This project is improving undergraduate education in science and mathematics through the integration of scientific content and statistics in a hands-on laboratory environment centering on real-world problems. With emphasis on increasing the number of women and minorities in science and mathematics, the project is providing a setting in which students are studying in cooperative learning teams taught by faculty from various scientific fields. The laboratory is designed around workstations, each serving four students. Each workstation houses two major pieces of equipment a standard microscope and a personal computer with built-in CD ROM drives with probes to conduct online experiments in the sciences. A fluorescent microscope and a gas chromatography mass spectrometer is being used by all students. The equipment is permitting guided investigations of a real-world problem: the possible causes of lung cancer in Jacksonville, which have resulted in the city having the highest incidence of lung cancer of any U.S. city. The new scientific equipment is permitting analyses of air and water samples for possible contaminants. Computers are allowing for the manipulation of data and access to the Internet and CD ROMs are permitting simulated experiments. The laboratory is meeting requirements for laboratory experience for students enrolled in special sections of introductory courses in biology, chemistry, physics, and statistics. *
