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

合作研究是解决当代生物学真正问题的核心。然而，这样的经历通常不是本科课程的一部分。因此，这个项目的中心是购买最先进的仪器，用于为生物学专业高年级学生开设的为期两个学期的综合本科实验室课程。这门课程旨在说明现代研究的协作、跨学科性质，让6个8至10人的小组使用生物学不同子专业的当代技术来研究一个具有生物医学意义的问题。学生团队在不同的实验室环境中轮换，遵循分离、纯化、鉴定、克隆和批量生产具有治疗价值的产品所需的步骤。每一组学生都由一名教员组长指导，该组长是每种特定方法的专家。这门课程的目标是灌输批判性思维技能，希望学生将迄今为止仅在孤立的、无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，即学习像科学家一样思考；使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；强调团队合作的重要性和培养牢固的合作关系；并鼓励学生继续研究生学习。在整个课程中，团队领导都会对学生进行评估。批判性思维能力通过实际解决问题的练习来测试。这门课程的成功与否可以通过学生参与者以及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发布并在线发布，以供全球访问。

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.