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This article describes the use of a comic book to anchor a cryptology and cybersecurity curriculum for upper elementary students. Perceptions about the comic book from 138 students across 11 afterschool programs were examined using survey, classroom observation, and interviews. Data analysis revealed that the comic book created a “macrocontext” to situate learners in an exciting adventure about cryptology and cybersecurity. Students found the characters relatable, and their perceptions were tightly tied to other components of the curriculum. Reading the word bubbles was chal- lenging at first, but got easier over time. This study illustrates how comic books can anchor unfamiliar STeM content for younger learners.
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Epistasis Storyboarded
Through the artistic planning tool known to comic book artists and animators as storyboarding, students will embark on comic book–style adventures to plan, describe, and visualize the complex life of genes through the non-Mendelian concept of epistasis. Using storyboard templates, conceptual layouts, sketch booking, and cut-out genetic elements, students will construct their interpretation of the gene-gene interactions of epistasis. The incomplete story of the epistasis of human eye color will serve as the theme for this storyboard, which will also become its own assessment tool, inviting educators into a realm of a true STEAM experience.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1934848
- PAR ID:
- 10429762
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The American Biology Teacher
- Volume:
- 84
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0002-7685
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 562 to 569
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This convergent mixed method study investigates learner engagement during a blended, transmedia curriculum called CryptoComics which is designed to teach 3rd-5th graders about cryptology and cybersecurity. Curriculum design is presented through the lens of four engagement facilitators: (1) anchoring the curriculum with a comic book, (2) blending digital and unplugged media, (3) supporting situational interest via a transmedia narrative and (4) designing for social-cultural relevance. Latent profile analysis is used to develop profiles of learner engagement using quantitative indicators of cognitive and emotional engagement collected across 204 students at 13 implementation sites in the Eastern U.S. Qualitative indicators of engagement include teacher weekly check-ins submitted by 17 teachers working at the 13 implementation sites, student interviews, and classroom observations of 26 students participating in the curriculum at two local sites. Quantitative and qualitative results converge to suggest the majority of the students participating in the curriculum were highly engaged cognitively and emotionally. Qualitative data (1) suggest some third graders may be less cognitively engaged due to challenging content, (2) provide evidence for how design of the blended, transmedia curriculum supported, and some cases hindered, engagement, (3) highlight the importance of transitions between blended learning components in facilitating engagement and (4) uncover questions regarding one of the quantitative measures selected as an indicator of cognitive engagement.more » « less
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Abstract Epistasis is caused by genetic interactions among mutations that affect fitness. To characterize properties and potential mechanisms of epistasis, we engineered eight double mutants that combined mutations from the rho and rpoB genes of Escherichia coli. The two genes encode essential functions for transcription, and the mutations in each gene were chosen because they were beneficial for adaptation to thermal stress (42.2 °C). The double mutants exhibited patterns of fitness epistasis that included diminishing returns epistasis at 42.2 °C, stronger diminishing returns between mutations with larger beneficial effects and both negative and positive (sign) epistasis across environments (20.0 °C and 37.0 °C). By assessing gene expression between single and double mutants, we detected hundreds of genes with gene expression epistasis. Previous work postulated that highly connected hub genes in coexpression networks have low epistasis, but we found the opposite: hub genes had high epistasis values in both coexpression and protein–protein interaction networks. We hypothesized that elevated epistasis in hub genes reflected that they were enriched for targets of Rho termination but that was not the case. Altogether, gene expression and coexpression analyses revealed that thermal adaptation occurred in modules, through modulation of ribonucleotide biosynthetic processes and ribosome assembly, the attenuation of expression in genes related to heat shock and stress responses, and with an overall trend toward restoring gene expression toward the unstressed state.more » « less
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We introduce biology to the artist’s design tool, the storyboard. This versatile organizing and visualizing artistic platform is introduced into the biology classroom to aid in an inventive and focused discovery process. Almost all biological concepts are dynamic, and storyboards offer biology, lecture, wet and computational labs, flexibility, inventiveness, and an opportunity for students to slow down the so-called steps of biological processes and moderate their observations. Storyboarding is a thoughtful and reflective discovery device with enormous potential to break with traditional biology classroom experiences and return to the root of the educational process: storytelling. It will encourage teachers to embark on the remodeling of the biological curriculum with specific technical skills that students and teachers should consider developing to make the STEAM experience tailored to the uniqueness of biological systems. Storyboards offer hands-on, illustrative, and interactive conversations about biology concepts. They are an “unplugged” and contemplative experiences, organizing frameworks for personal expression focused on biological wonders.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2022.84.9.562
