Virtual immunology: an educational software to encourage antigen-antibody interaction learning.

Immunology is a knowledge area of paramount importance in life sciences and health care professional education with diverse applications, as well as for a general public understanding of issues related to vaccination. However, many concepts are complex and difficult to understand based only on conventional classes or static images. The use of tools, such as educational software, may enhance the learning of dynamic molecular phenomena that occur in our bodies. Virtual Immunology is a software that aims to facilitate the learning of certain complex immunology concepts. Herein, we present the "Antigen-antibody interactions" module that was used and evaluated by 127 students and 3 teachers from medical schools from 2 universities, 1 public and 1 private, both in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pretest/posttest research design was used to assess student learning in a randomized sample. To evaluate user perceptions concerning software quality, 14 statements were analyzed using a Likert scale. Results indicate suitable evaluations from both students and teachers concerning the "Antigen-antibody module" as an auxiliary tool in immunology teaching. The software was well rated as an educational resource since it allows dynamically viewing immunological phenomena. In addition, its ease of use and immunological process visualization were the best-evaluated parameters by the students, who recommended this software module as an auxiliary learning tool. The use of the evaluated software may motivate students and aid in the understanding of immunology-related concepts, becoming a complementary tool that may enhance the teaching-learning process.

Risk Society and Science Education: Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The current COVID-19 pandemic raises reflection on the new roles of science education in citizen education in a world characterized by civilization risks, derived from the current socioeconomic development. This specific type of risk is treated as a manufactured risk as proposed by the sociologist Ulrich Beck. In this paper, we report a document analysis starting from Beck's risk society theory, followed by notions of reflexive modernity, risk perception, and the Cynefin decision-making model for complex problems. COVID-19 pandemic is characterized as a manufactured risk. We state that students are unable to deal with manufactured risk because of the type of problems they are usually prepared to solve at school and the limited risk perception they have. In order to acquire better science education, we propose the integration of wicked problems in science programs alongside the use of a multidimensional schema, the so-called amplified risk perception space, a tool to locate students' risk perception. We hope to contribute to prepare citizens for a world of global and complex events, such as the current pandemic.

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis.

Gap junctions are intercellular channels that allow the communication of neighboring cells. This communication depends on the contribution of a hemichannel by each neighboring cell to form the gap junction. In mammalian cells, the hemichannel is formed by six connexins, monomers with four transmembrane domains and a C and N terminal within the cytoplasm. Gap junctions permit the exchange of ions, second messengers, and small metabolites. In addition, they have important roles in many forms of cellular communication within physiological processes such as synaptic transmission, heart contraction, cell growth and differentiation. We detail how to perform a single-cell microinjection of Lucifer Yellow to visualize cellular communication via gap-junctions in living cells. It is expected that in functional gap junctions, the dye will diffuse from the loaded cell to the connected cells. It is a very useful technique to study gap junctions since you can evaluate the diffusion of the fluorescence in real time. We discuss how to prepare the cells and the micropipette, how to use a micromanipulator and inject a low molecular weight fluorescent dye in an epithelial cell line.

Virtual immunology: software for teaching basic immunology.

As immunology continues to evolve, many educational methods have found difficulty in conveying the degree of complexity inherent in its basic principles. Today, the teaching-learning process in such areas has been improved with tools such as educational software. This article introduces "Virtual Immunology," a software program available free of charge in Portuguese and English, which can be used by teachers and students in physiology, immunology, and cellular biology classes. We discuss the development of the initial two modules: "Organs and Lymphoid Tissues" and "Inflammation" and the use of interactive activities to provide microscopic and macroscopic understanding in immunology. Students, both graduate and undergraduate, were questioned along with university level professors about the quality of the software and intuitiveness of use, facility of navigation, and aesthetic organization using a Likert scale. An overwhelmingly satisfactory result was obtained with both students and immunology teachers. Programs such as "Virtual Immunology" are offering more interactive, multimedia approaches to complex scientific principles that increase student motivation, interest, and comprehension.

Desenvolvimento e avaliação de um software como recurso auxiliar ao ensino de imunologia básica / Development and evaluation of software as an aid to teaching basic immunology

Este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar um software educacional para o ensino de imunobiologia básica. O software abordou os seguintes conteúdos: Órgãos e tecidos linfóides, onde elaboramos uma prática virtual esquematizando a injeção de tinta nanquim por duas vias de administração (intradérmica e endovenosa) em um camundongo com a finalidade de demonstrar o processo de captação fagocítica em os órgãos e tecidos linfóides específicos. E inflamação, onde, desenvolvemos animações gráficas representando uma situação hipotética dos eventos que sucedem um dano tecidual com o propósito de demonstrar eventos celulares, moleculares e suas relações em uma resposta inflamatória aguda. A avaliação do software foi realizada com um grupo de alunos do curso de pós-graduação Lato Sensu Ensino em Biociências e Saúde do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz e constitui-se de duas etapas: avaliação da interface e conteúdo. Utilizamos questionários para analisar critérios como usabilidade, afetividade, receptividade e organização da interface. Além disso, pudemos verificar sua eficácia na aquisição e retenção de conhecimentos relacionados aos temas abordados pelo software. Com relação à usabilidade do programa, pudemos verificar que o software teve uma excelente aceitação entre os alunos pesquisados. E, com relação à aquisição de conhecimentos, as análises estatísticas demonstraram uma diferença significativa (p<0,0001) antes e após o uso do software. Desta forma, concluímos com estes resultados que o software pode auxiliar no processo de aprendizagem da disciplina imunologia.