Computer-Aided Instruction in Biology

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This award provides funds to the Department of Biology at Indiana University, Bloomington to help introduce computer-aided instruction into their curriculum which should provide the physical setting required for an intellectual advance in their teaching. Three projects will be completed which are aimed at increasing the effectiveness of teaching biology to undergraduates. These three projects are aimed at three different levels: introductory courses for non-majors, intermediate level courses for majors, and advanced courses for majors. In the advanced courses for majors, computer-aided data acquisition and analysis will be introduced into the laboratory. The other two levels represent a significant departure from the standard methods for biology teaching. In the presentation of material any science course, one is constrained to describe the material in a sequential manner, first one topic, then the next. Textbooks are also constrained to this linear presentation. However, the material that is discussed is interrelated, such that earlier and later portions of the course, and indeed, of the curriculum, are interwoven. It is a major hurdle for students to grasp the connections; yet, it is these connections which help students gain a real understanding of the body of scientific knowledge. In order to help students see these connections, the biology department will introduce into their courses a computer lab, in which students will have access to a non-sequentially linked information base constructed in the hypertext environment of Hypercard for the Macintosh. Access to this system will provide students with the facility to explore the relationships of various lecture and laboratory topics, and there by illuminate the connections. It is believed that this will surmount one of the major difficulties in understanding biological material. The grantee institution is matching this NSF award with funds from non-Federal sources.