During June 2008, Dr. Giovanni Casotti and Dr. Maureen Knabb, Professors of Biology at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, hosted life science educators from across North America to share curriculum ideas, teaching experiments and laboratory techniques. As teachers to at least 400 students every year, Dr. Casotti and Dr. Knabb are well-qualified to share what does and doesn't work in the laboratory classroom.

Dr. Casotti and Dr. Knabb use PowerLab teaching systems with Chart (now LabChart) software in three of their courses. West Chester has been using their systems with the Macintosh operating system for the past three years, and runs laboratories using inquiry approaches to learning, "where students take ownership of their experiments because they are the ones coming up with ideas to test".

For the past two years Dr. Casotti and Dr. Knabb, with their colleague Loretta Reiser-Danner, have presented conference papers with results from implementing this learning approach as, "Inquiry-based learning in physiology laboratories using computer technology" in the FASEB Journal.

According to the AIBS website "Pursuing a career in biology can be immensely rewarding and exciting. Studying biology teaches us to ask questions, make observations, evaluate evidence, and solve problems. Biologists learn how living things work, how they interact with one another, and how they evolve. They may study cells under a microscope, insects in a rainforest, viruses that affect human beings, plants in a greenhouse, or lions in the African grasslands. Their work increases our understanding about the natural world in which we live and helps us address issues of personal well being and worldwide concern, such as environmental depletion, threats to human health, and maintaining viable and abundant food supplies."

For more information visit the AIBS web site to learn about career opportunities, preparation, schools, job outlook, salaries, and much more!