Integrating the Electronic Desktop into the Natural Sciences

Curriculum Development Project at California State University, Los Angeles

KaryotypeLab

KaryotypeLab was created for an introductory college genetics course. Students can load in their own scanned image of a "chromosome squash" or choose from a variety of sample images. Using the scissors tool, chromosomes can be "cut out" of the image and dragged into the "rotate and measure" window. The chromosomes are then rotated to an upright position and measured using the measuring tool. After measurement, chromosomes are pasted into the NEXTSTEP Draw application which is included with the operating system. In Draw, chromosomes can be paired and labelled to produce a karyotype. Chromosomes can also be dragged or copied and pasted into other applications. A calibration tool is available for determining the exact magnification of a chromosome squash using the scanned image from a micrometer slide. A screen image of a typical KaryotypeLab session appears below. KaryotypeLab was written by Dr. Robert Desharnais and student programmer Roy Morita.

Click to download full resolution image (119 KB.)

The Electronic Desktop Project is about improving the way science is taught and learned by bringing the power of advanced workstation technology to introductory science students in both major and general education classes. This involves changing the way in which instruction is delivered using multi-media electronic mail, custom written visualization applications, powerful commercial software packages, and easy-to-use graphical applications that bring the resources of the Internet into the electronic classroom. This project has been funded by grants USE 9153162, DUE 9156142 and DUE 9455428 from the National Science Foundation. For more information contact Dr. Robert Desharnais (biology), (213) 343-2056, rdeshar@calstatela.edu, or Dr. Gary Novak (geology), (213) 343-2406, gnovak@calstatela.edu, California State University, Los Angeles, California, 90032.
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