Research-based science education
The College of Biological Sciences is using a $1.5 million grant awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in May 2010 to create an innovative program to improve undergraduate biology education by engaging all undergraduates who take biology courses in hands-on research.
"This grant makes it possible to achieve our goal of providing authentic research experiences to every student who enters our classrooms, whether they began with us as freshmen, transferred to CBS from a community college, or are simply fulfilling a general education requirement," said Robin Wright, associate dean for academic and faculty affairs and director of the HHMI program.
The Minnesota Mississippi Metagenome Project (M3P) is providing many of these research opportunities. M3P is an effort to use cutting edge genomic approaches to identify microorganisms at the headwaters of the Mississippi and evaluate the impact of agricultural fertilizers, bacterial contamination, and other kinds of pollution on microbial ecology at different points along the river.
The four-year award will:
- Create opportunities for about 800 transfer students and 12,000 non-science majors to gain a deeper understanding of the nature, process and limitations of science through research experience.
- Support eight postdoctoral HHMI Teaching Fellows who will be paired with HHMI Faculty Fellows to develop research curriculum and learn teaching skills.
- Create the Northstar Institute for Science Education, where the Teaching and Faculty Fellows will work together to design educational materials and evaluate the results of their educational research.
