As teachers, we tend to present material to our classes in the form of results of our discipline’s work. We collect the data, do the reading and synthesize the material into a finished product. In general, students are expected, in their assignments and tests, to demonstrate that they have learned what we as scholars have already discovered. They are rarely given the opportunity to make these discoveries for themselves. And yet it is potentially very rewarding to offer students the opportunity to use the raw materials themselves, giving them “hands-on” experience in discipline work. In specific courses, instructors offer undergraduate students problem-based learning opportunities in which students collect, analyze, and critically evaluate data and ideas, synthesize their findings, and then propose answers to complex problems.
For several years, both the Chemistry and Biology Departments have offered courses for undergraduate students in which students actively participate in ongoing faculty research projects or occasionally develop original research projects. In chemistry, students usually work on a branch of a larger problem that has been described by a research professor, and they work on the problem for at least two semesters. Although students rarely work on their own research idea, they can do something that is additional to or an extension of the research problem described by the teacher. In Biology, college students also work primarily on a discrete piece of a larger project that takes place in a laboratory. In both chemistry and biology, time, complexity of the field, and financial resources prohibit most students from conducting independent research. However, many undergraduate researchers perform valuable parts of a larger research project and their findings allow them to be second authors, and occasionally first authors, on research publications.
Students interested in conducting research get a list of the professors who take undergraduate students into their labs and their specific area of research. The students then interview selected professors to see if there is room in the lab and to find out what they would do in the investigation. Once they have chosen a laboratory, students must often demonstrate their proficiency in using techniques that are standard in that laboratory. Research professors say they are happy to have college students help with research because they are often just as skilled as first-year graduate research assistants.
Students planning to go to graduate school are encouraged to take Biology and Chemistry; Many students take the course going to fields like medicine and dentistry. Although students who have been actively involved in research at the undergraduate level go to medical school, they tend to take more advantage of research opportunities in medical school, and I believe that many of them turn to medical research when possible. who have not considered medical research as a career. option. One former student, now a physician, says the research experience gave her the skills to know what questions to ask when evaluating new products from drug company representatives or articles in medical journals describing new treatments, new protocols and new products. She feels like she evaluates those things totally differently than she would have if she hadn’t taken the research course.
Problem solving is a learning strategy that encourages students to analyze and think critically by integrating and synthesizing the facts and ideas they have learned in order to solve or propose possible solutions to an authentic problem, or for which it does not yet exist. a solution. Here is an example of a group problem-solving strategy used by an instructor in a 90-student Microbiology course:
Due to his background in microbiology, he is hired as a consultant for a large mining company. They want to use bacteria to clean (and possibly extract minerals profitably) their mine tailings (leftover materials). They have many types of mines. What minerals do you think you could find bacteria from that would do this? Would it be easier to find bacteria that reduce or oxidize minerals?
Most Fridays during the semester, students in Microbiology class break into small cooperative learning groups within the large classroom to develop group solutions to complex problems like this one. The problems are specifically related to previous lectures and readings of texts and often require the practical application of theories and ideas. This problem, for example, follows lectures and lectures on oxidation and reduction reactions and on how bacteria obtain energy from redox reactions.
The problems are outlined in the syllabus so that students can prepare and come up with their groups with some type of individual solution which may also include an area of difficulty or a point they need to discuss.
Cooperative learning groups differ from discussion groups in at least one important way: Cooperative learning groups focus on performing a group task, such as discussing, deciding, and writing a group solution to a problem. In this process, students become responsible not only for their learning, but also for the learning of other students in the group. Science is currently a cooperative activity and most scientists now work in groups.
A secondary but equally important reason for using cooperative groups to address problems in a large class is that these groups provide the logistics for weekly interactive discussion and writing in a large lecture class. While the instructor can read eleven group articles each week, reading ninety individual articles each week would not be feasible.
Through a simple questionnaire in which students mark the science courses they have taken, we ensure that each group has a balance of students with the different areas of expertise required to solve complex problems. For example, each group has at least one student who has taken multiple Physics courses, one student who has taken Biochemistry, one student enrolled in the optional lab for this course, and students with other relevant science courses. This distribution method prevents seniors with a strong scientific background from being in one group and sophomores with a more limited scientific background from being in another group.
The groups meet in class on Fridays to discuss a specific problem. Each student is expected to come to their group with some type of written solution, as well as any problems they may have encountered in tackling the problem. The teacher and the technical assistant approach the groups and check that each student in the group has prepared something in writing. If a student is not prepared, they will not be able to participate in the discussion. This simple check encourages students to prepare ahead of time and prevents the group from relying on one or two people to do all the work. In groups, students discuss and point out the flaws in the different solutions proposed. After the group discussion is over, one person writes the collaborative solution over the weekend and calls several group members to ensure that the document accurately reflects the group’s decision. This “scribe” position should rotate each week. Occasionally a whole group may meet over the weekend to discuss and further work on the problem.
The teacher rates the group assignments on a scale of one to ten and does not rate the group assignments competitively. Instead, each group can earn up to eighty points which will count as 20% of the total grade for the course. Students count eight of the eleven problem scores. This flexibility also allows the teacher to rule out an entire problem if it does not perform well in groups. At the end of the semester, students choose their best eight scores on the eleven problems. The teacher also encourages creative thinking and risk-taking in problem solving by giving students the opportunity to earn bonus points. In any of these questions, students can draw a line at the bottom of the page and write “bonus” and then they can put in any creative and original ideas that come to mind. This will not count in the answer to the normal question, but it will not count if it is totally far-fetched and absolutely wrong. Bonus points are awarded to the entire group and added after final grades.
An important conceptual emphasis in the “Philosophy of Science” course is the process of thinking about science. Students learn perspective on how a conceptual framework, such as a theory or set of theories, can determine how observed facts are interpreted and explained. Students take into account current theories and assumptions that make up the framework of a problem as they study and propose possible solutions to a problem. In general, this is how the course works: the teacher begins a topic by giving students a summary booklet on the topic. For example, the brochure “Cancer in Adolescents and Young Adults” includes these sections: (1) some meanings and definitions of descriptive terms; (2) a list of known information or current evidence on the causes of human cancers; (3) descriptions of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy; (4) a summary of the differences between normal and cancer cells, and (5) important questions to consider for class discussion. In these brochures, instructors lay the groundwork for the topic by summarizing what is known, what are the reasonably specific questions where the answers are uncertain, and what hypotheses people are discussing in the area. These brochures give everyone a common ground, regardless of their scientific background.
In class discussions and writing, students are asked to analyze the topic and think of the next problem to be solved if they are to undertake research in this area. In class, students read short articles and discuss articles with an emphasis on identifying what the article actually says and explaining the ideas presented. In these research articles, students read to understand what is known and what is not known and to note where the clues lie for the next step. Students also learn to deal with conflicting evidence, either by expanding their hypothesis or explanation to include it or by finding a good reason to ignore it. The goal is for students to synthesize a series of individual ideas and theories from the investigation and develop a complete picture or explanation of what may be happening. In scientific inquiry, each person contributes a little and together they add, rather than one sudden big revelation that changes everything. Students learn this by putting together the various research findings about a problem. The course shows how people discover things and gives students the pleasure of solving something and the course is about the thrill of discovery rather than just the joy of learning.
