASM Press.

• NESCENT

  NESCent, The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, is a collaborative effort of Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Their mission is to facilitate broadly synthetic research to address fundamental questions in evolutionary biology.

• Numb3r5 Count

  This Howard Hughes Medical Institute sponsored quantitative biology project led by Claudia Neuhauser, University of Minnesota Rochester, introduces strategies for developing quantitative reasoning through observation, experimentation, analysis, and modeling. Freely downloadable data, tools, and curricular materials are available for use in the classroom. In addition, faculty workshops will be offered through 2010.

• Oakwood University Project

  BioQUEST and Oakwood University are collaborating on this Howard Hughes Medical Institute project to offer three annual Bio-Quantitative Interdisciplinary Institutes for Oakwood science faculty groups in August 2008-2010 at their institution in Huntsville, Alabama.

• OER Commons

  OER Commons is a comprehensive open learning network where teachers and professors (from pre-K to graduate school) can access their colleagues’ course materials, share their own, and collaborate on affecting today’s classrooms. It uses Web 2.0 features (tags, ratings, comments, reviews, and social networking) to create an online experience that engages educators in sharing their best teaching and learning practices. The mission of OER Commons is to expand educational opportunities by increasing access to high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER), and facilitating the creation, use, and re-use of OER, for instructors, students, and self-learners.

• Plant IT

  Today’s students must prepare for a rapidly shifting workplace, which requires technology, problem-solving, and team work skills. This  National Science Foundation project supports students as they consider diverse plant science career pathways and provides them with opportunities to conduct, design, and discuss plant investigations. It prepares teachers to use IT tools and investigative case teaching strategies in the classroom.

• Planting Science

  Planting Science is a learning and research resource, bringing together students, plant scientists, and teachers from across the nation. Students engage in hands-on plant investigations, working with peers and scientist mentors to build collaborations and to improve their understanding of science. This project is a collaborative effort begun by BSA and ASP.

• SCALE-IT

  The University of Tennessee (UT) in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a five-year National Science Foundation IGERT Program SCALE-IT to recruit and train future biologists in computing expertise and emerging tools. BioQUEST will support faculty development workshops at UTK in June.

• SCOPE

  The SCOPE Project is supported by National Science Foundation to construct and explore novel approaches to undergraduate biology education. Using a Problem Space as the curricular and pedagogical resource to support collaborative curriculum development and student driven scientific investigations, developers will link together existing e-science resources, web-based productivity, communication tools, and open educational resources in ways that promote communities of inquiry.

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