Integrating Technology into Introductory Biology Laboratories

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Biological Sciences (61)Muhlenberg College's Biology Department is committed to having students undertake long term, independent research projects, complete comprehensive data analysis and data presentation, and engage in intensive collaborative inquiry and investigative type exercises. Muhlenberg's 1998 ILI-NSF grant ensured that these objectives were accomplished in the upper-level research-based courses through the use of computer-based technology. The current project is addressing the introductory biology sequence, and is an adaptation of the learnings provided by Project Kaleidoscope's "What Works," and similar efforts at Kutztown University (DUE 9952337). Specifically, the project is implementing models for teaching plant and animal structure/function and cell/molecular biology laboratories while adapting computer technology to facilitate scientific inquiry. Our central goal is to expand the use of computer technology and the culture of science to students enrolled in the introductory biology laboratories. These courses are introducing the students to all elements of scientific inquiry through investigative exercises and doing independent research. The students are using computers, software, and peripherals to 1) record data from their short-term investigative and long-term independent experiments, 2) doing statistics and graphing, 3) placing data on the web and using web-based technology to access molecular databases, and 4) presenting their long-term projects in the format of a poster and/or oral presentation. Thus, the computer-based infrastructure is allowing the students to make even more sophisticated connections within and outside the laboratory.