Physiology Laboratory Course Research Articles

An investigative laboratory course in human physiology using computer technology and collaborative writing.

Active investigative student-directed experiences in laboratory science are being encouraged by national science organizations. A growing body of evidence from classroom assessment supports their effectiveness. This study describes four years of implementation and assessment of an investigative laboratory course in human physiology for 65 second-year students in sports medicine and biology at a small private comprehensive college. The course builds on skills and abilities first introduced in an introductory investigations course and introduces additional higher-level skills and more complex human experimental models. In four multiweek experimental modules, involving neuromuscular, reflex, and cardiovascular physiology, by use of computerized hardware/software with a variety of transducers, students carry out self-designed experiments with human subjects and perform data collection and analysis, collaborative writing, and peer editing. In assessments, including standard course evaluations and the Salgains Web-based evaluation, student responses to this approach are enthusiastic, and gains in their skills and abilities are evident in their comments and in improved performance.

Inquiry-based laboratory course improves students' ability to design experiments and interpret data.

We redesigned our intermediate-level organismal physiology laboratory course to center on student-designed experiments in plant and human physiology. Our primary goals were to improve the ability of students to design experiments and analyze data. We assessed these abilities at the beginning and end of the semester by giving students an evaluation tool consisting of an experimental scenario, data, and four questions of increasing complexity. To control for nontreatment influences, the improvement scores (final minus initial score for each question) of students taking both the laboratory and the companion lecture course were compared with those of students taking the lecture course only. The laboratory + lecture group improved more than the lecture-only group for the most challenging question. This evidence suggests that our inquiry-based curriculum is achieving its primary goals. The evaluation tool that we developed may be useful to others interested in measuring experimental analysis abilities in their students.

An inquiry-based learning model for an exercise physiology laboratory course.

We developed an inquiry-based learning model to better stimulate undergraduate students' cognitive development of exercise physiology laboratory concepts. The course core is the two independent research projects that students, working in small groups, complete during the last 9 wk of the semester. Student groups develop their own research question and hypothesis, design the experiment, collect and analyze the data, and report their findings to the rest of the class using presentation software. To help with success of the research projects, students are taken through a series of guided-inquiry laboratory activities during the initial 6 wk of the semester to develop laboratory skills and an understanding of the scientific process. Observations of student behaviors reflected a high level of enthusiasm and engagement in laboratory activities. Surveys, journal entries, and interviews indicated that students felt empowered by having ownership in their projects, which may be the key reason for the success of this model.

Demonstration of temperature dependence of Na(+)-K+ pump activity of human blood cells.

In our physiology laboratory course we introduced several simple but instructive experiments in which medical students make observations on their own blood cells. In this experiment, students measured and discussed the effect of different temperatures on Na+ and K+ distribution between blood cells and plasma. In venous blood of 35 female and 64 male students, plasma (extracellular) [Na+] and [K+] were measured with ion-selective electrodes immediately after blood sampling and successively four times in intervals of 1 h in three samples stored at 1, 20, and 37 degrees C. At 1 degree C, plasma [K+] increased significantly and nearly linearly with cooling time of the blood, whereas plasma [Na+] decreased. In contrast, at 37 degrees C plasma K+ levels significantly decreased in the first 2 h and then stabilized at new levels clearly below baselines. At 1 degree C blood cells had a greater K+ loss in women than in men, whereas at 37 degrees C the K+ loss was significantly less pronounced in women. Plasma Na+ did not significantly change at 37 degrees C. This remarkably reproducible experiment demonstrates the existence of active Na(+)-K+ transport in human blood cells by showing medical students, with their own blood, that the basal chemical processes of such pumps are inhibited at a temperature of 1 degree C and stimulated when blood temperature is slightly higher than the usual body temperature.

Electroencephalography and evoked potentials: a PC-based analysis program for laboratory courses in physiology.

