This award provides funds for the development of a multi-media simulation of field ecology experiments to enhance the scientific process skills of students in undergraduate biology courses. To accomplish the simulation, a computer controlling a video disk will provide integrated real and animated images in combination with appropriate sound. The environment chosen for the simulation would be otherwise inaccessible to most undergraduate students because of danger and because of significant time and financial demands. The development should be of particular use in providing field experience to physically handicapped students. In the simulation, the student designs experiments to test hypotheses, collects data from images stored on the video disk, and then analyses and interprets the data in terms of the original hypotheses.
