Educational Resources
Research data, tools, & information available now that can can be used for teaching
Overview
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Many educators have incorporated data, tools, and information they found on allencell.org into how they teach biology. While we recommend browsing the rest of allencell.org to find pages that may uniquely fit your curriculum, you can get started with pages we highlight below that have content other teachers use most frequently.
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Virtual Labs & Tours
Distance Learning for Cell Biology: a virtual laboratory for teaching mitosis
The webinar recorded on April 12, 2020, will walk you through a CourseSource paper teaching you how to run a ready-to-use, fully online virtual lab experiment with your students. If you have questions or suggestions, visit the educational section of our Forum.
A virtual laboratory on cell division using a publicly-available image database
Shelden EA, Offerdahl EG, Johnson GT. CourseSource: Evidence-based teaching resources for undergraduate biology education, May 2019. |
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Allen Institute Virtual Lab Series
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In this webinar, attendees learned how to use a short supplementary lesson plan incorporating data resources from the Allen Institute for Cell Science to teach concepts related to the cell cycle and cell imaging. The lesson plan and virtual experiment covered in this webinar are intended for high school and college instructors teaching cell biology, and the experiment may be adjusted to accommodate students at different levels.
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The Virtual Science Lab is a webinar series for educators to learn how to use the Allen Institute's open data in their classes. This includes material from the Allen Institute for Cell Science and the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
As part of our mission of open science, we share all of our data freely for anyone to use in their research or teaching. In addition to the many research applications of our resources, educators can use the available data to facilitate virtual experiments with their students. |
Allen Institute Behind the Scenes of Science Series
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Behind the Scenes of Science is a webinar series for educators and students to meet the professionals who make our research possible and get a glimpse of the many different careers in science. The series includes material from both the Allen Institute for Cell Science and the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
Registration for these events is free and open to entire classes. Our staff will hold a panel discussion where students can ask questions and learn about what it takes to do cutting-edge research. |
Presentations & Educational Resources from ASCB | EMBO
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Three educators who use various features of this website, allencell.org, in their classrooms presented their curricula and data applications to an audience at the American Society for Cell Biology's 2018 ASCB | EMBO Annual Meeting.
We recorded the entire one hour seminar and have separated and described the presentations here for your convenience. Although the data, tools, and approaches used in each presentation are applicable to most levels of teaching, we present them below in the order they have been applied, from high school through advanced studies in college. |
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Overview of allencell.org resourcesCell Data in the Classroom: Using the Allen Cell Explorer in High School & College Education
by Graham Johnson & Kaitlyn Cosimo The Allen Cell Explorer (allencell.org) is the Allen Institute for Cell Science data portal. It provides an unprecedented view into the organizational diversity of human stem cells, giving public access to large-scale 3D imaging data, predictive models, detailed methods, cell lines, and analysis tools. In this video, we describe resources useful for teaching and introduce three educators who use various features of allencell.org in their classrooms.
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3D cells for AP Biology in high schoolUsing the Allen Cell 3D Viewer to prepare AP Biology students for cell culture
by Tom Martinez At the high school (AP Biology) level, we guide students through human cell image data on allencell.org that show variation in cell shape, structure, and dynamics. These lessons enhance the proteins and cellular pathways unit of the AP Biology curriculum with research-grade data and a view into the process of real-life science.
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Case study planning for college classesUsing the Allen Cell Explorer to introduce high-throughput approaches & image analysis through interrupted case studies
by Carlos C Goller At the introductory college level, we expose students to high-throughput approaches (HTA) and high-content microscopy datasets to engage them in the analysis of novel data. Students demonstrate applications of HTA via the analysis of image datasets from allencell.org during their transition from classroom-based learning to research positions.
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A virtual lab for college instructionA quantitative virtual laboratory on cell division using the Allen Institute's 3D Cell Viewer
by Eric Shelden Advanced college/early graduate school students conduct virtual experiments using image-based cell data. In one virtual experiment, students analyze fluorescence microscopy images to categorize cells into cell cycle phases. They must then calculate the relative durations of the cell cycle phases while recommending experimental design parameters to maximize the accuracy of this approach (see article below).
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Pages on allencell.org frequently used for teaching
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A written hiPS cell biology overview & cell structure observations |
An interactive overview of hiPS cell 3D structure & function |
A model & visualization tool to better understand how stem cells divide |
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Plot & view any of 39,200 3D cell images sorted by measured features e.g. organelle volume |
Web browser gallery & viewer with 7,059 3D cell colony & 24,928 individual cell images |
Educational Resources on alleninstitute.org
News articles related to education
Cell Shorts | Bringing cell science resources to the classroom. This article summarizes an interview with these three educators who presented educational resources at ASCB.
New VR game lets you learn about cells by tossing them. The app, now on display at Pacific Science Center, teaches users the stages of cell division through interactions with 3D models of human cells.