Students often see college courses as the presentation of disconnected facts, especially in the life sciences. Student-created Structure Mechanism/Relationship Function (SMRF) models were analyzed to understand students' abilities to make connections between genotype, phenotype, and evolution. Students were divided into two sections; one section received instructions that included a specific gene as an example related to larger issues like human disease or the environment. The other section was only given generic examples, like gene X and phenotype Y. Coding of exam models and a comprehensive (extensive) model reveled students were able to make links and work within and between biological scales of organization. Modeling provided a way to show and allow students to practice and demonstrate the ability to build step-by-step causal relationships that link ideas together. We also observed a small differing with students receiving the specific prompt performing better than students receiving generic prompt at the point in the semester where linking across many biological scales was required to be successful.

中文翻译：

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分子遗传学建模使学生能够在生物尺度之间建立联系

学生经常将大学课程视为互不相关的事实的呈现，尤其是在生命科学领域。对学生创建的结构机制/关系函数 (SMRF) 模型进行分析，以了解学生在基因型、表型和进化之间建立联系的能力。学生们被分成两部分；其中一个部分收到的指示包括特定基因，作为与人类疾病或环境等更大问题相关的示例。另一部分仅给出了通用示例，例如基因 X 和表型 Y。考试模型的编码和综合（广泛）模型表明学生能够在组织的生物尺度内部和之间建立联系和工作。建模提供了一种方法来展示并允许学生练习和展示建立将想法联系在一起的逐步因果关系的能力。我们还观察到，在学期中需要成功连接许多生物尺度的学生中，接受特定提示的学生比接受通用提示的学生表现得更好。