October 2008: GDCB Professors Eve Syrkin Wurtele and Diane Bassham awarded funding from the NIH for Meta!Blast

Drs. Wurtele (PI, left in photo), Bassham (Co-PI, right in photo), and colleagues Dickerson, Hernnstadt and Olson recently received a sponsored funding award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for $771,490 for research on "Meta!Blast: An Immersive Interactive Learning Module for Cell Biology." The overarching hypothesis of this project is that interactive, dynamic learning environments can facilitate student learning of complex biological concepts. To address this hypothesis, Dr. Wurtele and her research team will develop Meta!Blast, an interactive module on cell biology. Students will be immersed in a three-dimensional, biologically accurate plant cell. Individual biological concepts will be parsed into student tasks, while keeping these tasks in the context of the whole environment.

Meta!Blast will combine sophisticated simulation technology with accurate biological information, to allow students to explore and interact with a cell and during this process to discover cellular energetics, gene function, cellular defenses against pathogens, and the consequences of compartmentation. The ability to change environmental scales can make the student aware of not only the individual parts and processes in the cell but how they work together to allow the whole to function.

The aims of this research project are to expand the educational content in the context of the Meta!Blast interactive module, integrate characters, music, plot, and built-in assessment components to enhance the learning experience and improve student engagement, and perform iterative formative and summative testing of Meta!Blast to enhance the final product and fully assess the research hypothesis.