- SUBJECT: Teaching labs without lab space
- DATE: 1/97
-
- Hi biolabbers,
- Because of building renovations, we are going to be *very* short of
- lab space next year - and possibly beyond. The biggest problem is what
to
- do with our two-quarter non-major sequence -- especially since it is
those
- labs that are being displaced. We run an open-lab system for about
650
- students per course per quarter on a commuter campus, and we run the
labs
- with a lot of part-time help, so replacing lab with a lot of field
trips is
- not an option.
- A possible solution may be to substitute some of the in-lab
- exercises with "take-home" labs, rotating students in such
a way that they
- are only "in lab" every other week. Do you have any suggestions
for labs
- that can be done independently away from campus? We can supply a limited
- amount of equipment -- perhaps thermometers, pH paper, and the like.
Also,
- if we do institute take-home labs, do you have any suggestions for
making
- sure it was the student who did it?
- Labs need not be biological in nature -- the sequence integrates all
- the sciences to some degree.
- Many thanks for all the help!
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Gail Schiffer
- Department of Biological and Physical Sciences
- Kennesaw State University
- 1000 Chastain Road
- Kennesaw, GA 30144
-
-
- Gail,
-
- Isn't it wonderful? You are supposed to do exciting, student
- retaining, interactive, investigative labs and they take away your
space.
- I hope that you have a future improvement to ease the current pain.
A
- couple of ideas off of the top of my head that may help...
-
- We do a "take home" campus environmental survey the first
week of
- classes. (It allows the late adds to make up the work). We give a map
of
- campus and it asks questions like
-
- _find a natural area. find an unnatural or disturbed area.
-
- -estimate the number of species
-
- - identify environmental problems
- - identify individuals who can respond to environmental problems.
-
- It asks the students to come up with action plans. We follow it
- with an in class discussion. You could do a written exercise.
-
- We also do an "authentic" writing exercise where they research
a problem,
- form an opinion and write a letter to the appropriate official. (We
- actually provide a huge folder of conflicting, some credible, some
- ridiculous, articles and they have to generate a fact sheet first.)
-
- You could do the mark and recapture with beans by giving them a baggie
full
- of beans to take home ---- give them points for returning all the beans,
- maybe have different coded bags so that they need to come close to
the real
- population for their bag. That way they can't steal data from 'bob'.
-
- What about making a pH indicator (cabbage, roses) to take home in a
small
- vial to test the pH of water or household products?
-
- Double-sided tape air quality detectors?
-
- Species surveys?
-
- Independent trip to local zoo or museum with a 'scavenger hunt' question
- list. I remember someone at ABLE --Purdue talking about this sort of
- thing. Perhaps someone else remembers the details.
-
- Good luck. --cmw
-
- Charlene M. Waggoner, Ph.D.
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Bowling Green, State University
- Bowling Green, OH 43403
- cwaggon@bgnet.bgsu.edu
-
-
- WCB Publishers is soon going to release VIRTUAL BIOLOGY LABORATORY,
a CD-ROM
- package with all sorts of interesting lab-oriented activities. I reviewed
- several of the modules. For instance, the genetics module allows the
student
- to perform virtual electrophoresis to trace inheritance patterns in
proteins.
- It also has a virtual chromatography exercise and a crossing exercise.
-
- The respiration module involve setting up a respiromter study involving
- scorpions and squirrels to look at the effects of temperature and other
- enironmental factors.
-
- Some of the modules are ideal for non-majors, some may be too difficult
- without an instructor or TA present.
-
- Connie Haakinson is the developmental editor and probably could let
you
- preview the package. Her # is 319 589-2841
-
- Brent DeMars
- Lakeland Community College
-
-
- I am in the process of preparing a non-lab lab manual for a course
which
- involves several different types of labs. I have about 6 done already
for
- publication. Anyone interested?
-
- Dr. A.I. Morrison-Shetlar
- Biology Department
- Georgia Southern University
- Statesboro GA 30460
- (912) 681 0309
-
-
-
- Gail,
-
- Another "bean" lab involves a test of the three assumptions
of Darwin's
- theory. It's actually a rather nice lab to accompany some of the recent
- discusion of evolution, i.e., we can test the theory by testing the
- assumptions. In this lab, they examine model populations (colored beans)
- under different conditions and determine whether they evolve over time.
- Students examine populations of 100 beans. Bean color is the trait
of
- interest. They assume that the beans are asexual, and that all beans
- produce the same number of offspring if they survive and reproduce.
They
- should imagine a situation in which there are limited breeding
- opportunities, such that only a set number of beans can reproduce in
each
- generation. Populations are set up to operate with differing rules
that
- represent the presence or absence of various basic assumptions of Darwin's
- theory. They can run the populations for X number of generations and
- record the composition of the population at the end of that time, comparing
- it to the original population composition. You can have them do tests
of
- the importance of variation, heritability, and natural selection or
- combinations of these. We have run a lab like this for a couple of
years,
- and have had very good results. We have them plot the percentage of
white
- or black beans over time and compare the observed vs the expected ratios
by
- chi square.
