PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #51: Education: Undergraduate I.
Thursday, August 8. Presentation from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC
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Thermal Biology: An inquiry lab exercise for first-year biology students.
LANZA, JANET*,1, 1 University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
ABSTRACT- "Inquiry" is a popular buzzword in biology laboratory manuals. But what is inquiry? Inquiry should be much more than simply doing procedures designed by the lab book author. We should provide students with opportunities to develop their own investigations. For such labs, however, students need direction — they must be provided with focused opportunity to choose among a variety of manipulated (independent) variables and a variety of measured (dependent) variables. For example, a first-year lab at UALR allows students to test the effect of morphological traits or behaviors on the thermal relations of inanimate models of animals. With simple materials, different groups of four students each can ask a wide range of interesting biological questions. Student response to this experiment is enthusiastic. Methods, needed supplies, grading rubrics, sample projects, and student responses will be presented.
KEY WORDS: inquiry, laboratory, education