An Undergraduate Laboratory Program for Spatial Ecology

该项目提供全球定位系统（GPS）现场调查站和地理信息系统（GIS）计算机实验室，使生物系能够将新的仪器和现代分析方法集成到介绍性实验室系列中。开发基于GPS/GIS的景观和空间生态学课程，并将GPS和GIS结合起来是生物系和学院的优先事项。学生对基于GPS/ gis的生态研究的兴趣现在超过了通过夏季研究项目提供指导的能力。对地理信息系统和全球定位系统的专业兴趣也非常浓厚，在当地以及更大的生态学者群体背景下，GPS和地理信息系统在野外生态研究中的应用非常普遍。本科生物系希望为工作候选人库和研究生项目提供合格的毕业生，必须提供这些工具。为什么这种教育应该发生在文科背景下，而不是更多的技术或学科为基础的学术环境中，这是有重要原因的。文科视角的优势源于对发展知识的批判和自我批判框架的使用。文科方法强调假设检验的效用，由熟练但持怀疑态度的实践者执行，并由经验丰富但自我批判的理论家进行评估。这种文科方法是包容性科学研究经验的基础。学生学习使用定量信息来评估数据的质量。使用本项目的GPS野外站和在新实验室进行的GIS分析的调查活动可以采用这种方法。GPS数据包含质量指标，可用于为任何项目制定数据质量标准。现有的地质统计程序可以评估地理信息系统地图的质量，并为跨主题的分析提供置信区间。该项目分为两步，培养知道如何评估GPS和GIS数据质量的学生，并能提供获得高质量结果的研究设计。＊

This project provides global positioning system (GPS) field survey stations and a geographical information systems- (GIS) capable computer laboratory that allows the Biology Department to integrate new instrumentation and a contemporary analytical method into the introductory laboratory series. Development of a GPS/GIS-based curriculum in landscape and spatial ecology and incorporating GPS and GIS is a high priority of the Biology Department and the college. Demonstrated student interest in GPS/GIS-based ecological research now exceeds the ability to deliver instruction through the summer research program. Professional interest in GIS and GPS is also very strong locally as well as in the larger context of the ecological community of scholars, where use of GPS and GIS in field ecological study is pervasive. Undergraduate biology departments that expect to provide qualified graduates to job candidate pools and graduate programs must furnish access to these tools. There are significant reasons why this education should occur in a liberal arts context rather than more technical or discipline-based academic settings. The strength of the liberal arts perspective stems from use of a critical and self-critical framework for developing knowledge. A liberal arts approach to science emphasizes the utility of hypothesis testing performed by a skilled but skeptical practitioner and evaluated by an experienced but self-critical theoretician. This liberal arts approach is at the base of the Inclusive Science Research Experience. Students learn to use quantitative information to evaluate the quality of data. The investigative activities that use GPS field stations from this project and GIS analyses performed in the new laboratory can adopt this approach. GPS data contains within it indications of quality that can be used to develop data quality standards for any project. Geostatistical procedures exist that can evaluate the quality of GIS maps and provide confidence intervals for analyses performed across themes. This project's two-step program produces students who know how to assess GPS and GIS data quality and can provide research designs that achieve high-quality results. *