Improvement in Data Collection Tools for Field Biology

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Millikin University Biology Department will use computer- interfaced field data collection equipment to expand the kinds of field problems that can be addressed by students at all levels, both biology majors, and education majors and other non-majors. Accurate, data-logging field sensors of light quality and intensity, air and soil temperature, and of dissolved oxygen and temperature at various depths of aquatic systems, will be coupled with portable and durable field microscopes, night vision glasses, and instrumentation to measure plant moisture stress and photosynthesis, for individual and group problem-solving in courses using the Lake Sara Retreat Center as a field site. Improved environmental measurement systems, plant response meters, and field observation tools will provide rapid and unambiguous answers to student-initiated questions, reinforcing investigative skills. Students can then focus on the scientific thinking involved in formulating and refining hypotheses, designing experiments, and interpreting data. This will lead to better understanding of processes and therefore better research and/or dissemination of concepts to their future students.