Hypothesis Grounded Laboratories in Physiology and Neurobiology

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Laboratory experiences have been to enhance student participation in the scientific process at the introductory and thesis levels. Introductory courses emphasize small group discussions, self-directed experimental design, quantitative analysis, and scientific writing. This project is creatine a bridge to thesis -level research using student designed research projects in intermediate- and upper-level courses. Students are being taught to apply and develop the skills they learned in introductory classes towards hypothesis formulation and recognition of the frame of reference they use in testing a hypothesis. In collaborative laboratory projects of 3 weeks, in intermediate-level courses and in coordinated semester long research and seminar projects, students are focusing on making distinctions between "what" questions (descriptive science), "how" questions (mechanistic science that focuses on proximate causation). and "why" questions (applied or design science that focuses on ultimate causation). They are addressing hypotheses at several levels of biological organization and using multiple methods of data analysis. This approach provides the curriculum with an effective transition from introductory-level investigates to upper-level thesis project. This goal is being achieved by coordinating laboratory experiences in sophomore- junior- and senior-level courses in neurobiology, animal physiology, physiology of locomotion, and drug actions in the nervous system, as well as in research and seminar courses in animal physiology and neurobiology.