Video Instrumentation for Undergraduate Biology Laboratories

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The aim of the project is to equip teaching laboratories with video-imaging and recording systems for use in large-enrollment Introductory Biology courses and an upper-division Parasitology course. This system will allow students to make class presentations by projecting microscopic specimens (prepared slide and wet mount) as well as larger scale experimental set ups and dissections. Use of this video instrumentation is intended to: (1) increase the participation of visually and/or motor impaired students by allowing them to be mainstreamed rather than be segregated from their classmates; (2) enhance class presentations by students in cooperative learning groups; (3) extend the instructional capability of student microscopes, and (4) produce videotapes and videoexams. The goal is to embrace diversity in the classroom by helping disabled students overcome the physical barriers to hands-on learning in the lab and by appealing to the variety of students' learning styles including those who rely mainly on visual stimulation for information processing. The implementation of cooperative learning methods is expected to enhance student learning by requiring students to take responsibility not only for their own learning, but for their group members' learning as well.