The why, when, and how of computing in biology classrooms

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
F1000 Research Ltd
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
2020
Authors
Wright AM
Schwartz RS
Oaks JR
Newman CE
Flanagan SP
Abstract

Many biologists are interested in teaching computing skills or using computing in the classroom, despite not being formally trained in these skills themselves. Thus biologists may find themselves researching how to teach these skills, and therefore many individuals are individually attempting to discover resources and methods to do so. Recent years have seen an expansion of new technologies to assist in delivering course content interactively. Educational research provides insights into how learners absorb and process information during interactive learning. In this review, we discuss the value of teaching foundational computing skills to biologists, and strategies and tools to do so. Additionally, we review the literature on teaching practices to support the development of these skills. We pay special attention to meeting the needs of diverse learners, and consider how different ways of delivering course content can be leveraged to provide a more inclusive classroom experience. Our goal is to enable biologists to teach computational skills and use computing in the classroom successfully.

Description
Citation
Wright AM, Schwartz RS, Oaks JR, Newman CE, Flanagan SP (2020). The why, when, and how of computing in biology classrooms. F1000Research. 8. 1854-.
Keywords
biology, computation, education, undergraduate
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::31 - Biological sciences
Fields of Research::39 - Education::3901 - Curriculum and pedagogy::390113 - Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy
Fields of Research::39 - Education::3904 - Specialist studies in education::390405 - Educational technology and computing
Rights
Copyright: © 2020 Wright AM et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.