Karyotype: An Interactive Learning Environment for Reasoning and Sense Making in Genetics through a Case-based Approach

Reasoning and sense-making has been proved to be difficult for learners. Connecting genetic disorders with their underlying chromosomal aberrations requires reasoning and sense-making based on the clinical symptoms. In traditional instructional methods, learners encounter the required concepts and scientific processes in different grades and across different settings – theory classes, labs, tutorials, and most tests assess learners’ ability to remember the facts. This leads to a focus on vocabulary and memorization, rather than on scientific reasoning and making connections across different concepts and processes. To address this gap, we have developed Karyotype: a web-browser based learning environment where learners assume the role of a geneticist and solve the cases of chromosomal disorders. The learning environment is based on a case-based reasoning approach where the learner acts as a problem solver. S/he is given a set of symptoms and is asked to explain them and suggest a diagnosis. In this paper, we present the theoretical basis and design of Karyotype. We report an exploratory study in which we investigated learning of problem-solving skills and perceptions of usability and usefulness of techno-pedagogical features of Karyotype. The results indicate that learning activities and scaffolds in Karyotype are helpful for learning reasoning and sense-making skills.