Spotlight on Partnering with Science Researchers: Washington State Community College

OUTCOME

Community college students in biology courses across Washington state are engaging in activities that build their awareness and interest in the use of “big data” in the practice of modern biology.

WHY?

33 community college faculty from 19 Washington state community and technical colleges participate in a professional network where they connect with biology researchers to learn about contemporary biology methods of working with big datasets and then work collaboratively to create modules to implement in their respective courses.

WHY?

STEM professionals join the network to learn more about undergraduate education, engage in rich discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion topics related to biological research and biology education, and to share their knowledge and skills with community college faculty.

WHY?

ISB Education partnered with leaders from Washington state community colleges and research biologists to lead a network funded by the National Science Foundation.

WHY?

Community college students in a few biology courses had the opportunity to explore microbiome data using a Google Colab – a program that allows students to analyze large datasets in any web browser on a basic laptop.

WHY?

11 community college faculty worked with a STEM professional with expertise in microbiomes to deeply understand how large sets of microbiome data are analyzed and how that work can be connected to a variety of objectives in a beginning undergraduate biology course.

WHY?

ISB Education is a catalyst, connecting stakeholders across systems, reflecting the renowned systems approach used in the cutting-edge ISB scientific research..