NSF Awards: 1919613
Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges (QB@CC) is an NSF RCN-UBE funded project. The primary goals of this project are to 1) establish and build a network of mathematics and biology instructors at community colleges that collaborate to 2) develop OER materials that can be used in both classrooms. The tertiary goal is to offer professional learning that helps others strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration at their institutions and beyond. Our video discusses the four pillars of equity that the QB@CC project addresses before it calls viewers to action by joining the network.
Jillian Miller
Professor of Mathematics
Welcome to QB@CC (Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges)! We are a network of mathematics and biology faculty (primarily at community colleges, but we are expanding to include 4-year institutions as well) working to create materials that both disciplines can use in their classrooms. All of the materials that we create (and adapt) are published as OER so that faculty and students worldwide can access them to foster an interdisciplinary approach to learning. We are so thankful that you've decided to spend some time with us today!
We would appreciate your feedback! Below are some prompts, but we welcome ANY and all ideas you want to share!
1. Did this video encourage you to explore/support QB@CC by visiting our webpage? If so, what drew you? If not, what could we do differently to pique your curiosity?
2. Of our four pillars of equity, which speaks to you and the work that you are doing/would like to do in the future?
3. What concerns do you have about an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning? What challenges may you encounter and how can you overcome them?
4. How can we support you in fostering an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning? What are some of the things that are already in place that could support an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning?
5. How can we learn from you?! Share with us your approach to interdisciplinary learning and/or equity!
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Jay Labov
Currently STEM Education Consultant
Thank you for sharing this video. I think that this approach has the potential to be a game changer both for helping students to better understand the connections between mathematics and biology and to serve as a model for making specific connections across disciplines more broadly. Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning are difficult to accomplish because of the multiple systemic barriers that currently exist in higher education. I applaud your efforts to address some of these issues. When I worked at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, I was involved with a project that tackled these issues that you, your colleagues, and other visitors to this video might find of interest (freely downloadable):
“The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education: Branches from the Same Tree.” 2018. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24988.
I’m also hoping that you can provide some additional information about what you consider to be the successes of this project to date:
Thank you again for submitting this video!
Justice Walker
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Alys Hugo
Math Faculty
Hi Jay! Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and for sharing that resource!
I can't speak to all of your questions but I do know that yes, these modules are being used in math classrooms as well. Most modules have been designed to be able to be implemented in math classes as well as biology classes and many include teaching notes specifically for faculty in each discipline to support them in teaching the math content or the biology content. In Fall 2021, we offered a math-focused Faculty Mentoring Network where math faculty members adapted modules to use in their classrooms.
Because we are currently faculty-focused, we do not have data from students but we are hoping to connect with some students who have experienced the modules to get their perspectives as well as collect any data that faculty may have about how the modules have impacted their classrooms.
As a math faculty member, I definitely see the math content as being transferable to other kinds of mathematical problems. For example, one module uses scientific notation in a biology context but covers the same learning objectives I would need for an algebra class that covers scientific notation. I would use the module as a way to teach that content and then in subsequent assignments/examples, I would have students apply scientific notation in other contexts. We also have many modules that cover interpreting graphs which I think would help students learn to interpret a wide variety of function graphs, not just the select functions in the modules.
I'll let our QUBES data expert Joe jump in on downloads question. I know he was looking into how many of the downloads were from biology vs math faculty at one point.
We are currently doing a climate survey to see how many of our network participants have been using the modules but I don't think we have any way of really knowing how much they are being used beyond that. The beauty of OER is that it is so easily shared, but that means we can never know how widely it is being spread or how often it is being used.
Currently, we are relying on a word-of-mouth, grassroots approach. Our steering committee members and Faculty Mentoring Network and Incubator participants share about the project with their personal and professional networks and present at conferences. We are actively looking for more ways to disseminate so if you are part of a network or project that would benefit from the modules or other collaboration with QB@CC, please let us know! We are also considering making a textbook of modules that we can share more widely on the internet than just the QUBES site.
Thank you again for your excellent questions!
Justice Walker
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Jay Labov
Currently STEM Education Consultant
Thanks very much for this very informative response. With regard to disseminating more widely, are you aware of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI)? Jim Hewlett at Finger Lakes Community College is the founder of this national initiative. I would think that your project might be of great interest CCURI.
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Jennifer Buntz
Biology Faculty
Jay,
Thank you for your comment. CCURI looks like a great resource for community colleges. QB@CC can reach out to CCURI, though the purpose ofnQB@CC is not to design student research modules.
We appreciate all suggestions! and will follow up with CCURI.
Jay Labov
Currently STEM Education Consultant
Thanks again for your response. When I posted my response, I wasn't thinking that QB@CC would design research modules. Rather, I was imagining that CCURI would be able to employ your work to help their research students better understand the math and statistics that supports the research that they are doing.
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Professor
Hi Jay - Thanks as always for all your constructive feedback! I have met Jim Hewlett few times and he has visited our College several years ago. It is a great idea to reach out to him and the CCURI network to explore possible collaborations for their research programs to use our modules. Thanks!
Justice Walker
Assistant Professor
Yes! Thanks for asking (in the video) us to propose modules. I think synthetic biology would be a nice complement to the set of topics in the biology modules listed in the program website. While I am biased toward synthetic biology—it does offer opportunities to engage learners in a paradigmatically different form of production and learning in life science.
I wondered about the equity perspectives you are using—your video highlights culturally responsive approaches and I wondered if you could share a bit more what you mean by this for researchers having a difficult time applying this perspective in their research designs or learning interventions.
