The objective of this project is to develop a method of teaching that will attract more women to science courses. The project develops innovative complementary courses in introductory biology and chemistry with a new atmosphere in the expository portion and with a laboratory component designed to promote the investigative nature of science. The introductory course changes include: (1) The establishment of a mode of education common to both biology and chemistry, allowing considerable cross-referencing between the courses. (2) The development of open-ended laboratory experiences which will encourage small groups of students to determine the parameters of selected questions and, with minimal faculty direction, to design and run significant experiments themselves. (3) The development of computer simulations that complement the wet laboratory exercises which will allow greater freedom of preliminary exploration by students in a non-threatening and less time-consuming way.
