Investigative Laboratory Programs in Biology: A Position Paper of the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences

The Panel on the Laboratory in Biology was formed by the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences (CUEBS) with the charge of clarifying the function of the laboratory in the changing biology curriculum. This paper, the first product of our deliberations, seeks to make a single point which we feel is of such great importance to the future of undergraduate biology that all other considerations in laboratory instruction must be deemed inconsequential beside it. Stated simply, the point is that the best use of the laboratory in undergraduate instruction is to engage the student in the process of active investigation. This paper will be devoted, therefore, to the development and support of the concept of such a laboratory program, which we will refer to as an "investigative laboratory." Additional papers, describing specific investigative laboratory programs in which three of the authors of this paper have participated, will appear separately.