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Students are using computers to simulate dissections, manipulate molecular structures, model the functioning of nerves, and recreate evolutionary lineages. "Computer technologies are the first thing since the printing press to make a real difference in the way we teach and learn," says Frank Vellaccio, provost of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, with its traditional emphasis on advanced technologies, has been a pioneer in putting computers to work in biology education. In its Division of Molecular Sciences, which encompasses the chemistry and biology departments, computers are ubiquitous — from the first teaching laboratories to the research projects that students pursue with faculty members. In some classes, computers have become the laboratories. Chemistry assistant professor David Yaron and biology associate professor Robert Murphy have developed laboratories in computational chemistry and computational biology that take place entirely at a keyboard. Using both a conventional computer laboratory and one outfitted with 24 networked graphics workstations, students perform investigations with the computer as their experimental apparatus. "The interactivity of the computer strengthens the laboratory experience for students," says Murphy. The rapidly increasing power of computers to simulate biological systems inevitably raises the question of whether computers will eventually replace wet labs. But those who have worked with both kinds of laboratories say this question misses the point. Each approach offers certain benefits; the challenge is to blend them together successfully. "Computers aren't replacements for wet labs, they're enhancements,"
says Susan Henry, dean of the College of Science at Carnegie Mellon. "Computers
and laboratories are going to become two parts of the same entity. They
feed each other, and what's exciting is to bring the two together." |
At Carnegie Mellon University a new computer laboratory enables students to carry out experiments at 24 networked graphics workstations.
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eaching laboratories are changing as faculty members recognize the benefits
to students of open-ended investigations. But laboratories are also being
forced to change because of pressure from an unexpected quarter: the rapid
development of information technologies.
The World Wide Web offers a dazzling array of 
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