Summary:
This project used computer graphics and animation to give students the ability to see molecular interactions and the biological concepts those interactions supported.

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

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

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

Summary:
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.

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.

Funding from TELR - 2001

Completed in 2002.