Computer Aftention: Biolog Teachers Wouldyour students be moreexcited Center aboutbiology if theycould separate DNA?

RichardDuhrkopf DepartmentEditor ConradWeiler Guest Editor

SPECTRE 128. Dave Small. Gadgets by Small, Inc. (40 W. Littleton Blvd., Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/51/6/379/44260/4448960.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 Littleton, CO 80120). $179.95. Spectre 128 is a hardware/software cartridge emulation package that lets an ST or Mega computer emu- late a Mac Plus. It would be useful for anyone (K-college) who wants to run This teacherand her studentsar e separatingDNA withthe ST- Il Electr-ophoresis application programs. PowverSupply and Gel Box. Availableexclusively through Grau-Hall. Operation How you can teach the latest in molecular biology in as few as three class periods. The set-up operation is extremely Rapiddevelopments in biologicaltechnology make it possible simple. The Spectre 128 cartridge for high school biology teachersto add hands-onmolecular biology plugs into the Atari cartridge port. It is about the size of a small box of candy to the curriculum.Schools acrossthe countryare exposing this and contains the circuit board and a exciting field to theirstudents with greatsuccess. set of Apple 128K ROMs (which must Now, your studentscan separateand recombineDNA with be obtained from an Apple dealer or new, affordableequipment from Grau-Hall Scientific. Designed by private source at a cost of $100 to Grau-Hallespecially for classroomuse, these productsare the most $150). The software must include the affordableon the market.With a practicalcurriculum, your students System and Finder used with Macin- can performDNA separationexperiments in only threeclass periods. tosh programs. Disks must be in Spectre format to run Macintosh pro- grams on your Atari computer. ST-11 Electrophoresis Power Supply $150 each.Our Power Supply accommodates50% more studentsthan our competitors'models. The ST-I I has three Gel Box connections instead of two Using the Equipment - that's six studentsto a Power Supply. Plus, it's guaranteedfor life. If it ever breaksdown duringnormal use, we will replace it or fix it free. I am using an Atari 1040ST com- puter with 1 meg of RAM and two Gel Box 800K disk drives. The ST uses the Mo- $90 each. Safe for classroom use. When opened, the safety lid automatically torola 68000 series (the shuts off the power. same as the Mac Plus and Mac SE). We have a departmental Mac SE at my Free product and information package from Grau-Hall. Grau-HallScientific carrieshundreds of classroom biology supplies Richard Duhrkopf, editor of the at prices you can afford. For more informationabout how to integrate Computer Center, is an assistant molecularbiology into your curriculum,call Grau-Hallat 1-800-331-4728. professor in the Department of Bi- ology at Baylor University, Waco, Order Today! TX 76798. He teaches introductory biology for majors and nonmajors Call toll-free 1-800-331-4728 and advanced genetics and also serves as director of Biological Computing. He has a B.S. in zo- ology and an M.S. and Ph.D. in ge- netics, all from Ohio State Univer- sity. He has been active in the de- SCI E NT IFIC velopment of a wide variety of educational software. 6501 ElvasAve. Sacramento,CA 95819

