The Integration of Computer-Linked Data Acquisition and Analysis Systems into Undergraduate Cell Biology and Physiology Laboratories

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A major problem in teaching experimentally based disciplines such as cell biology and physiology is that the students spend most of the assigned laboratory period working on `cookbook` experiments, with little time left to learn about the process of science through independent work. This project addresses the problem by introducing computer-linked data acquisition and analyses systems to be used in a number of new experiments in the beginning and the advanced cell biology courses and the plant physiology course. The new experiments focus on studying structure/function relationships in photosynthesis and respiration. These new systems empower students to gather and analyze data more efficiently, thus allowing students the time to formulate and test their own hypotheses as a normal part of the laboratory experience. Students are also encouraged to undertake independent research projects. Specifically, two laboratories are being equipped with six computer stations each. In the beginning labs, interfaces link computers to sensors designed to measure pH, pressure, and oxygen levels in the air for the study of photosynthesis and respiration at the organismal level. In the advanced labs, computer-controlled liquid phase oxygen electrode systems with attached fluorescence probes and high-intensity light sources allow for a novel approach to the study of chloroplast and mitochondrial function. The computer-enhanced data gathering capability of these systems permits experiments to be done in a teaching laboratory that would have been impossible to accomplish with older methods. These methods should be of interest to educators committed to new approaches of teaching about the scientific method and about structure/function relationships in photosynthesis and respiration. The results of this project can be disseminated through presentations in the teaching section of the American Society of Plant Physiologists and through publication of materials, including articles in educational journals and a cell biology laboratory manual.