Using Retrospective Research Questions & Database Mining as a Basis for an Inquiry-Based Lab in an Undergraduate Human Physiology Course

Abstract

Collecting meaningful data in an undergraduate human physiology lab course can be difficult for a variety of reasons. I describe a way of creating an inquiry-based, semester-long project that allows students practice in designing retrospective research questions using a large database containing common physiology data. The database generated during this project has the capability of adding new participants each semester the course is taught. This approach can be used with a variety of different physiology acquisition systems and can easily be specialized for the learning outcomes of a given physiology laboratory course.