COMPUTER CENTER 379 school and I wanted to better tie it in months. It has greatly increased my only one page can be printed out at a with my home Atari ST computer. productivity as a teacher, many time. And, this is 9-point type in Hence, the purchase of the emulator.I thanks to Dave Small. single column format, allowing also purchased the Translator ($299; usually six to seven questions per Data Pacific, Inc., 609 E. Speer Blvd., page. In medium or low printing all Denver, CO 80203; (303) 733-8158) PERFECTSTUDY. Powerware test questions are printed out to the which allows direct reading and Systems (755 North 100 West, Orem, end of the file. I cut and paste the writing of Mac disks with my ST. UT 84057). $79.95. Computer system: "master"'test together and then run Since I have an Epson MX-80printer Macintosh512K or higher; printer de- student copies. at home, I also packaged the software sirable. program 'Epstart'(SoftStyle, 7192 Ka- Figure 1. lanianole Hwy., Honolulu, HA 96825; Perfectstudyis designed for student use as an objective question CAI re- (808) 396-6368) with my Translator Concepts of Biology-Bio 1 purchase. This allows my Epson view producer. Inputs would be from student lecture notes, textbook Osmosis printer to perform as if it were an Im- Code: 4744 ageWriter. Documentation was clear readings, or lab notes. The program and sometimes even very humorous also allows teachers to generate objec- 1. membrane arms engulf material from Dave Small's manual. tive test questions from their notes. and bring it into cell Typical Mac application programs a. C,H,O,N that I use on my system are Operation b. phagocytosis Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/51/6/379/44260/4448960.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 Word, Microsoft Works, Excel, Write c. nucleus Now, HyperCard, PowerPoint, Per- The software is extremely easy to d. hypertonic fectStudy, HyperDA, PageMaker, use. An eleven-page manual covers all e. cytoplasm MacDraw,MacWrite, SuperPaint, File- operations. After starting the pro- 2. diffusion Maker, several Kinko education pro- gram, the familiar Macintosh bar at a. blue-green bacteria;bacteria grams, several Heizer templates the top of the screen allows you to b. sugars in orange (Excel, Microsoft Works, HyperCard create, link, or delete a file (test). You c. more water inside the cell than stacks)and several public domain pro- may also choose students to review outside grams. your test files. The testing formatran- d. molecules move from greaterto domly selects questions and displays lower concentration them on the screen. If a question is e. most of the energy released Some Pluses missed, the correct answer is briefly here by cell The Atari 1040ST monochrome flashed on the screen. Then the 3. requires energy in order to bring system I purchased ($799;Atari Corp., missed question is repeated but the materialinto the cell P.O. Box 61657,Sunnyvale, CA 94088) answer choices are rearranged with a. contain either DNA or RNA comes with a high res monochrome some new choices. A running score b. active transport monitor (640 by 400), and the 12-inch for the student is kept at the top menu c. phagocytosis screen displays 30 percent larger bar. d. citric acid, ascorbic acid, malic screen area than the standard Mac For the teacher, questions are pro- acid Plus or SE monitors. Also, since the duced by typing in a two-party entry. e. glucose, fructose, sucrose Atari has a video screen chip built-in The first part is the definition and can 4. C, H, 0, N for fast screen updates, Macintosh be up to 50 charactersin length. Next, a. sugars in organge programs run 20 percent faster on you type in your explanation(answer) b. life on planet earth (how many an ST. for the definition. That's your first years?) entry. After eight or more entries you c. most of the energy released may either try the test on screen or here by cell Some Minuses use the print command from the d. concentrationof water balanced Sound is not supported on my emu- menu bar for generating a test copy on both sides of a membrane lation. The top menu bar blinks to in- (Figure 1). e. main chemical elements in dicate when sound is used. The The questions that are generated by Miller's spark discharge appa- Spectre system does not play Macin- this program will either take a state- ratus tosh games software. ment from the definition entry and 5. acids in orange By expending $360 (developer's give five answer choices from the ex- a. chloroplast pricing) I obtained Spectre 128, Trans- planationpool or an explanationentry b. isotonic lator and Epstart hardware/software is used as the question and five an- c. citric acid, ascorbic acid, malic materials which allow me to use my swers are given from the definition acid Atari ST as a Mac Plus for work at pool. In on-screen testing, if a ques- d. ribosome home. All the applications programs tion is missed, the wrong answer is e. C,H,0,N listed above have worked well with tacked on to future uses of that partic- 6. cell wall my system over the past several ular question. a. yellow to orange pigmented This program'sstrong points are its molecule ease of use and the fun you have gen- b. outer, dead covering of some Conrad Weiler teaches biology at Santa erating test questions. Once you get cells (i.e. plant) BarbaraCity College, 721 Cliff Dr., Santa started Barbara,CA 93109.He has a B.S. in biology adding definitions and expla- c. more water outside than inside from Fairleigh-DickensonUniversity and a nations (questions), it's hard to stop. a cell M.S. in biology from the University of The generation of classroom objective d. control center of the cell Southern California.Weiler is chairmanof tests actuallygets to be a fun situation. e. main chemical elements in the InstructionalComputer Planning Com- One weak point is in the printing of Miller's spark discharge appa- mittee at Santa BarbaraCity College. the tests. In the highest printingmode ratus

380 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 51, NO. 6, SEPTEMBER 1989