Teaching Undergraduates the Dynamics of Biology through Computer Assisted Image Analysis

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For various reasons, the dynamic nature of living organisms and processes is not well understood by undergraduate college students in biology. That change and movement are the normal, vital character of living things is not easily taught using static images in books, slides, preserved specimens, and photographs. The development of computers that can capture and digitize images presents an opportunity to teach the dynamic aspects of biology in a fundamentally new way. Through this project, the university creates 10 microscope/Macintosh computer-based image analysis workstations that make it possible for students to capture and analyze images of biological dynamics in courses in the Department of Biology. The workstations are becoming important central tools in the laboratory work of courses in plant development, animal development, experimental protozoology, and general microbiology. These instruments enable students independently to investigate problems of plant and animal development as well as movement of micro-organisms in response to various stimuli. Students are able to visualize and comprehend biological phenomena in new ways. The image analysis equipment allows them to ask significant biological questions based on observations and to learn how to use quantitative approaches to answer questions and problems. The impact of this new capability is expected to extend beyond these courses to other realms of the curriculum as videos and computer files conveying dynamic, three-dimensional and developmental representations of living processes are created and used in teaching.