The research behind ModelIt
ModelIt is built on a teaching approach with more than a decade of peer-reviewed research behind it, including over $4M in NSF funding to develop and study modeling-based science education. That research was conducted using Cell Collective (the research platform that inspired ModelIt, built by the same team), and it consistently shows the same thing: students who build and simulate models learn more, and learn differently, than students who only read about the same ideas.
What the research shows
Students learn more.
In a study of students using the platform, the treatment group showed an 8% learning gain; the control group showed none.
Booth et al., CBE—Life Sciences Education, 2021
It engages the brain differently.
Using fMRI, researchers found that students who built and ran models showed different brain activity than students who only read about the same systems. Doing the modeling wasn't the same as reading about it.
Clark, Helikar & Dauer, CBE—Life Sciences Education, 2020
It works across the board.
The same study found equitable outcomes, with no gender gap in performance.
Booth et al., 2021
It builds systems thinking.
A computational-modeling lesson improved students' foundational systems-thinking skills and conceptual knowledge in biology.
Bergan-Roller et al., BioScience, 2018
A recent deployment showed large gains.
Forty-two undergraduates who completed our immune-response lesson raised their average test scores from 60.4% to 89.0%, and their confidence in building computational models rose from 31% to 69%.
PreliminaryPreliminary findings, not yet published.
Used in classrooms and labs worldwide
Cell Collective (the research platform that inspired ModelIt) is used by more than 5,500 scientists at over 200 institutions in 75+ countries, ranging from high schools and community colleges to research universities including Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, Caltech, Columbia, Brown, Purdue, and the University of Toronto. The lab also leads international training on this modeling approach for working scientists, including regular invited instruction at the U.K. Wellcome Trust and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). ModelIt brings the same approach, purpose-built for K-12.
Selected publications
Bergan-Roller, H. E., Galt, N. J., Chizinski, C. J., Helikar, T., & Dauer, J. T. (2018). Simulated computational model lesson improves foundational systems thinking skills and conceptual knowledge in biology students. BioScience, 68(8), 612–621.
https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy054
King, G. P., Bergan-Roller, H. E., Galt, N. J., Helikar, T., & Dauer, J. T. (2019). Modelling activities integrating construction and simulation supported explanatory and evaluative reasoning. International Journal of Science Education, 41(13), 1764–1786.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1640914
Clark, C. A. C., Helikar, T., & Dauer, J. T. (2020). Simulating a computational biological model, rather than reading, elicits changes in brain activity during biological reasoning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19(3), ar45.
https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-11-0237
Booth, C. S., Song, C., Howell, M. E., Rasquinha, A., Saska, A., Helikar, R., Sikich, S. M., Couch, B. A., van Dijk, K., Roston, R. L., & Helikar, T. (2021). Teaching metabolism in upper-division undergraduate biochemistry courses using online computational systems and dynamical models improves student performance. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(1), ar13.
https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-05-0105
Lucas, L., Helikar, T., & Dauer, J. T. (2022). Revision as an essential step in modeling to support predicting, observing, and explaining cellular respiration system dynamics. International Journal of Science Education, 44(13), 2152–2179.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2022.2114815
Dauer, J., Dauer, J., Lucas, L., Helikar, T., & Long, T. (2022). Supporting university student learning of complex systems: an example of teaching the interactive processes that constitute photosynthesis. In Fostering Understanding of Complex Systems in Biology Education (pp. 63–82). Springer.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98144-0_4
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