University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school

Daniel Barker; Rosanna Grace Alderson; James L. McDonagh; Heleen Plaisier; Muriel Margaret Comrie; Leigh Duncan; Gavin T.P. Muirhead; Stuart D. Sweeney

doi:10.1186/s40594-015-0030-z

University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school

Daniel Barker
, Rosanna Grace Alderson
, James L. McDonagh
, Heleen Plaisier
, Muriel Margaret Comrie
, Leigh Duncan
, Gavin T.P. Muirhead
, Stuart D. Sweeney

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background
Bioinformatics—the use of computers in biology—is of major and increasing importance to biological sciences and medicine. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the value of bringing practical, university-level bioinformatics education to the school level. We conducted voluntary activities for pupils at two schools in Scotland (years S5 and S6; pupils aged 15–17). We used material originally developed for an optional final-year undergraduate module and now incorporated into 4273π, a resource for teaching and learning bioinformatics on the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer.

Results
Pupils’ feedback forms suggested our activities were beneficial. During the course of the activity, they provide strong evidence of increase in the following: pupils’ perception of the value of computers within biology; their knowledge of the Linux operating system and the Raspberry Pi; their willingness to use computers rather than phones or tablets; their ability to program a computer and their ability to analyse DNA sequences with a computer. We found no strong evidence of negative effects.

Conclusions
Our preliminary study supports the feasibility of bringing university-level, practical bioinformatics activities to school pupils.

Original language	English
Article number	17
Number of pages	8
Journal	International Journal of STEM Education
Volume	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-015-0030-z
Publication status	Published - 28 Oct 2015

Keywords

Bioinformatics
Computational biology
Secondary school
Raspberry Pi
Open access teaching material
Case study

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barker2015intjstemedu17
© 2015 Barker et al. Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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High performance computing: High-performance computing in the search for the Tree of Life
Barker, D. (PI) & Meagher, T. (CoI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/07/14 → 30/04/15
Project: Standard

Cite this

@article{cd6b677705e14d05898575494f870369,

title = "University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school",

abstract = "Background Bioinformatics{\textemdash}the use of computers in biology{\textemdash}is of major and increasing importance to biological sciences and medicine. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the value of bringing practical, university-level bioinformatics education to the school level. We conducted voluntary activities for pupils at two schools in Scotland (years S5 and S6; pupils aged 15{\textendash}17). We used material originally developed for an optional final-year undergraduate module and now incorporated into 4273π, a resource for teaching and learning bioinformatics on the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. Results Pupils{\textquoteright} feedback forms suggested our activities were beneficial. During the course of the activity, they provide strong evidence of increase in the following: pupils{\textquoteright} perception of the value of computers within biology; their knowledge of the Linux operating system and the Raspberry Pi; their willingness to use computers rather than phones or tablets; their ability to program a computer and their ability to analyse DNA sequences with a computer. We found no strong evidence of negative effects. Conclusions Our preliminary study supports the feasibility of bringing university-level, practical bioinformatics activities to school pupils.",

keywords = "Bioinformatics, Computational biology, Secondary school, Raspberry Pi, Open access teaching material, Case study",

author = "Daniel Barker and Alderson, \{Rosanna Grace\} and McDonagh, \{James L.\} and Heleen Plaisier and Comrie, \{Muriel Margaret\} and Leigh Duncan and Muirhead, \{Gavin T.P.\} and Sweeney, \{Stuart D.\}",

note = "This work was supported in part by the Science and Technology Facilities Council under grant ST/M000435/1 to Daniel Barker. ",

year = "2015",

month = oct,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1186/s40594-015-0030-z",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

journal = "International Journal of STEM Education",

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T1 - University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school

AU - Barker, Daniel

AU - Alderson, Rosanna Grace

AU - McDonagh, James L.

AU - Plaisier, Heleen

AU - Comrie, Muriel Margaret

AU - Duncan, Leigh

AU - Muirhead, Gavin T.P.

AU - Sweeney, Stuart D.

N1 - This work was supported in part by the Science and Technology Facilities Council under grant ST/M000435/1 to Daniel Barker.

PY - 2015/10/28

Y1 - 2015/10/28

N2 - Background Bioinformatics—the use of computers in biology—is of major and increasing importance to biological sciences and medicine. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the value of bringing practical, university-level bioinformatics education to the school level. We conducted voluntary activities for pupils at two schools in Scotland (years S5 and S6; pupils aged 15–17). We used material originally developed for an optional final-year undergraduate module and now incorporated into 4273π, a resource for teaching and learning bioinformatics on the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. Results Pupils’ feedback forms suggested our activities were beneficial. During the course of the activity, they provide strong evidence of increase in the following: pupils’ perception of the value of computers within biology; their knowledge of the Linux operating system and the Raspberry Pi; their willingness to use computers rather than phones or tablets; their ability to program a computer and their ability to analyse DNA sequences with a computer. We found no strong evidence of negative effects. Conclusions Our preliminary study supports the feasibility of bringing university-level, practical bioinformatics activities to school pupils.

AB - Background Bioinformatics—the use of computers in biology—is of major and increasing importance to biological sciences and medicine. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the value of bringing practical, university-level bioinformatics education to the school level. We conducted voluntary activities for pupils at two schools in Scotland (years S5 and S6; pupils aged 15–17). We used material originally developed for an optional final-year undergraduate module and now incorporated into 4273π, a resource for teaching and learning bioinformatics on the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. Results Pupils’ feedback forms suggested our activities were beneficial. During the course of the activity, they provide strong evidence of increase in the following: pupils’ perception of the value of computers within biology; their knowledge of the Linux operating system and the Raspberry Pi; their willingness to use computers rather than phones or tablets; their ability to program a computer and their ability to analyse DNA sequences with a computer. We found no strong evidence of negative effects. Conclusions Our preliminary study supports the feasibility of bringing university-level, practical bioinformatics activities to school pupils.

KW - Bioinformatics

KW - Computational biology

KW - Secondary school

KW - Raspberry Pi

KW - Open access teaching material

KW - Case study

U2 - 10.1186/s40594-015-0030-z

DO - 10.1186/s40594-015-0030-z

M3 - Article

VL - 2

JO - International Journal of STEM Education

JF - International Journal of STEM Education

M1 - 17

ER -

University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school

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High performance computing: High-performance computing in the search for the Tree of Life

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