Rotations in Contemporary Biology Laboratory Techniques for Undergraduates: A Team Approach to Problem Solving

本科生当代生物学实验室技术的轮换：解决问题的团队方法

• 批准号: 9650712
• 负责人: Ilze Skare
• 金额: $ 6万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Lowell
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-07-01 至 1999-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9650712&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Rotations; Contemporary; Biology; Laboratory; Techniques

Collaborative research is central to solving real problems in contemporary biology. Such experiences, however, are typically not part of undergraduate curricula. Accordingly, this project is centered around the purchase of state-of-the-art instrumentation to be used in a comprehensive 2-semester undergraduate laboratory course for upper-level biology majors. The course is designed to illustrate the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of modern day research by having 6 teams of 8 to 10 students investigate a problem of biomedical significance using contemporary techniques from various subspecialties of biology. The student teams rotate through different laboratory settings as they follow the steps necessary to isolate, purify, characterize, clone, and mass produce a product of therapeutic value. Each team of students is mentored by a faculty Team Leader who is an expert in each particular methodology. The goals of this course are to instill critical thinking skills by expecting the students to apply to a real-world problem the concepts and lab techniques they have so far encountered only in isolated, unrelated laboratory exercises, i.e., to learn to think like scientists; to familiarize students with state-of-the-art instrumentation that they are likely to encounter in a graduate research lab or an industrial setting; to emphasize the importance of teamwork and the fostering of strong collaborative relationships; and to encourage students to pursue graduate studies. Students are being evaluated throughout the course by the Team Leaders. Critical thinking skills are tested with practical problem-solving exercises. The success of the course can be evaluated by feedback from student participants and a panel of academic and industrial scientists. The resulting course workbook can be published and posted on-line for world-wide access.

合作研究是解决当代生物学中真实的问题的核心。然而，这些经验通常不是本科课程的一部分。因此，本项目的中心是购买最先进的仪器，用于高级生物专业的2学期综合本科实验室课程。 该课程旨在说明现代研究的协作，跨学科性质，由8至10名学生组成的6个团队使用来自生物学各个子专业的当代技术研究生物医学意义的问题。学生团队轮流通过不同的实验室设置，因为他们遵循必要的步骤来分离，纯化，表征，克隆和大规模生产具有治疗价值的产品。每个学生团队都由一名教师团队负责人指导，他是每个特定方法的专家。 本课程的目标是通过期望学生将他们迄今为止只在孤立的，不相关的实验室练习中遇到的概念和实验室技术应用于现实世界的问题来灌输批判性思维技能，即，学习像科学家一样思考;让学生熟悉他们可能在研究生研究实验室或工业环境中遇到的最先进的仪器;强调团队合作和培养强大合作关系的重要性;并鼓励学生继续研究生学习。 学生在整个过程中由团队领导进行评估。批判性思维能力通过实际问题解决练习进行测试。课程的成功可以通过学生参与者和学术和工业科学家小组的反馈来评估。由此产生的课程练习册可以在网上出版和张贴，供全世界使用。