Laboratories, where students work in small groups, are ideally suited to enhancing students' analytical skills. Therefore, this project (1) improves the quality of data gathered by students in physiology and animal behavior laboratories, (2) increases computer competency, and (3) improves critical thinking skills by placing students into small discussion groups to decide experimental protocol for each laboratory exercise. The majority of students affected by this project are majors in biology and applied science, an interdisciplinary program that prepares students for graduate programs in allied health fields. This project funds the purchase of eight notebook computers together with inkjet printers and appropriate software so that students can collect and analyze data on physiological phenomena such as skin temperature, lung volumes, muscle contraction, heart rate/pulse, and small animal metabolism. In one senior-level class, Animal Physiology, the computers and printers can be checked out to the students for the semester to use in individually designed research projects. In animal behavior laboratories, the portability of the notebook computers facilitates data collection in the field. Because notebook computers are so easily transferred among laboratory rooms, it is expected that up to 200 students in 35 laboratories in 7 different courses may benefit from the equipment.
