Technologically Enhanced Visualization for Introductory Biology Program

Faculty:
Maria Palazzi: ACCAD, The Department of Design, OSU
Steve Rissing: Ph.D. Department of Biology, OSU
Janet S. Russell, Ph.D. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Coordinator
Earlham College

Staff:
Traci Temple, ETS, OSU
Michael Miller, ETS, OSU

GRAs:
Vita Berezina-Blackburn, animator, Department of Art
Ian Butterfield, animator, Department of Art

Funding:
TELR - 2001

The instructional problem to be addressed
Each year OSU's biological sciences department reaches ~9,000 students through their Introductory Biology Program (IBP). The biological concepts and the molecular interactions that underlie these concepts studied by these students are part of everyday life and so, inherently relevant. Yet for many students the concepts remain esoteric and they are unable to establish a connection between a concept and its molecular cause.

Hemoglobin	Cells

The proposed solution:
Computer graphics and animation, created at ACCAD, were used to give students the ability to see molecular interactions and the biological concepts those interactions supported. Computer graphics allowed students to see these processes as multi-dimensional, multi-colored images and sequenced events, with complex, time-dependent, three-dimensional processes.

ATP and mitochondria	Glucose and Oxygen
Red Blood Cells	Human
Stomach	Mitochondria and ATP