In the laboratory/classroom in use here, the students (pre- service and in-service teachers) have before them the entire course content from the first day of class. In hypertext form guided by concept maps, the student are able to freely navigate through the course material and use the aids there to do numerical calculations, examine illustrations and simulations, and of course find discussion of the relevant concepts. The HyperCard stacks on a Macintosh computer are projected on a screen to form the basis for lecture and discussion in the class, enabling the student to have the same illustrations and calculations in front of them. With two students to a machine, class members choose to follow along or do independent calculations or explorations, knowing they are able to merge back with the track of the lecturer at any time. Laboratory exercises are integrated as a part of almost every session, and the versatile laboratory interface plus spreadsheet and graphics software allow the students to analyze and present data in an atmosphere typical of modern research facilities. The HyperCard knowledge base is accessible to the student at any point during the laboratory, containing not only detailed information about lab equipment and procedure, but also links to the classroom material for review of concepts. This project has equipped the multimedia laboratory classroom needed to implement this instructional strategy on a pilot basis with this target group and to lay the base for expanding this approach to other undergraduate courses.