-
- Liane Cochran-Stafira
- Dept. of Ecology and Evolution
- The University of Chicago
- 1101 East 57th Street
- Chicago, Illinois 60637-5415
- phone: 773-702-1930
- fax: 773-702-9740
- e-mail: lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu
-
-
- A few non-lab labs that we have done:
-
- 1. Sexual selection. Students develop hypotheses about human mate
- preferences, based on sexual selection theory and their own experiences,
then
- test them by analysis of singles ads from the local paper. D.M. Buss,
a
- sociologist, has some interesting publications that can serve as background
- reading.
-
- 2. Students can take home a fast plant in a cup of soil, and take a
- descriptive approach to its lifecyle, growth and development. Or, they
can
- compare the growth of groups of plants under ecperimental conditions
which
- they set up and maintain. Live plants must be presented at the end
of the
- project to validate that they actually did it.
-
- 3. Here's one that I haven't tried, but which I think might work, if
enough
- students have VCR access. Make a videotape of animal behavioral interactions
- (for instance, the birds at a feeder), and ask students to develop
and test
- hypotheses about the "winners" of the interactions. There
are no copyright
- problems in making multiples of your own tape, I trust. (We have had
- students look at the squirrels on campus as "live-action"
labs of this sort,
- and this doesn't require much in the way of facilities or equipment,
either.)
-
- David Hicks djhicks@manchester.edu
- Biology, Manchester College
-
-
- Hi, labbers:
-
- I'd suggest looking at some of the "doing science at home"
books that
- are available. I use "biology in the kitchen" explanations
- throughout my course -- students could pretty easily test ideas about
- protein denaturation, solubility, even diffusion (food coloring in
- jello would, I think, work pretty well).
-
- One source of some pretty neat ideas (I haven't tried them yet, but
- am planning to before much longer) is "Bottle Biology" (Kendall-Hunt;
ISBN 0-8403-8601-X).
- It has all kinds of cool stuff students can do with soda bottles and
- those little plastic film canisters.
-
- Good luck!
- Kerry
-
- **********************
- Kerry S. Kilburn, Ph.D.
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Old Dominion University
- Norfolk, VA 23529
- (757)683-5680 FAX 683-5283
-
-
- Here's another possible source for non-lab labs. Try looking at
- http://nyelabs.kcts.org/ This is the web site for Bill Nye the Science
Guy.
- If you haven't heard of Bill, he is a former Boeing engineer out of
Seattle,
- who does stand up comedy and science programs for older kids (quite
an icon
- in the Pacific Northwest). His shows are mainly on public TV. Although
his
- target audience is kids, I have found that some of his stuff can also
apply
- to non-major college students. He does interesting, simple experiments
with
- stuff that usually is found around the house. Many of them are posted
on
- his web site. Maybe something there will be of use to folks.
- Lynn Larsen
- Department of Biology
- Portland Community College
- PO Box 19000
- Portland, OR 97280-0990
- (503) 977-4039
- llarsen@pcc.edu
- http://www.pcc.edu/academ/sylsci/llarsen2.htm
-
-
- Last Summer while at Northern Arizona University, I assisted NAU faculty,
- staff and several high school teachers and students in developing a
- NSF-sponsored "context-based" permanent research site biology
program.
- Students chose questions about aquatic biology and terrestrial biomes
- (Ponderosa pine transition zone). Their projects included an overnight
- camp-out to sample biorythmic migrations of invertebrates and "close
- enconters" with canyon wildlife. We used "constructivist"
theory, based on
- work by Brooks & Brooks (1993) The Case for Constructivist Classrooms.
You
- may wish to contact Dr. Diane Ebert-May or Dr. Gary Tucker, Northern
Arizona
- University at Flagstaff, AZ for more information. The students had
several
- "site" visits for observation and development of research
questions.
- Ultimately, the high school students learned to analyze their data
and
- present their findings as posters and multimedia in large-lecture forums.
I
- used a similar format in my Intro to nonmajors Biology last semester.
The
- students found their own research problems. We assisted by teaching
students
- the skills they needed and were facilitatiors, not cookbook writers.
Good
- Luck!
- Sharron Clark, Golden West College, Huntington Beach, CA
-
-
- Gail: How about some sensory system labs students can do at home? Taste,
- temperature, and olfactory can be examined using things they have at
home.
- Calipers could be signed out if you want to do touch receptor distribution.
- Blind spot, near point determination and pupil constriction could be
done at
- home. Good luck!
-
- Emily Rock
-
-
- On Thu, 23 Jan 1997, Emily A. Rock wrote:
-
- > Gail: How about some sensory system labs students can do at home?
Taste,
- > temperature, and olfactory can be examined using things they have
at home.
- > Calipers could be signed out if you want to do touch receptor
distribution.
-
- Touch receptor stuff can be done with a paper clip first straightened
- ,then bent into a U shape. Adjust the distance between the ends of
the U
- and measure the distance with a metric ruler. It works GREAT!
-