MOTIVATION FOR THE PROJECT For his entire career, Graham has "balanced on a tightrope" between devoting time to his research career and his efforts in undergraduate education. By bringing together a group of people interested in teaching and educational development, young scientists could receive training and support for their educational efforts, and mentoring on how to walk that tightrope. Also, as with a scientific group, the diversity of interests and talents could lead to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. At MIT, like many other universities, large lectures are a reality in Introductory Biology courses. This format often makes it very challenging to present material in a manner that will give students the sense of discovery and excitement, like that experienced in advanced undergraduate labs or research. The group therefore focuses its curriculum development activities on creating teaching tools that help make biology come alive for the students in lecture courses. Coverage in the MIT press: HHMI High School Field Trip 2005 Coverage in the MIT press: The start of the Ed Group Coverage in the MIT press: HHMI High School Field Trip 2003 Coverage by the Boston Globe: MCAS Science Exam Coverage by the Associated Press: MCAS Science Exam Coverage by MIT press 2005: HHMI Science teacher workshop Coverage in the Boston Globe: Spotlight on a Molecular Biology Coverage in the MIT press: Tealsim PDBViewer

"Founding this group has been one of the most stimulating things I have done in my professional career. I am overwhelmed by the excitement and intellectual energy it has generated. I have likened the experience to 'dropping a seed crystal into a saturated solution of education'."

A PERSPECTIVE ON THE EXPERIMENT OF FOUNDING AN "EDUCATION GROUP" The funds provided with this award are enabling me to try experiments in education resembling those carried out my own research lab, which utilizes many techniques common to modern biological research. For the most part, these experiments involve an initial attempt, successive cycles of redesigning the experiment and testing its implications, and then ultimately repeating a final version that becomes the one published in the scientific literature. Formal evaluation is not needed for the majority of such day-to-day experiments since their success or failure is usually so obvious. Lots of ideas are tried and many are discarded during this process, just as they are in a research lab. It is my hope that the analogous cycles of redesign and intellectual progression that we are using in our educational research may lead to some novel and useful contributions that might not have emerged from the traditional approaches used in educational research. Graham Walker's Laboratory Website Graham Walker's HHMI Professor Website