A Contribution of the Computer to Biology Education at the University

Summaries

English

At the O.P.E. Laboratory, computer‐based biology dialogues result in a new pedagogical situation which could not be achieved by any other method.

This paper describes part of O.P.E. embryology dialogues, designed for undergraduate medical and biology students, and concerning interactions between inductive and competent tissues during embryonic development. Each student using these dialogues is in a position to proceed, in an active manner, through three principal stages in the knowledge of the competence concept: determination of experimental criteria of a state of competence; analysis of evolution of competence in course of time; detection of modifications of competence of a tissue towards sequential inductors.

In the course of the dialogue, each student has to interpret various experimental results, verify hypotheses and conduct in his own way a series of simulated experiments (students have no other chance of carrying out this kind of embryology experiment). The validity of the student's reasoning and his experimental methodology are constantly controlled.

These computer‐based biology dialogues are not intended to supersede other pedagogical activities. They are designed to be a new and specific contribution to comprehension, mastery, and even modelling, of biological concepts and mechanisms, and appear to meet actual requirements of biology education.     

How Does Satellite Television Affect Small‐Linguistic Societies? Extracts from the Reykjavik Presentation

Abstract

The author, a senior Canadian bureaucrat concerned with government policy, outlines the problems in encouraging communities and industry to face the broadcasting needs of linguistic minorities. The paper looks at three options for providing these minorities with access to broadcasting services.