Implementing Microcomputer-Based Laboratory Exercises to Improve Instruction in Biology

该项目通过在实验室引入探究性教学方法，使生物学课程现代化。通过购买科学和计算设备，该部门正在将计算机接口设备集成到其生物实验室中。这一过程使该部门能够(1)通过引入探究性实验室为学生提供当前的技术，包括计算数据采集和分析的实践经验，(2)为学生提供与四年制学院和大学类似的实验室经验，(3)提高进入劳动力市场的学生的技术素养，(4)为学生提供设计说明理论的实验的机会。由于普通生物学、解剖学和生理学以及微生物学课程的变化，每年大约有740名本科生能够设计实验和操纵变量，创造了一个观察理论与实践之间关系的机会。此外，他们还像专业生物学家一样学习生物学。这个过程可以帮助学生在转到四年制大学或进入职场时更成功地过渡。＊

This project is modernizing the biology curriculum by introducing inquiry-based instructional methods into the laboratories. By purchasing scientific and computing equipment, the department is integrating computer-interfaced equipment into its biology laboratories. This process enables the department to (1) provide students with current technology by introducing inquiry-based labs that include practical experience in computational data acquisition and analysis, (2) provide students with similar laboratory experiences to those conducted at 4-year colleges and universities, (3) improve the technical literacy of students entering the workforce, and (4) provide students with opportunities to design experiments that illustrate theory. As a result of curriculum changes in general biology, anatomy and physiology, and microbiology, about 740 undergraduate students a year are able to design experiments and manipulate variables, creating an opportunity to observe the relationships between theory and practice. In addition, they are studying biology as practiced by professional biologists. This process is helping students to make the transition more successfully when they transfer to 4-year institutions or enter the workforce. *