A computer program (EEG Analysis) was developed for the preclinical laboratory course in physiology held for medical and dental students. It offers an off-line analysis of a set of typical and frequently occurring physiological and pathological electroencephalogram (EEG) and evoked potential (EP) recordings, which are stored in an IBM-compatible personal computer (PC) system. The users are requested to measure and analyze the data sets and to work through a base of questions relevant in the frame of the particular topic. The program is structured in several exercises: calibration, pickup of non-EEG signals (eye movements, chewing), waveforms in EEG recordings from awake subjects (alpha-waves, beta-waves), desynchronization of cerebral activity (visual activation, acoustic activation, mental activation), habituation of cerebral activity upon acoustic stimuli, EEG recordings from asleep subjects (different sleep stages, sleep-specific EEG signals), epileptic seizures, and EPs (principle of averaging, visually evoked potentials in different cortical areas). The program runs under MS-DOS and is network capable. The software structure ensures maximal flexibility for rapid changes and adaptations of the program to specific needs of a particular EEG course. The program has been used for three years, and the response from > 800 students has been consistently positive.

A Laboratory-Course in Physiology Based on Daphnia and Other Animalcules

A Laboratory-Course in Physiology Based on Daphnia and Other Animalcules

A Laboratory Course in Physiology . By Walter B. Cannon, A.M., M.D., George Higginson professor of physiology in the Harvard Medical School. Second edition. Published by Harvard University. 1911.

<i>A Laboratory Course in Physiology</i> . By Walter B. Cannon, A.M., M.D., George Higginson professor of physiology in the Harvard Medical School. Second edition. Published by Harvard University. 1911.

A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. William F. Ganong

Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewsA Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. William F. Ganong George D. FullerGeorge D. Fuller Search for more articles by this author PDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Education Volume 17, Number 10Dec., 1909 Sponsored by the Penn State College of Education Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/435456 Views: 40 Journal History This article was published in The School Review (1893-1979), which is continued by the American Journal of Education (1979-present). Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Practical Arithmetic, by A. Consterdine and S. O. AndrewPractical Arithmetia Examples, compiled by J. L. Martin.The Parallel Course Drawing Books, by C. S. &amp; A. G. Hammock.The Romance of Modern Mechanism, by Archibald Williams.Essentials of Botany, by Joseph Y. SerpenPlane and Solid Geometry, by Elmer A. LymanArithmetical Abilities and Some Factors Determining Them, by Cliff Winfiehl Stone, Ph.D.A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, W. F. Ganong. Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

Physiological EducationA Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. W. F. Ganong

Physiological Education<i>A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology</i>. W. F. Ganong

Ganong's Plant PhysiologyA Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, Especially as a Basis of Ecology. W. F. Ganong

Previous articleNext article FreeNotes and LiteratureGanong's Plant Physiology A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, Especially as a Basis of Ecology. W. F. Ganong R. H. T.R. H. T. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 36, Number 421Jan., 1902 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/278071 Views: 45Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:A Hand‐Book for Teachers of Chemistry in Secondary Schools. By J. A. GiffinChemical Lecture Experiments. By Francis Gano Benedict, Ph.D.A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. By De. W. F. GanongPractical Text Book of Plant Physiology. By Daniel T. MacDougalSylvan Ontario. A Guide to Our Native Trees and Shrubs. By W. H. Muldeew, B. A., D. Pæd.Foundations of Botany. By Joseph Y. Bergen, A. M.

A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. Methods in Plant Histology. First Studies of Plant Life

A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology. Methods in Plant Histology. First Studies of Plant Life

A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, especially as a basis for ecology . By William F. Ganong, Ph.D., Professor of Botany in Smith College. New York, Henry Holt and Company. 1901. Octavo, cloth. Pp. vi + 147; Practical Text-book of Plant Physiology . By Daniel Trembly MacDougal, Ph.D., Director of the Laboratories of the New York Botanical Garden. With one

<i>A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, especially as a basis for ecology</i> . By William F. Ganong, Ph.D., Professor of Botany in Smith College. New York, Henry Holt and Company. 1901. Octavo, cloth. Pp. vi + 147; <i>Practical Text-book of Plant Physiology</i> . By Daniel Trembly MacDougal, Ph.D., Director of the Laboratories of the New York Botanical Garden. With one

Book Review: A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology

Book Review: A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology

Two New Books on Plant PhysiologyPractical Text-Book of Plant Physiology.D. T. MacDougalA Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, Especially as a Basis for Ecology.W. F. Ganong

Two New Books on Plant Physiology<i>Practical Text-Book of Plant Physiology.</i>D. T. MacDougal<i>A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology, Especially as a Basis for Ecology.</i>W. F. Ganong