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From: klinner@sun.uucp (Kent Klinner)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Re: Incorporating micros into college biology instruction
Message-ID: <7681@sun.uucp>
Date: Fri, 26-Sep-86 18:34:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.7681
Posted: Fri Sep 26 18:34:55 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 06:42:57 EDT
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Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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> 
> Am interested in using micro's in college level biology
> instruction. 
> 
> 1.  Does anyone want to talk about this topic?

Yes. Software that educates and software that simulates are identical
concepts. When I was designing recombinant DNA experiments at
UC Irvine a good, easy-to-use gene-splicing simulator would
have helped enormously. We couldn't afford to support something as
large as MOLEGEN. A Macintosh would have been perfect and the same
software could have been useful for educational purposes. Ever tried
to explain the reverse transcription mechanism for a retrovirus? You
almost have to be an artist to sketch the intermediate steps in enough
detail for a student to understand it.

Another area ripe for somputer simulation is developmental cell
biology. Playing with morphological transformations on a computer
would have been a lot more fun than viewing slides of gastrulation.

> I don't support the take-over of
> biology intruciton by micros, but would like to explore
> the possibility of using computers effectively in the teaching
> of difficult biological concepts.

The computer should be a tool in the laboratory as well as in the
classroom. It's also a medium of communication. Maybe someday
difficult concepts will be shared through computer animations as
opposed to static diagrams on paper. Electron movement in organic
reaction mechanisms, for example, would make a lot more sense
on a system that could render cinematic illustrations.

This topic could unite several areas of interest: user interfaces,
computer graphics, simulation, expert systems, and bilogical
models.

	Kent Klinner
	Sun Microsystems
	sun!drseuss!klinner