Interactive Multimedia Courses on the Web: Teaching Innovations in Biology and Chemistry

Gabriele Wienhausen
Professor and Vice Chair for Education
Division of Biology
University of California, San Diego
gwienhausen@ucsd.edu

Why use technology?
When computer technology really got interesting, with desktop systems and software that allowed you to create animations and sophisticated graphics, my colleague, Barbara Sawrey, and I decided we could make a difference and change some of the problem areas

Multimedia Interactive Learning Laboratory Organic chemistry screen shot Introductory chemistry screen shot Chemistry Program Biology Program Howard Hughes Medical Institute

we saw in science education. Preparation is one of these problem areas: going into the lab and being confronted with equipment that you've never seen before. Students see pictures and read descriptions about using an Erlenmeyer flask and Pasteur pipettes or a spectral photometer, but that's not enough to eliminate the shyness when they first try to use them....We observed how lab time is spent, and we found that 50 percent or more of lab is spent with housekeeping tasks...We decided to create an interactive laboratory manual--first on a CD-ROM and then on the Web, after doing the CD proved too time-intensive--that gives students a chance to work with the equipment on the screen and do the experiment before class...In class, then, students can actually think about the experiment--why they are doing it, why they are using certain equipment--and question whether the data they gather makes sense.... If you have any questions about our project, you can contact me at: gwienhausen@ucsd.edu