NOVEL KITS FOR TEACHING SCIENCE

INVESTIGATORS ARE INCORPORATING A NEW, DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY (DIODE LASERS) AND APPLYING IT TO SEVERAL DISCIPLINES (BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, AND PHYSICS) TO ADDRESS SEVERAL IMPORTANT CURRENT REAL WORLD PROBLEMS. THESE INEXPENSIVE ($25) LASERS, WILL BE PACKAGED INTO KITS FOR STUDENT USE. EACH STUDENT, WORKING IN SMALL GROUPS OF 2 TO 3 PEOPLE, WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE LASERS. THE ASSOCIATED CURRICULUM FOR THE KITS WILL BE DEVELOPED, THE TEACHERS PROVIDED WITH IN-SERVICE TRAINING, AND ASSISTANCE GIVEN IN THE INITIAL PRESENTATIONS. SEVERAL EXPERIMENTS WILL BE INCLUDED THAT WILL LET THE STUDENTS EXPLORE SOME IMPORTANT LASER PHYSICS AND OPTICAL PRINCIPLES. FOLLOWING THESE INITIAL EXPERIMENTS, THE STUDENTS WILL PERFORM EXPERIMENTS THAT DEMONSTRATE IMPORTANT, MODERN APPLICATIONS OF LASERS SUCH AS CANCER THERAPY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING. THIS COMBINATION OF HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY AND ABSTRACT PRINCIPLES LEARNED IN A LARGER CONTEXT WILL STIMULATE STUDENTS TO LEARN IN NEW WAYS. THIS, COMBINED WITH THE PRESENCE IN THE CLASSROOM OF PRACTICING SCIENTISTS, WILL BRING A MORE PERSONAL APPROACH TO THESE TOPICS.