Bioinformatics​ ​ goes​ ​ to​ ​ school:​ ​ A ​ ​ way​ ​ to​ ​ rethink​ ​ the​ ​ teaching​ ​ of​ ​ biology

VELEZ RUEDA ANA JULIA; BENITEZ, GUILLERMO; MARCHETTI, JULIA; PALOPOLI, NICOLÁS; FORNASARI, SILVINA; PARISI GUSTAVO

Posadas

Congreso; 8CAB2C: 8 Congreso Argentino de Bioinformática y Biología Computacional; 2017

BACKGROUNDBioinformatics is an interdisciplinary activity that complements and connects several fields with biology, and can also be thought as a tool for teaching and learning biology. Its usage as an educational tool provides a clear and accurate way of perceiving biological processes, that integrates multiple knowledge (logical-mathematical, biological, computational, etc.). During 2017 the Structural Bioinformatics Group of the University of Quilmes worked together with public and private schools to promote the usage of bioinformatics as a teaching and learning tool for biology. With this aim, biology-oriented programming workshops using Python​ ​ were​ ​ carried​ ​ out​ ​ in​ ​ different​ ​ schools(​ http://ufq.unq.edu.ar/sbg/education/index.html​ ).RESULTSA total of 100 high school students aged from 16 to 18 years old, with no previous programming knowledge (87% of the students had no prior knowledge about programming or bioinformatics) participated in the workshop together with their corresponding teachers. In the workshops participated students among all high school specializations together; those students specializing in Natural Sciences comprised 37.5% of the total. The core of the workshop consisted on working with different biological questions s to be solved using programming routines or simple programs with Python. For programming, smartphones and free​ ​ Python​ ​ apps​ ​ (QPython,​ ​ Python3​ ​ and​ ​ Python​ ​ 2.5​ ​ for​ ​ iOS)​ ​ were​ ​ used.CONCLUSIONSThe tools chosen made the teaching-learning process, as well as the exchange of knowledge among students, easier and dynamic.The biological questions proposed and solved in the workshops triggered new biological and programming questions proposed by the students, which further enriched the learning-teaching process. Also, during this period of work we were able to build bridges with the participating schools and a great commitment for future work. This great interest of the educational communities and the students positive responses, reinforces the idea of bioinformatics as a plausible tool for the learning-teaching of​ ​ biology.