Abstract
Can biology students without programming skills solve problems that require computational solutions? They can if they learn to cooperate effectively with computer science students. The goal of the in-concert teaching approach is to introduce biology students to computational thinking by engaging them in collaborative projects structured around the software development process. Our approach emphasizes development of interdisciplinary communication and collaboration skills for both life science and computer science students.
Highlights
Development of computational skills is recognized as an important goal for life science students [1,2,3,4,5,6]; current biology and biochemistry curricula at most institutions cannot accommodate additional courses in computing sciences
We describe in this essay our initial attempts to implement the second approach and to introduce computational thinking to biology students in a course that does not require any programming from these students
Anytime a diverse group of professionals is presented with a goal, their success depends on their ability to cooperate effectively across disciplinary boundaries
Summary
Development of computational skills is recognized as an important goal for life science students [1,2,3,4,5,6]; current biology and biochemistry curricula at most institutions cannot accommodate additional courses in computing sciences. The first approach involves building an introductory programming course into a bioinformatics course, engaging students in the entire process of computational problem solving: problem analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of the solution. Since we limit the goals of the life science students to analyzing problems, writing program requirements, and evaluating computational solutions and software systems, we need to provide the missing pieces (program design and implementation) in order to complete the problem-solving process. Each course is taught by the instructor from its respective field and targets distinct audiences of students, but the course materials are developed by two instructors jointly in a coordinated way Students from both classes form interdisciplinary teams for the duration of the course and work together on laboratory assignments, contributing their discipline-specific knowledge and skills. We call this approach ‘‘in-concert’’ teaching to emphasize the concerted efforts of students and instructors from different disciplines who are working towards accomplishing a common goal [13]
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