In exploring your site, I noticed an "adaptation" metric and I wondered what it means and how you use it to guide your research, iterations, or project. Based on what I can tell it looks like a measure of who accessed and then modified a module for personal use. If this is true I wondered what it means that there are few adaptations. I am especially interested in this because of the points about universal design and equity raised in the video.
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Professor
Hi Justice,
Thanks for your post, feedback and questions. I agree that synthetic biology will be a great topic to explore with QB@CC support! If you are willing to bring in some community college faculty (Math, Bio, Statistics) and work as a team on a module for Fall 2022, that will be great and we would love to support the work. Though the funds are to support CC faculty, we do not exclude 4Y faculty and HS teachers.
Teaching quantitative skills has multiple challenges. Two of those addressed by QB@CC are: 1. faculty's limitations (comfort levels) in teaching quantitative skills in a biology class and in teaching Math courses with a biology context. 2. CCs being open enrollment institutions, faculty have to address the learning process for students coming with different levels of preparedness. QB@CC objectives are designed to address the second one indirectly, by tackling the first one directly. The network members work in small, interdisciplinary groups where they get comfortable learning pedagogical approaches from each other, so they can effectively teach the skills to their students.
Faculty users have the option to modify the originally published modules when they implement in their courses. In addition, we encourage them to publish their edited versions as "adaptations" in the QUBESHub. So, the number of adaptations may depend on the frequency of use of different modules. Some modules may be used more often than others.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Feel free to let us know if I have not addressed your questions well enough.
Thanks - Vedham
Justice Walker
Vedham Karpakakunjaram
Professor
Hi Jay,
Thanks for sharing the resources and asking pointed questions that will help us expand to consider many directions to take the project in the coming years.
Alys has responded to most of your questions. I will address some of the questions here:
QB@CC has no direct scope to assess student learning gains. As Alys mentioned, our grant evaluator has sent out a climate survey to all the network participants and some of the survey questions may help collect indirect data on student learning gains. We may have to think of a next grant option to address this aspect of the QB@CC project.
Since we are not directly reaching out to students, my guess is that the students accessing these modules may be a really small number (closer to zero)... but that is 100% a guess on my part.
In addition to all the ways that Alys has mentioned about our dissemination, we also seek our partner organizations and institutions to help get the word out. We have professional societies and organizations like NABT, HHMI, NISOD, NROC, ATD helping us by posting calls for incubator and FMN participation in Fall and Spring, and several CCs that are QB@CC partners help us with the same. Lastly, with more conferences going in-person or having a hybrid model, we see an increase in QB@CC participants willing to present posters and workshops at these events. The hope is that such outreach from participants who have gone through the work with QB@CC will be effective ambassadors to recruit new participants.
We welcome, and greatly appreciate any help, support and ideas that you may have for us to do better.
Thanks - Vedham
Justice Walker
Jennifer Buntz
Biology Faculty
Another outreach opportunity for QB@CC is the 2022 Biology and Mathematics Educators (BIOME) Institute, where we will present what we do and be available to assist faculty who want to be involved with QB@CC in an Incubator or a Faculty Mentoring Network.
The 2022 Biology and Mathematics Educators Institute is a great way for math and biology faculty to interact and find ways to collaborate. The theme for this years Institute is Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, and Accessible Communities in STEM Classrooms. QB@CC will be able to learn at the Institute how we can better support these educational goals. Everyone watching videos here is welcome to participate, share and learn at the Institute. This is how we can build community and disseminate pedagogy that best supports all our students.
Find out more about the Institute here.
Jennifer
Anne Kern
Professor
Very interesting sounding project/program. However, what does a module look like? Can you give an example of an integrated math-biology activity or event? I am a bit unclear what this program looks like, I get what the goals are but…
John Starnes
Associate Professor of Biology
Hi Anne,
If you are interested in looking at the types of modules produced by the incubator groups, and some adaptations that have been made from the FMN participants you can follow the link below. Feel free to join our group if you want updates. Please pass on the link if you have anyone that is interested being involved or utilizing the modules.
https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/qbcc/qb_modules
Thanks-John
Jillian Miller
Professor of Mathematics
Thanks, John, for sharing the link to the modules!
Anne: We find that a lot of our participants are interested in helping their students better understand how to read/produce graphs. You will find that a lot of our modules ask students to interpret a graph which models biological data OR make a hypothesis about how a biological phenomena works, create a graph using biological data, and then determine whether their hypothesis can be supported (possibly using statistical methods or just intuitively). These are not the only ways in which math and biology are being integrated, but you'll find that several of our modules created/adapted to date involve this type of activity.
Justice Walker
Anne Kern
Professor
Hello John,
Thanks for replying to my comments.
While I advocate for extracurricular STEM activities, I am still unconvinced of these programs' long-term impact on student's entry into the field and ultimate success in affecting the pipeline. Has your program been able to track the degree and longevity of effects on your participants?
Cheers,
Anne
Sondra LoRe
Hi Anne! Great question! I am serving as the external evaluator for this project and others and your question is one that I love to study. While this particular project is in year 3 of funding so long-term effects are still early, I can speak to similar projects/programs I help to evaluate hosted on the same QUBES/BioQUEST platform where measures of student impact are demonstrated. Here is a link to one such program called BIOMAAP which is also on the QUBES hub that you may want to check out. With this project, I measured student impacts and trajectories for students in STEM Ed. programs as well as undergraduate biology students https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/biomaap Thank you again for the wonderful question!
Sondra LoRe
Justice Walker