Integrating Biology & Math in an Inquiry-Based Student Research Project

In daily life, students are allowed to use words such as "more," "some," or "increase-decrease" to describe the relationship between two events. In science, concise description is necessary, which requires the contribution of math. In the summer component of the Science Research Institute program, students integrated essential math concepts with their research questions. Students designed experiments using data-acquisition units to monitor heart rate and pulse in order to obtain enough statistical power to mathematically use the words "more" or "increase-decrease." Overall, students gained an appreciation for the requirement of math to support the scientific question and research design.