Molecular Genetics

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Background

• For years I have been teaching a 2-credit hour course for beginning Oklahoma State University graduate students titled "Molecular Genetics". Also for years, I had been developing a Hypercard stack to accompany the course. Hypercard stacks have limitations:
  • They are Macintosh-specific, not running on computers with other operating systems.
  • They require the student to have the stacks on the student's computer or carry them along on floppy discs.
  • World-wide web resources are not easily incorporated.
  • Graphic capabilities are limited.

  Hypercard stacks do have some good features:

  • Hyperlinks allow linkage to other cards and hidden information (similar to WWW).
  • Hypercards can be made user-interactive.
  • Hypercards allow the hiding of information until prompted by the user with a mouse-click.
  • Hypercard layouts are rigidly and easily set by the author.
• I have decided that Hypercard's limitations outweigh Hypercard-specfic advantages. I have thus transfered the hypercard stacks to the WWW format. I completed the first phase on 10 September, 1997.

Objectives

• The objectives of the course were, and continue to be:
  • to train students to interpret experimental observations in molecular genetics;
  • to have students understand the experimental bases for molecular genetic principles; and
  • to train students to apply experimental methods of molecular genetics to problems in that science.

  These objective have been shaped by my philosophy of teaching science. I believe it more important that students learn why we believe the things we believe about molecular genetics than to memorize current hypotheses of the science. I am a post-modernist in that I believe that much of what is traditionally taught is interpretation and not fact. In this view, facts are the experimental observations.

• Consequently, in the original hypercard version, each card presented one or more observations. I hoped thereby to challenge the student to consider the results and draw their own conclusions. The currently accepted interpretations were hidden, accessible by a mouse-click on an icon. The student was forced to work back and forth between observations and interpretation. Further information was similarly hidden. In this WWW adaptation of the stacks, I divided most pages into three sections:
  • facts
  • interpretations
  • further information.

  and provided links to allow movement back and forth between them.

• I want to make the information load as rapidly as possible even for those with slow modems. To this end,
  • each page is fairly limited in scope;
  • there is a limited use of icons, most links are text links;
  • illustrations are kept simple.

Navigating

As with most web material, the easiest way to learn to navigate is to do it. Yet, for those needing a little encouragement, I provide the following information.

• I used four types of web pages:
  • Tip pages are by far the most prevalent and represent the pages at the branch ends of the tree resulting from the outline of the web pages.
  • Outline pages list and provide links to the various subtopics under the general topic head. They represent internal branch points in the organizational tree.
  • Vocabulary pages summarize the important terms used in each section. You can use the vocabulary lists as flash cards.
  • Methods pages are also "tip pages", but lack the differentiation of fact and interpretation.
• Within pages. The tip pages are divided into four sections:
  • Facts give the experimental observations, often accompanied by a graph, table or diagram.
  • Interpretation gives the current view of what these observations tell us about the topic.
  • Further Information provides additional observations and interpretations that may be of interest to you. This is where I intend primarily to place links to other sites on the WWW.
  • Links can be found near the bottom of each page.

  At various places within tip pages you will find a line of links. These bring you rapidly to the beginning of the facts, interpretation and further information sections of the page. The Other pages link brings you to the link line near the bottom of the page. The top link brings you back to the facts section of the page. Find the meaning of the other links in the link line in the next section.

• Between pages. I have provided four systematic ways to navigate through the pages.
  • Sequential order is essentially like turning pages in a textbook. The order chosen, except for methods interspersions, is the same as that used in the course. The next and last links (found near the bottom of each page), respectively, take you to the next and previous pages of the text.
  • Tree order allows you to crawl down one branch of a tree to its tip, then backtrack to a node with unexplored branches and explore each of them. The overview link is your ticket back towards the trunk of the tree. Links on each overview card tell you what is found on the branches.
  • Keyword order allows you to chase down the meanings and useages of keywords in a section. You reach the lists of keywords by clicking on the vocabulary link.
  • Ad lib order asks you to follow those links in the text that you would like to pursue.

  I imagine that your use of these web pages will entail a combination of these methods.

  Navigation icons, found at the top and bottom of pages, simplify flipping through pages

• Overall organization The course and these web pages are organized in three general sections:
  • The three conceptual types of chromosomes, their interrelation and inheritance.
  • From genotype to phenotype.
  • Genomes in flux
  • A fourth section consisting of molecular genetic methods also exists but is made to be accessed from the other sections as necessary.

Disclaimer

Links to sites of commercial vendors does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of their products nor does it imply the approval or disapproval to the exclusion of other products or vendors that may also be available.

Construction Plan

As with all good web sites, there should be continual updating. Yet, you should know that this site is being put together in stages.

• Phase I is the transfer of all hypercard stack information to web pages, including the completion of hypercards that have not yet been completed. Phase I was completed 10 September, 1997.
• Phase II is the editing of the text and layout. The text will be edited for spelling, grammar and readability. Phase II should be completed by the beginning of December 1997.
• Phase III calls for the improvement of images, adding color as required. I have not set a target date for completion of this phase.
• Phase IV is the extensive connection to other WWW resources. Some phase IV activity will begin with the completion of phase I, but a thorough job will not be completed til much later.

Current status: phase II completed for all sections.

Help Me

I would greatly appreciate your assistance in establishing and maintaining this web site. You can tell me ( I have a fairly thick skin):

• mistakes in grammar or spelling that you have noticed;
• passages that you find confusing or otherwise unclear or poorly readable;
• problems you see in the layout;
• which observations are incorrect, explaining how they are so;
• which interpretations need updating;
• how to improve a particular diagram;
• links that don't connect or connect improperly;
• a link (either internal or external) that I really should add;
• a term that I missed in putting the vocabulary lists together;
• a topic I should include;
• about other webtexts you have seen.

Your contributions should be sent by e-mail. Please include prominently in your message the page number about which you are writing. The page number appears near the bottom of each page. It is also the number in the filename. Thanks.

This is page 0 of Molecular Genetics by Ulrich Melcher, © 1997, 1999