Software and Thinkware: Generating Analytical Skills in Biology Laboratories Through Computer-Assisted Data Acquisition and Small Group Interactions

学生以小组形式工作的实验室非常适合提高学生的分析能力。因此，这个项目(1)提高了生理学和动物行为学实验室学生收集的数据的质量，(2)提高了计算机能力，(3)通过将学生分成小组讨论来决定每个实验室练习的实验方案，从而提高了批判性思维能力。受该项目影响的大多数学生是生物学和应用科学专业的学生，这是一个跨学科的项目，为学生在相关卫生领域的研究生课程做准备。该项目出资购买了8台笔记本电脑、喷墨打印机和适当的软件，以便学生可以收集和分析有关生理现象的数据，如皮肤温度、肺容量、肌肉收缩、心率/脉搏和小动物新陈代谢。在一门高级课程--动物生理学--中，计算机和打印机可以借给学生，供他们在学期中用于个人设计的研究项目。在动物行为实验室，笔记本电脑的便携性方便了野外数据收集。由于笔记本电脑很容易在实验室之间转移，预计7门不同课程的35个实验室的200名学生可能会从这种设备中受益。

Laboratories, where students work in small groups, are ideally suited to enhancing students' analytical skills. Therefore, this project (1) improves the quality of data gathered by students in physiology and animal behavior laboratories, (2) increases computer competency, and (3) improves critical thinking skills by placing students into small discussion groups to decide experimental protocol for each laboratory exercise. The majority of students affected by this project are majors in biology and applied science, an interdisciplinary program that prepares students for graduate programs in allied health fields. This project funds the purchase of eight notebook computers together with inkjet printers and appropriate software so that students can collect and analyze data on physiological phenomena such as skin temperature, lung volumes, muscle contraction, heart rate/pulse, and small animal metabolism. In one senior-level class, Animal Physiology, the computers and printers can be checked out to the students for the semester to use in individually designed research projects. In animal behavior laboratories, the portability of the notebook computers facilitates data collection in the field. Because notebook computers are so easily transferred among laboratory rooms, it is expected that up to 200 students in 35 laboratories in 7 different courses may benefit from the equipment.