This project is modernizing the biology curriculum by introducing inquiry-based instructional methods into the laboratories. By purchasing scientific and computing equipment, the department is integrating computer-interfaced equipment into its biology laboratories. This process enables the department to (1) provide students with current technology by introducing inquiry-based labs that include practical experience in computational data acquisition and analysis, (2) provide students with similar laboratory experiences to those conducted at 4-year colleges and universities, (3) improve the technical literacy of students entering the workforce, and (4) provide students with opportunities to design experiments that illustrate theory. As a result of curriculum changes in general biology, anatomy and physiology, and microbiology, about 740 undergraduate students a year are able to design experiments and manipulate variables, creating an opportunity to observe the relationships between theory and practice. In addition, they are studying biology as practiced by professional biologists. This process is helping students to make the transition more successfully when they transfer to 4-year institutions or enter the workforce. *
