Inquiry About Biology Teaching Initiatives Using Web VPython

[Francisco Adeil Gomes Araujo]

Dear, good morning.

I am reaching out to inquire if you know of any initiatives or projects focused on teaching Biology using Web VPython. I am interested in exploring how this tool might be applied to create interactive and engaging learning experiences in Biology education.

Any information or examples you could share would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance.

Best regards,
Adeil Araújo

[Bruce Sherwood]

I'm a physics educator, so I might get this wrong, but my perception is that in biology education pictures/images play a very big role, and it seems to me that VPython is not a useful environment for your purposes. What VPython is good for is modeling the interactions and motions of physical systems.

An exception might be using VPython to model some of the equipment used in medicine.

Bruce

[Gavin Buxton]

Hi

It's probably not what you are looking for, but I teaching an upper level elective for biology undergraduates. They have to learn Python (which is always fun as they have no programming experience coming into the course), but the visual part of VPython really really helps! They see the visual part of it and get really excited, and that makes them actually want to learn programming (which is usually the hurdle). Here's a paper I wrote to give you an idea:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.12911

If you want to use VPython though, then you'll be coding a lot of the stuff yourself as I'm not too sure what is out there that might suit your needs. But it's a beautiful coding environment!

Best

Gavin

[Francisco Adeil Gomes Araujo]

I did a few things with the help of ChatGPT to show in the classroom. What do you think?

Structure and Function of Proteins

Link: https://trinket.io/glowscript/21ed77d95128

Carbon Cycle

Link: https://trinket.io/glowscript/1436ae3ff6b2

Virus Structure (Such as SARS-CoV-2)

Link: https://trinket.io/glowscript/796673dcf639

Deoxyribonucleic Acid - DNA 

Link: https://trinket.io/glowscript/7ba54885924b

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================
Adeil Araújo
Professor de Física

Professor Formador/FormaCE
Secretaria de Educação do Estado do Ceará

adeil83.github.io

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[Francisco Adeil Gomes Araujo]

Hi Gavin,

Thank you for sharing the article and your experience with GlowScript. I’m excited to try some of these examples, especially the zombie apocalypse one, with my students!

Best regards,

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[Mark Schaedel]

If you are looking to tinker with some interactive applets I recommend NetLogo https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/

[Zeger Hendrikse]

Hi Adeil,

Coincidentally, I stumbled upon your DNA visualization this afternoon as well... then I decided to refactor it into classes, as a finger exercise in refactoring. As a bonus, I added an animation speed slider ;-)  You can have a look at the code here.

Do you perhaps have ideas for any possible extensions in mind?

Regards,

Zeger.

Op vrijdag 1 november 2024 om 06:06:20 UTC+1 schreef Francisco Adeil Gomes Araujo: