Something else you might check out is some of the exciting software
being developed on the WWW. While Internet connections may not
be available in a normal 100-lab setting, one could either push
to get them or arrange to meet in a campus computer-lab with
connections.
I'm particularly thinking of The Virtual Flylab
http://vflylab.calstatela.edu/
as an example of this. In a 100-level course, there
isn't time to do real genetic crosses. But with a simulated
cross, each student/team could go through a number of crosses
during a lab session.
One particularly nice aspect of the WWW is that the student can
"take it home" without any legal repercussions. If a student
doesn't finish in lab, or just finds the program fun or interesting,
they can use the same software from any Internet-capable
system. The exercise might even be made into a combination
lab+homework, with the students running a couple of simulations
with the teaching assistant around and then doing the rest on
their own.
Keith Robison
Harvard University
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology
Department of Genetics / HHMI
robison at mito.harvard.edu
