Students record their observations, draw conclusions and turn in their analysis. 'The lab experiments are elementary, but you understand in greater detail how it relates to physiology and how things actually work in the body.'Д®xperiments range from analyzing the components of bones by noting the effects of vinegar on them to learning how joints and muscles work by dissecting a chicken. 'They can do their labs at home with inexpensive ingredients that can be purchased at the store,' Paskin says. Additional materials could be easily purchased. Paskin was able to find a textbook that came with some basic lab tools for experiments. 'There are some options out there, but the lab for each student would have been $300 to $350 and that's not including their textbook.'

'My main goal was to find a way that students could do hands-on lab experiments at home in a budget-friendly manner,' Paskin says.

Paskin spent a lot of time talking to representatives of various companies, but found options were limited and, in many cases, cost prohibitive. In most science classes, students will often conduct three hours a week of hands-on experiments. Setting up the at-home lab sessions has been a challenge, Paskin says. In Paskin's class, students complete all labs at home. Other universities offer 100-level anatomy and physiology classes online, Paskin says, but most of them require a minimum of three or four trips to campus for laboratory work. Paskin had helped teach anatomy for three years as a graduate student, occasionally filling in as class instructor. Taylor Paskin, who graduated last June with a master's degree in biological sciences, stayed on as a part-time WMU instructor to originate the online course. KALAMAZOO-A Western Michigan University graduate has designed an online introductory anatomy and physiology class that requires no trips to an on-campus laboratory and employs both a virtual anatomy lab and hands-on lab assignments students can conduct at home. Non-traditional students benefit from the completely online lecture and lab.

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