by Michael Catto
How does a student go about setting up a basic researchable question within the parameters of a given course?
Writing a scientific article is a very different beast than what students (especially those in the early years of their college career) may have been exposed to. At this time, I am teaching a laboratory course geared toward first- and second-year undergraduate students. The initial task these students face is to develop a scientifically testable question and write a research proposal. These are just the first steps toward the larger part of what is to be expected of a student in the course. Throughout the semester, students will work in groups testing their question and then develop their individual research articles. This will come to a conclusion in a final presentation about their work and a discussion about possible future work that could be done to add to their newly formed body of information.
The challenge of figuring out what they would want to research is daunting for some of the students, but rewarding. They have a figurative sandbox from which to choose the resources and tools at their disposal to aide them in answering their question. While there are some limitations, it is important for them to keep in mind that the data they collect may support or reject their hypothesis. Working to come to a final product, important writing concepts need to be kept in mind. These include the need to write drafts, discuss the scope of their work, and have a frame from which to develop their writing skills. They should not think of their endeavor as one without any help or input, since there are always resources at their disposal provided by the university and myself. As the teacher, it is my responsibility to guide them toward a more concise and concrete understanding of the material. If I am unable to help them with a particular topic, such as one outside of my range of knowledge, I can point them in the right direction to get assistance.
In this writing-intensive lab experience, the students are welcome to explore. After data collection, students will go on to write a full research article, detailing their Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, and Discussion. In order to have a complete story, I need to work with the students and teach them how to break down these sections into manageable chunks. The first step in the scientific process I suggest is that the students tackle the Materials & Methods section, as they do not have to be overly creative. Instead, they are expected to write down how they conducted their experiments based on their laboratory notes. This is where good lab note-taking skills come into play, another very important part of the writing process for a large research project, one which I make sure to work with the students on throughout the semester.
The next section they could move to is writing the Results around the figures they generated from the data collection process. Determining how to organize their information and write a caption for their work can be confusing for some. In my experience, students like to brainstorm and be creative in the ways that they can convey their data, and I am more than willing to provide constructive feedback to help them improve. This section ties nicely into the Discussion section, as the students can move toward bringing complex concepts to a broader audience and even spark new questions for future research. The challenge for me in this section is getting the students to acknowledge the “why” of their work. This is where the term simplexity (a portmanteau of the words simple and complex) exists in my mind.
My time running the lab section has given me the opportunity to see students developing and learning how to improve themselves as scientists.
My time running the lab section has given me the opportunity to see students developing and learning how to improve themselves as scientists. Though out my time working with the students, I am able to convey the concept of starting with the simple and increasing the depth of their academic and scientific writing. By talking to my students either in class or in small groups, I have developed as a teacher in the way of thinking about group dynamics. I have learned to adjust my way of presenting information to fit the situation and am still learning to hone this skill. This process will take time to refine and train my brain to accommodate to individual student learning preferences or needs.
The major learning points for me have been that I have become more confident in my abilities to present information to beginners. This is a skill I have been developing for a long time and will need to keep up with in the future. Some of topics covered in my lab are ones that I have had many years of professional experience with and as such can talk about for a long time to the students with relevant depth. Yet, most of my time teaching is not exclusively about what I know, but how I can take what I have been learning with me to the future. I like to think of what I am learning now in the mindset that I will be able to have a meaningful conversation about the material five to ten years from now.