"Using Unique Research as a Teaching Tool"
by Alix Darden and Meta van Sickle

Students as participants in research

• Collect data at all times
• What are students learning? What is the evidence?

Background College Biology Courses

• Presented as a stable body of knowledge
• Textbook driven
• Cookbook labs
• Generally not inquiry driven
• Learners discouraged from developing their own explorations
• Inaccurate view of the authentic process of science

Minimal opportunity to

• Make sense of contradiction
• See disagreements among science experts
• Evaluate scientific knowledge
• Design experiments
• Develop hypothesis and test them (time consuming)

Molecular Genetics Bio1424

• Structured around instructors current in molecular biology research, both lecture and laboratory
• No text - used original research articles and other selected readings
• Students and teacher are a team
• Students construct their knowledge

Student work

• Weekly homework - application questions
• Weekly lab write-ups
• Synopsis of all articles presented
• Each student presents one journal article
• Write publication style research paper
• Create a poster of research project to present at Student Research Day

Assessment of Student Learning

• Constructive, authentic assessment, i.e. lab journals, research paper, research poster presentations

Analysis of Student Writings/ Major Themes

• Relevancy
  • application of concepts, principles and processes of science to the environment
• Inquiry
  • defining and investigating problems, formulating hypothesis, designing experiments
  • gathering data and drawing conclusions about problems
• Construction
  • knowledge is not passively received but built up by the student
• Collaboration
  • science is not performed in isolation (as often classroom lab experiments are!)
• Questioning
  • "How do I know that the little details will work into the big picture?"