Moveable Computer Workstations Designed to Facilitate the Use of STELLA II in the Biology Laboratory

据报道，美国的科学素养正在下降到第二次世界大战前的水平。无论是在课堂内外，缺乏批判性思维技能导致公众对科学研究的理解能力越来越感到沮丧，无论是非科学家还是科学家。为了应对这一趋势，该部门正在提供本科生物实验室的经验，帮助学生，特别是那些在小学教育，为终身致力于生物学自我教育。 不幸的是，学生往往缺乏自信，抑制他们利用自己的真实世界的经验作为分析和解释实验结果的基础的能力。该项目旨在培养学生的生活技能，开发熟悉因果情况的计算机化模型，然后让这些学生运用他们的技能，利用本科实验室获得的结果建立生物系统的模拟模型。然而，我们的生物实验室缺乏计算机设备，辅助设备和软件，导致学生使用计算机的机会不足。为了解决这个问题，该部门正在获得必要的设备，以实施一个为期一个学期的，动手实验室单位，研究淡水水生生态系统。观测记录采用传统方法和更新的方法，如录像数字化。学生根据他们的观察建立简单的STELLA II模型。现场研究和实验室演习的结果，然后用来运行他们的模型模拟。通过这种方式，小学教育的学生开发各种计算机技能，刺激使用计算机作为一种积极的学习工具，同时传达生物系统的动态性质。 STELLA II模型可以由校园内和普渡大学/西拉斐特的教育和科学教师进行评估。实验室练习和模型可通过万维网、因特网电子邮件和有关会议报告（如AACE和EDUCOM）传播给以STELLA为基础的各组织。

Science literacy in the United States has been reported to be declining to a pre-World-War II level. Both in and out of the classroom, a lack of critical thinking skills contributes to a growing sense of frustration regarding the public's ability to understand scientific research, among nonscientists and scientists alike. To counter this trend, the department is offering an undergraduate biology laboratory experience that helps prepare students, especially those in Elementary Education, for a lifelong commitment to self-education in biology. Unfortunately, students often lack a sense of self-confidence, inhibiting their ability to utilize their real-world experiences as a basis for analyzing and interpreting experimental results. The project aims to build on students' life skills to develop computerized models of familiar cause-and-effect situations and then to have these students apply their skills to build simulation models of biological systems using results obtained in the undergraduate laboratory. However, a shortage of computer equipment, accessory equipment, and software in our biology laboratories has resulted in inadequate student access and limited computer use. To solve the problem, the department is obtaining the necessary equipment to implement a semester-long, hands-on laboratory unit to study a freshwater aquatic ecosystem. Observations are recorded by traditional methods and by newer ones, such as digitization of video recordings. Students build simple STELLA II models based on their observations. The results of field studies and laboratory exercises are then used to run simulations of their models. In this way, Elementary Education students develop a variety of computer skills that stimulate the use of the computer as an active learning tool, while conveying the dynamic nature of biosystems. The STELLA II models can be evaluated by education and science faculty on-campus and at Purdue University/West Lafayette. The laboratory exercises and models may be disseminated to various STELLA-based organizations over the World Wide Web, by Internet e-mail, and in related conference reports such as AACE and EDUCOM.