For decades the nematode C. elegans has served as an outstanding research organism owing to its unsurpassed experimental amenability. This advantage has also made this tiny worm an attractive vehicle for science instruction across higher learning institutions. However, the prohibitive cost associated with the automated behavioral assessment of these animals remains an obstacle preventing their full adoption in undergraduate and high school settings. To improve this situation, we developed an inexpensive worm tracking system for use by high school interns and undergraduate students. Over the past two years this tracker has been successfully used by undergraduate students in our introductory Cell and Molecular lab (BSC220) at Illinois State University. Here we describe and demonstrate the use of our inexpensive worm tracking system.

中文翻译：

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经济实惠的秀丽隐杆线虫跟踪系统，用于教室

数十年来，线虫秀丽隐杆线虫由于其卓越的实验适应性而一直是杰出的研究生物。这种优势还使这种蠕虫成为了在高等院校中进行科学教学的诱人工具。但是，与这些动物的自动行为评估有关的高昂费用仍然是阻碍其在本科和高中阶段完全采用的障碍。为了改善这种情况，我们开发了一种便宜的蠕虫跟踪系统，供高中实习生和本科生使用。在过去的两年中，该跟踪器已成功地被伊利诺伊州立大学的细胞与分子实验室入门课程（BSC220）的本科生使用。在这里，我们描述并演示了我们便宜的蠕虫跟踪系统的使用。