This highly interactive program uses pulmonary function data obtained from guinea pig to teach the fundamental pharmacology of the airways.

 

1. AIMS, INTRODUCTION and METHODS sections of the program use a combination of text and high-resolution colour graphics to describe:

2. EXPERIMENTS is the main section and allows the student to select, from a menu, to study the effects of various mediators and inhibitory agents in the normal and allergen-sensitized animals.

Normal Guinea Pig:

Allergen-sensitized Guinea Pig:

For each experiment the display shows simultaneous traces of resistance, dynamic compliance and blood pressure which are presented in a form similar to that in the Mumed recording system. Each set of data is accompanied by self-assessment questions which demand interpretation of experimental data presented to them, and an understanding of the underlying control mechanisms. These student-centred activities make the program useful for self-directed learning or, in the ideal situation, it would be incorporated into a structured teaching programme and used with a teacher-designed workbook. It is envisaged that the program could be used in a number of ways: to better prepare students who will perform the practical at a later date; to debrief students after they have performed the practical; as a ‘fallback’ to provide data for students whose experiments were unsuccessful; as an alternative to the practical, though it should be remembered that different learning objectives may be achieved.

System Requirements: Windows: Intel Pentium II 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent), 128MB of RAM; Microsoft Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Macintosh: PowerPC G3 500MHz or faster processor, 128MB of RAM; Mac OS X v.10.1.x, 10.2.x, 10.3.x, or 10.4.x

Recommended browser software: Windows: Internet Explorer; Macintosh: Safari or Firefox; Both: Adobe Flash Player plug-in, version 8 or higher.

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