CAREER: Representational Tools to Support Understanding of Complex Biological Systems

Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Brunswick NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Life science is often about understanding complex systems- from human body systems to ecosystems to evolution. These are hard to understand because it requires understanding how structures relate to functions and what the behaviors of the system are. Some interactions between parts are invisible and have a time sequence that makes them difficult to perceive. Even adults struggle to learn about complex systems. Yet such understanding is often critical to scientific analysis. These difficulties may be aggravated by the static depictions found in typical textbooks that focus on structures without considering the dynamic behaviors and function. One possible approach to teaching about complex systems involves the use of a conceptual representation drawn from Structure-Behavior-Function (SBF) theory but we need to first investigate how people come to understand complex biological systems. Much of life science instruction tends to focus on structural aspects of complex systems. I will use this framework to develop both static (hypermedia) and dynamic approaches (a simulation construction kit, the virtual construction kit - the VCK) to help middle-school students learn an SBF schema, and in particular, support their understanding of system behaviors and functions. This research addresses three main questions: 1) What does it mean to understand a complex system?; 2) How can providing an explicit conceptual representation (i.e., SBF) support learning about complex systems?; and 3) How can dynamic representational tools (i.e., hypermedia and the VCK) support learning about this conceptual representation? The teaching plan has three main components. First, there will be an opportunity for a research mentorship for graduate and undergraduate students as they become involved in research and instructional design. Second, I will contribute to masters and doctoral course development through developing and enhancing existing graduate course offerings in Cognition and Technology and Model Development and Reasoning in Science. Third, there will be an impact on preservice teacher training. Because the VCK models can be used as windows into children's thinking, this work will provide contexts that will be integrated into preservice teacher education.