Through this project, the university is creating a Digital Technology Network (DTN), which is a hands-on laboratory facility for undergraduate biology majors and nonscientists, in lower- and upper-level courses. The backbone of the DTN is a local area computer network adapted to the needs of cmurses in each curricular area. Instead of a traditional experience in which students are passive recipients of faculty knowledge and expertise, the DTN promotes the development of experienced practitioners of science. In introductory courses, the DTN is used in group problem-solving activities that enhance computer literacy and analytical skills while promoting critical thinking, collaborative interaction, and understanding of biological concepts. The DTN is becoming part of the normal student laboratory routine. Lecture and laboratory are coordinated in an iterative framework designed to make progressively greater demands on incipient skills. From simple beginning exercises with simulation and physiology, students progress to complex, open-ended exercises. In upper-division courses, students construct and manipulate analytical spreadsheets and population projection matrices. They collect and analyze gene sequences in Internet databases. They plan and execute physiology experiments that draw on their accumulated skills in computerized data collection and analysis, generation of hypotheses and experimental designs, collaboration with colleagues in the lab and on the Internet.
