Development of Investigative Interactive Laboratories for Introductory Science Courses

该项目的目标是开发一种方法， 这将吸引更多的女性学习科学课程。的 项目开发创新的补充课程， 介绍生物学和化学与一个新的气氛， 临时部分和实验室部分， 促进科学的调查性质。介绍性 课程改革包括：（1）建立一个模式， 生物学和化学的共同教育， 课程之间的大量交叉引用。(2)的 发展开放式实验室经验， 鼓励学生小组确定参数 选择的问题，并与最低限度的教师指导，以 自己设计和运行重要的实验。(3)的 开发计算机模拟， 实验室演习，这将允许更大的自由， 学生们在一个没有威胁和 更少的时间消耗方式。

The objective of this project is to develop a method of teaching that will attract more women to science courses. The project develops innovative complementary courses in introductory biology and chemistry with a new atmosphere in the expository portion and with a laboratory component designed to promote the investigative nature of science. The introductory course changes include: (1) The establishment of a mode of education common to both biology and chemistry, allowing considerable cross-referencing between the courses. (2) The development of open-ended laboratory experiences which will encourage small groups of students to determine the parameters of selected questions and, with minimal faculty direction, to design and run significant experiments themselves. (3) The development of computer simulations that complement the wet laboratory exercises which will allow greater freedom of preliminary exploration by students in a non-threatening and less time-consuming way.