There were several changes in the laboratory teaching program in the Biological Sciences at Florida International University (FIU) between 1993-1994. The underlying goal was the improvement of the amount of material learned and retained by the student, but these changes showed little positive improvement. It was deemed necessary for FIU to…

Laboratory exercises using "Drosophila" crosses are an effective pedagogical method to complement traditional lecture and textbook presentations of genetics. Undergraduate thesis research is another common setting for using "Drosophila." A significant barrier to using "Drosophila" for undergraduate teaching or research is the time and skill…

This is the final report of the evaluation of Project CAUSE, a three year project to improve the laboratory portions of undergraduate physics courses at North Texas State University. The report is divided into six sections. Included in the overview are goals and purposes, the instructional format, and the evaluation plan. Demographic profiles…

Described are the Howard Hughes Medical Institute programs for providing funds to assist science education. One program is designed to assist private liberal arts colleges that are not affiliated with a graduate school. Other programs have been established to provide support for postdoctoral research and laboratories. (RH)

Presents the results of a survey on the status of inorganic laboratory courses. Indicates that they are in a continuing period of evolution and all stages of the evolution are represented in schools across the country. (Author/JN)

A dissertation study is described which employed action research methods and was conducted over four semesters of practice in a large first year undergraduate physics laboratory making extensive use of microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) technology. Three cycles of action research are recounted, along with the resultant changes in goals,…

This paper introduces the biology laboratory as a learning project. Biology laboratories provide unique learning opportunities to students as traditional achievement outcome measures, and play an important role in the development of process skills, manual skills, and attitudes. However, there is insufficient data on undergraduate students majoring…

The results of testing a theoretical model for laboratory psychomotor skill development are described. Research implications for fine motor learning in the chemistry laboratory are given. (Author/SA)

In 2 undergraduate anatomy courses involving a total of 473 prenursing and allied-health professions students, performances of students assigned to an interactive videodisc computer lab did not differ significantly from those of students in the traditional cadaver demonstration lab. (Author/DB)

Addresses the difficulty that teaching assistants and new faculty members may experience in finding a convenient outline of the task of preparing an experiment for undergraduates. Explains all phases of developing a laboratory exercise and includes a list of things to consider for each phase. (DDR)

Research suggests that undergraduate students learn more from lab experiences that involve longer-term projects. We have developed a one-semester laboratory sequence aimed at sophomore-level undergraduates. In designing this curriculum, we focused on several educational objectives: 1) giving students a feel for the scientific research process, 2)…

Describes a technique for downloading digital images of a fresh human cadaver from a commercially available CD-ROM and from the Internet. The images can be annotated to illustrate specific anatomic features and display groups of images in a format that is easy to use during lectures and accessible to undergraduate students for study during and…

At the 102nd annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in Salt Lake City, Utah, members of the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching and faculty from around the world gathered to discuss educational genomics. The focus of the gathering was a series of presentations by faculty who have successfully incorporated genomics and…

Membrane transport is a fundamental concept that undergraduate students of cell biology understand better with laboratory experience. Formal teaching exercises commonly used to illustrate this concept are unbiological, qualitative, or intricate and time consuming to prepare. We have developed an exercise that uses uptake of radiolabeled nutrient…

At many colleges and universities undergraduates pursuing nonscience majors complete introductory science courses which are structured to provide a broad overview of the field. Commonly such courses include large lecture sections which meet twice a week, and small lab sections that are held once a week. A survey was developed to evaluate the…