TITLE:
Structural Bioinformatics of Protein & DNA, as Early Stimulation in Basic Education of Rural and Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca
AUTHORS:
Susana Lozano-Muniz, Maria del Carmen Urzua-Hernandez
KEYWORDS:
TICs; Childhood; Improvement; Achievement
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.5 No.10B,
October
31,
2013
ABSTRACT: As stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child,
children have the right to go to school for free, to play, and to have the same
opportunity to develop and to learn to be responsible and useful[1].
Young children are curious by nature and they have passion for learning [2]. An
environment that encourages scientific thinking is what gives young children
the time, space and materials to exercise their curiosity [3]. The
aim of this paper is to present a methodology for the development of
educational environments based on digital technology, internet and free
programs available on the web, for the use and application of structural
bioinformatics protein and DNA, for early stimulation in basic education at
rural and indigenous communities in state of Oaxaca, conducted in On Line
Learning & Training “OLL & T”. The course is
divided into 4 sections: 1)Introduction to the topic of protein and DNA
structure;2)Search in protein data bank;3)Download RasTop program and use it as bioinformatics tool;4)Emulation of building a viral molecule. Workshops were given to children in
elementary, middle and high school at the Universidad Del Papaloapan during the
National Week of Science and Technology, every year in Oaxaca since 2007 to
2012 and in Monterrey 2010 at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León.
Conclusions: positive impact was achieved in basic education in the area of
natural sciences by analyzing the molecular basis of protein and
deoxyribonucleic acid, theoretically and practically, as a support for
teachers.