Recruitment, Preparation, Retention: A case study of computing culture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Computer science is seeing a decline in enrollment at all levels of education, including undergraduate and graduate study. This paper reports on the results of a study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which evaluated students attitudes regarding three areas which can contribute to improved enrollment in the Department of Computer Science: Recruitment, preparation and retention. The results of our study saw two themes. First, the department's tight research focus appears to draw significant attention from other activities -- such as teaching, service, and other community-building activities -- that are necessary for a department's excellence. Yet, as demonstrated by our second theme, one partial solution is to better promote such activities already employed by the department to its students and faculty. Based on our results, we make recommendations for improvements and enhancements based on the current state of practice at peer institutions.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures. For better quality figures, please download the .pdf from http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/research/techreports.php?report=UIUCDCS-R-2007-281

Democratizing Bioinformatics Research in a High School Biology Classroom

John Dewey???s idea for a philosophy of experience has long challenged us to consider how to democratize education and scientific research practices so that students can have a variety of everyday opportunities to participate in discoveries and create new knowledge instead of passively receiving it. According to Dewey, such democratic learning requires four dimensions, which are aligned to the intrinsic interests of the learner: (1) communication (e.g., the opportunity to discuss); (2) inquiry (e.g., the opportunity to ask questions); (3) construction (e.g., the opportunity to create things); and (4) artistic expression (e.g., the opportunity to express) (Dewey, 1990, p. 47). In pursuing Dewey???s challenge in more recent years, many educators have considered how information technology can contribute to democratization. For example, Bruce and Levin???s (1997) taxonomy classifies a variety of modern technology uses that align with Dewey???s four-interest framework. In this taxonomy, Bruce and Levin???s stated purposes were to explore the ways in which applications currently supported integrated, inquiry-based learning and teaching and to highlight potential uses of technology, as well. In addition, Hill (1999) provides a general overview of open-ended information systems, such as the World Wide Web, which allow users access to an ever-expanding, vast amount of data that could be used to solve a variety of problems. According to Hill, open-ended information systems are also characterized by shared authorship. Thus, users are not only consumers of information, but also creators of the system. Although open-ended information systems may be moderated for quality control purposes, users have opportunities to add content, data, or tools as they participate in the open-ended information systems. In this paper, we attempt to move beyond descriptions of how such technologies might be useful to enact Dewey???s principles to providing a concrete example of how one high school biology class actually did so using Biology Workbench.[2] As expected, the story illustrates how information technology can help realize democracy in education on a level that would be very difficult to achieve without it. However, the case also illustrates how educators need to work with inquiry-based approaches to help students realize the potential of these open systems. Environments such as the Inquiry Page[3] help to contextualize the use of tools such as Biology Workbench.unpublishedis peer reviewe

Scientists Becoming Teachers: Lesson Learned from Teacher Partnerships

This paper will describe the lessons learned from a research project sponsored by NSF that involves graduate teaching fellows in K-12 education programs. Themes emerging from our sites will be shared that includes the role of collaborations and community building along with the integration of technology in the curriculum. Across these sites inquiry- and problem-based learning are being uniquely implemented. Data is indicating that the greater the communication, the more supported a teachers feels in his/her classroom, and the more collaborative the fellow-teacher team, the more likely inquiry- and/or problem-based learning is employed. In short, this paper will present a set of factors that best support inquiry-based learning in science and mathematics education.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

ChickScope: An Interactive MRI Classroom Curriculum Innovation for K-12

Researchers from several departments of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign initiated ChickScope, a 21-day chick embryonic development project, to demonstrate the remote control of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument through the World Wide Web. For 21 days, students and teachers from ten kindergarten to high school classrooms participated in this innovative project using an interactive Web lab book. From classroom computers with access to the Internet, students were able to login to the computers at the university that controlled the MRI system, manipulate experimental conditions through a simple on-line form to generate their own data, and then view resulting images of the chick embryo in real-time. Researchers answered students' questions about their MR images and other related issues. ChickScope made extraordinary hardware, software, and human resources available to the classrooms. However, it left to teachers the tasks of integrating these resources into the classroom and adapting them to the needs and abilities of the students. Thus, the implementation was teacher-based, and its meaning was realized in different ways in each setting. This paper describes the planning, implementation, and the impact of ChickScope in classrooms for facilitating learning and teaching. We provide examples from various grade levels?primary to high school. We conclude with lessons learned and the implications of advanced technologies for K-12 outreach.Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Beckman Institute Visualization Facility, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and several other units of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign County Extension Unitpublished or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Educational Grid (EdGrid) Biology Student Workbench (BSW) project

The Educational Grid (EdGrid) Biology Student Workbench (BSW) project is a growing collection of enhancements to the Biology Workbench including tutorials and inquiry-based materials, all of which help students and teachers conduct meaningful investigations in molecular biology. The project specifically addresses a pre-service teacher audience, and it supports the use of the inquiry-based learning and teaching approach to science educationpublished or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Targeting the GPIbα Binding Site of Thrombin To Simultaneously Induce Dual Anticoagulant and Antiplatelet Effects

Exosite 2 of human thrombin contributes to two opposing pathways, the anticoagulant pathway and the platelet aggregation pathway. We reasoned that an exosite 2 directed allosteric thrombin inhibitor should simultaneously induce anticoagulant and antiplatelet effects. To assess this, we synthesized SbO4L based on the sulfated tyrosine-containing sequence of GPIbα. SbO4L was synthesized in three simple steps in high yield and found to be a highly selective, direct inhibitor of thrombin. Michelis–Menten kinetic studies indicated a noncompetitive mechanism of inhibition. Competitive inhibition studies suggested ideal competition with heparin and glycoprotein Ibα, as predicted. Studies with site-directed mutants of thrombin indicated that SbO4L binds to Arg233, Lys235, and Lys236 of exosite 2. SbO4L prevented thrombin-mediated platelet activation and aggregation as expected on the basis of competition with GPIbα. SbO4L presents a novel paradigm of simultaneous dual anticoagulant and antiplatelet effects achieved through the GPIbα binding site of thrombin