Acquiring and Analyzing Enzyme Kinetics Data Using Apple Microcomputers

Abstract

The evolutionarv process, which has placed microcomputers in the science classrooms and laboratories of secondary schools, is elaborate enough to mystify even Charles Darwin. From their early appearances as administrative tools, computers soon migrated down the hallways to the math classrooms. In many instances they still reside in these hallowed bastions. Enterprising science teachers eventually began to encroach with sheets of numbers from lab experiments and, with bright-eyed students in tow, sought the answers that only the computer could provide. Our early science programs were comparatively crude. Many were simulations, and there was a paucity of interactive laboratory experiences which were capable of demonstrating the true versatility of the devices. Furthermore, because of the fear of placing the computer in the laboratory and having something spilled on it, it often functioned as the end-product of a lab experience. We failed to recognize and develop the computer's potential as a laboratory instrument, instead concentrating solely on its ability to crunch numbers from laboratory data. Fortunately, hardware and software developers and administrators began to realize the wide range of computerized instructional applications, and programs were developed in all disciplines to involve the computer in every stage of data acquisition and analysis. In recent years, and with an increasing frequency, science departments have obtained their own machines, not only for tutorials and simulations, but for laboratory-oriented exercises. Physicists and chemists led the way. Only in the last few years have we begun to see a wider variety of such applications adapted to the biology lab. The applications described in the following pages illustrate how to use a microcomputer in acquiring data in a lab exercise, as well as with the subsequent analysis of experimental data. In these experiments, the computer is used first as a colorimeter to monitor an enzyme-mediated reaction under varied laboratory conditions and finally as a tool for data analysis and presentation. Since the machine is in the lab, it tends to be viewed as just another instrument, and its readouts are as useful (but not necessarily more meaningful than) as a pH meter or a laboratory balance. It also permits you to accomplish teaching objectives that are more related to enzymology and physiology than computer science without sacrificing the advantage of the computer's capabilities.