Enrichment of Quantitative and Technological Skills in Introductory Anatomy and Physiology Courses

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9451796 Nelson The Department of Biological Sciences proposes to improve the quality of its heavily utilized 200-level Human Anatomy and Physiology course sequence. This two-semester program is taken by as many as 600 students per annum, most of whom are destined for positions in education, science, and the allied health fields. For many of these students, this will be their only training in the structure and function of the human body. In its current configuration, the laboratory segment of this program is largely anatomical with instructional aids consisting of charts, models, and preserved dissection specimens; teaching of physiological principles in the laboratory is restricted to "demonstration level" activity. We suspect that this emphasis on anatomical study, as opposed to "hands on" experimental exercises, dominates the laboratory components of similar courses at other institutions. Thus, many students are missing a valuable opportunity to enhance their analytical and technological skills while learning physiology. Our proposal seeks to redress a perceived decline in the quantitative abilities and instrumentation literacy of our graduates by providing the means for outfitting the 200-level Anatomy and Physiology laboratories at Towson State University with low-cost, durable physiological monitoring equipment. We also propose to use this instrumentation in novel laboratory exercises in which the students themselves serve as subject and experimentor. Emphasis will be placed on "hands-on" learning of physiology and requiring the students to master quantitative skills in order to analyze the data they collect. Exposure to instrumented physiology at this level will also provide the students with a foundation in the analytical and evaluative techniques focal to their fields of inquiry and will accelerate their transition to professionals. Additionally, by instrumenting our 200-level laboratories, we will expose prospective students of our advanced physiology laboratories, slated for a transition to computerized data acquisition, to conventional instrumentation technology at the sophomore level.