The Integration of Computer-Linked Data Acquisition and Analysis Systems into Undergraduate Cell Biology and Physiology Laboratories

在细胞生物学和生理学等以实验为基础的学科教学中，一个主要问题是，学生们在指定的实验室时间里大部分时间都在做实验，几乎没有时间通过独立工作来了解科学的过程。这个项目通过引入计算机连接的数据采集和分析系统来解决这个问题，这些系统将在一些新的实验开始时和高级细胞生物学课程和植物生理学课程中使用。新的实验重点是研究光合作用和呼吸作用中的结构/功能关系。这些新系统使学生能够更有效地收集和分析数据，从而允许学生有时间制定和测试他们自己的假设，作为实验室体验的正常部分。还鼓励学生参与独立的研究项目。具体地说，两个实验室分别配备了六个计算机工作站。在最初的实验室中，接口将计算机与传感器连接起来，这些传感器旨在测量空气中的pH值、压力和氧气水平，以便在生物水平上研究光合作用和呼吸作用。在先进的实验室中，计算机控制的带有荧光探针和高强度光源的液相氧电极系统为研究叶绿体和线粒体功能提供了一种新的方法。这些系统的计算机增强的数据收集能力使实验可以在教学实验室进行，而这些实验是不可能用旧方法完成的。这些方法应该会引起致力于教授科学方法以及光合作用和呼吸作用中结构/功能关系的新方法的教育者的兴趣。该项目的成果可以通过在美国植物生理学家协会的教学部分发表演讲和出版材料来传播，包括在教育期刊上发表的文章和一本细胞生物学实验室手册。

A major problem in teaching experimentally based disciplines such as cell biology and physiology is that the students spend most of the assigned laboratory period working on `cookbook` experiments, with little time left to learn about the process of science through independent work. This project addresses the problem by introducing computer-linked data acquisition and analyses systems to be used in a number of new experiments in the beginning and the advanced cell biology courses and the plant physiology course. The new experiments focus on studying structure/function relationships in photosynthesis and respiration. These new systems empower students to gather and analyze data more efficiently, thus allowing students the time to formulate and test their own hypotheses as a normal part of the laboratory experience. Students are also encouraged to undertake independent research projects. Specifically, two laboratories are being equipped with six computer stations each. In the beginning labs, interfaces link computers to sensors designed to measure pH, pressure, and oxygen levels in the air for the study of photosynthesis and respiration at the organismal level. In the advanced labs, computer-controlled liquid phase oxygen electrode systems with attached fluorescence probes and high-intensity light sources allow for a novel approach to the study of chloroplast and mitochondrial function. The computer-enhanced data gathering capability of these systems permits experiments to be done in a teaching laboratory that would have been impossible to accomplish with older methods. These methods should be of interest to educators committed to new approaches of teaching about the scientific method and about structure/function relationships in photosynthesis and respiration. The results of this project can be disseminated through presentations in the teaching section of the American Society of Plant Physiologists and through publication of materials, including articles in educational journals and a cell biology laboratory manual.