Data projection in the classroom

Over the last week I have been reading a lot of data projection in the classroom.  Many of us use this tool on a regular basis in our classrooms.  We know that it often makes things easier and it helps with student focus, but how often do we think about why it does these things.  Everything I read talked about how communication is key in education and data projectors can be a great tool in helping to achieve this by adding a visual (and sometimes audio) element to our teaching.  Increasing the ways that information is accessible to students has a direct connection to the numbers of students that can be reached.  As pointed out in Teaching and Learning with Technology by Judy Lever-Duffy and Jean B. McDonald, a traditional computer monitor is too small to share with an entire class (p. 147).  Data projection allows an entire room of people to share something created on that computer or something on the web.
Utah
There are some really good websites out there that can help students visualize what they are learning.  Biology is often the favorite science of many students.  there is not as much math as in Physics or Chemistry  and you can picture what you are learning about easier.  One topic that students struggle with is DNA.  DNA is also one of the hardest things learned in a typical Biology 1 class to visualize.  With that in mind I set out to create a lesson that would help students imagine in their minds what is being discussed in the classroom.  The Learn Genetics site by the University of Utah has many interactives to help make genetics more comprehensible.  I have decided to utilize on of the interactives and a few of the short video clips for a lesson on DNA.
The interactive whiteboards sound exciting to me, but I decided to create a lesson I could use right now.  I have the computer and the projector so it will cost nothing to do this fall with my students.  I do think the lesson could be easily modified to utilize an interactive whiteboard and that the use of an interactive whiteboard would make the lesson even better.  The mimio Interactive Xi Bar and Stylus appeal to me because they are portable.  This would allow me to use them in multiple rooms and they would not take up alot of space. To get the mimio Interactive Xi Bar and Stylus would cost just over $600.