This project provides global positioning system (GPS) field survey stations and a geographical information systems- (GIS) capable computer laboratory that allows the Biology Department to integrate new instrumentation and a contemporary analytical method into the introductory laboratory series. Development of a GPS/GIS-based curriculum in landscape and spatial ecology and incorporating GPS and GIS is a high priority of the Biology Department and the college. Demonstrated student interest in GPS/GIS-based ecological research now exceeds the ability to deliver instruction through the summer research program. Professional interest in GIS and GPS is also very strong locally as well as in the larger context of the ecological community of scholars, where use of GPS and GIS in field ecological study is pervasive. Undergraduate biology departments that expect to provide qualified graduates to job candidate pools and graduate programs must furnish access to these tools. There are significant reasons why this education should occur in a liberal arts context rather than more technical or discipline-based academic settings. The strength of the liberal arts perspective stems from use of a critical and self-critical framework for developing knowledge. A liberal arts approach to science emphasizes the utility of hypothesis testing performed by a skilled but skeptical practitioner and evaluated by an experienced but self-critical theoretician. This liberal arts approach is at the base of the Inclusive Science Research Experience. Students learn to use quantitative information to evaluate the quality of data. The investigative activities that use GPS field stations from this project and GIS analyses performed in the new laboratory can adopt this approach. GPS data contains within it indications of quality that can be used to develop data quality standards for any project. Geostatistical procedures exist that can evaluate the quality of GIS maps and provide confidence intervals for analyses performed across themes. This project's two-step program produces students who know how to assess GPS and GIS data quality and can provide research designs that achieve high-quality results. *
