An Integrated and Investigative Approach to Undergraduate Physiology Laboratories

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This request is for funding to purchase data acquisition/analysis hardware to equip a new physiology laboratory course. This initiative is part of an overall renovation of the physiology curriculum. Currently, only one core physiology course has a laboratory component (Mammalian Physiology). We will eliminate the lab portion of that course and create a new investigative laboratory experience the Integrated physiology Laboratory (IPL), that will service all of the physiology lecture courses. This laboratory course will be based in the Student Physiology Analysis and Research Center (SPARC). The course will be comparative in nature, contrasting physiological adaptations to common problems across taxonomic and organizational levels. Model systems will include plants, vertebrates invertebrates, prokayotes and fungi. We will explore a11 levels of complexity from the cellular to the organismal. Our approach gives the students a unique opportunity to see the common problems of all living systems and their diverse ways of handling those problems. The cost effectiveness and the pedagogical desirability of this plan justify a compete renovation of our current physiology program.