Welcome!
Welcome to the self-paced guide for the Tiny Earth Discovery Database!
The Discovery Database is the new database for Tiny Earth students, instructors, and researchers to log their experiments and findings. It is an overhaul of the previous system, and it has been designed to be:
- Stable
- Accessible
- Learner-centered
- And to reinforce the learning outcomes of Tiny Earth courses!
What is the Tiny Earth Discovery Database?
The Tiny Earth Discovery Database is a place for students to log all their data while conducting antibiotic discovery.
It is a resource that acts as a place of storage and communication for future research.
Students can compare and contrast their findings with research from their peers to expand on both discussion and future studies.
Anyone can use the public data to analyze and inform their independent research.
The database also functions as a tool for the Tiny Earth Chemistry Hub (TECH) to signify which isolates may need further research.
It will allow them to analyze where high priority isolates are coming from and what conditions produce antibiotic activity.
Guide
In this guide students will learn:
- How to create an account and log into the Discovery Database
- How to create, edit, and duplicate database entries
- How to add and manage coauthors on their entries for tracking group work
- How to choose between different entry types for different Tiny Earth research tasks
- How to perform advanced searches of database entries
- How to export their work as reports to be shared with their instructors
- And how their entries will be shared and contribute to Science outside the classroom!
And instructors will additionally learn:
- Everything students learn
- How to create and manage classrooms
- Optionally, how to add and manage sections to classrooms
- Optionally, how to add and manage teaching assistants to classrooms or sections
- How to incorporate the database into course designs and teaching strategies
- How to add and manage students to classrooms
- How to view, edit, and delete student entries
- And how to finalize student database entries, marking them ready for upload to the Tiny Earth Public Database
This guide has been designed to be used:
- As a reference during Tiny Earth courses
- As a component of Tiny Earth instructor trainings
- As a guide for existing Tiny Earth instructors coming from the previous database or who were using their own database system
- And as a refresher students and instructors can refer to as much as they need
Prerequisites
Before working through this guide, students and instructors should be familiar with:
- Tiny Earth terminology:
- Environmental Sample
- Isolate
- Serial Dilution
- Library Collection
- Antibiotic Activity Screen
- Chemical Extraction
- And the general steps of the Tiny Earth research flow
Problems, Feedback, and Suggestions
If you encounter any problems while completing this guide or using the database, please contact us using the Report Issue link at the bottom of every Discovery Database page.
And if you have suggestions for improvements to this guide itself, please:
- Suggest your edit by using the edit link (pencil icon) at the top of the guide page you want changed
- Start a discussion on the guide issues page
- Or send an email describing your suggestion to <tinyearth@wid.wisc.edu>