RESEARCH LINK-The Development of Research-based Labs for Introductory Biology and a WWW Site to Support Nation-wide Exchange and Discussion of Experimental Data

本科生研究委员会是一个拥有近4,000名成员的全国性组织，为超过850所主要是本科院校的教职员工提供支持和网络，它将领导组织研究-LlNK-一个开发和交流以研究为基础的生物学入门实验室的国家中心。Research-Link将建立一个由本科生和教职员工组成的正式网络，允许通过WWW主页在设计实验、共享数据和解释结果方面进行合作。目前，阻碍研究型实验室引入的一个主要障碍是缺乏一个对教职员工持续开放的国家信息交换中心，该中心提供实验系统模型和经过实地测试的实验室，可以很容易地整合到一个普通生物学实验室中，让学生在3-4次实验期间像科学家一样思考和行动。Research-link将允许教员直接与实地测试实验室的作者交流，以解决问题和回答询问。该网络将包括全国各地以本科生为主的大学校园里的教员同行，以及从目前带头建立和维持具有强大研究基础的课程的干部中挑选出来的导师/顾问。一系列研讨会将选择、开发和传播一组经过实地测试的研究核心，这些研究核心将包括遗传学、细胞生物学、动植物生理学、生态学/行为学和进化论等以研究为基础的实验室的集合，教职员工可以选择这些实验室整合到一门生物学入门课程中。该项目将遵循一个压倒一切的原则，即任何标准的普通生物学实验室都应该用3-4周的时间来教授科学的本质，并向学生介绍科学的思维过程和方法，如制定和测试假设、设计和进行实验、分析和解释数据以及交流结果。

The Council on Undergraduate Research, a national organization of almost 4,000 members that provides support and networking for faculty at over 850 primarily undergraduate institutions, will provide the leadership for organizing RESEARCH-LlNK--a national center for the development and exchange of research-based labs for introductory biology. RESEARCH-LINK will establish a formal network of undergraduate students and faculty that will permit collaboration in designing experiments, sharing data, and interpreting results via a WWW HomePage. Currently, a major obstacle preventing the introduction of research-based labs is the lack of a national clearinghouse continuously accessible to faculty, that provides models of experimental systems and field-tested laboratories that can be easily incorporated into a general biology laboratory that will allow students, during 3-4 lab sessions, to think and act like scientists. RESEARCH-LINK will permit faculty to communicate directly with authors of field-tested labs to work out problems and answer inquiries. The network will include faculty peers on the campuses of primarily undergraduate institutions across the country and selected mentor/consultants from the cadre of those now taking the lead in building and sustaining curricula with a strong research-based component. A series of workshops will select, develop, and disseminate a group of field-tested RESEARCH CORES that will consist of a collection of research-based labs in genetics, cell biology, plant and animal physiology, ecology/behavior, and evolution that faculty can select for integration into an introductory biology course. The project will be guided by the overriding principle that 3-4 weeks of any standard general biology laboratory should be devoted to teaching the nature of science and introducing students to the thought processes and methods of science such as formulating and testing hypotheses, designing and conducting experiments, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating results.