As teachers, we tend to present the material to our classes in the form of results of the work of our discipline. We collect the data, do the reading, and synthesize the material into a finished product. Students are generally expected, in their assignments and exams, to demonstrate that they have learned what we as scholars have already discovered. They are seldom 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 the work of the discipline. In specific courses, instructors offer college students problem-based learning opportunities in which students collect, analyze, and critically evaluate data and ideas, synthesize their findings, and then provide answers to complex problems.
For a number of years, both the Chemistry and Biology Departments have offered undergraduate courses in which students actively participate in ongoing faculty research projects or occasionally develop original research projects. In Chemistry, students typically work on a branch of a larger problem that has been described by a research professor and work on the problem for at least two semesters. Although students rarely work on their own research idea, they may do something additional or an extension of the research problem described by the teacher. In Biology, college students also work primarily on a discrete part of a larger project that takes place in a laboratory. In both Chemistry and Biology, time, the complexity of the field, and financial resources prevent most undergraduates from conducting independent research. Many undergraduate researchers, however, 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 doing research get a list of the professors who take undergraduate students in their labs and their specific area of research. Students then interview selected professors to see if there is space in the lab and to find out what they would do in the investigation. Once they have chosen a lab, students often must demonstrate their proficiency in using techniques that are standard in that lab. Research professors say they are glad 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, with many students taking the course going into fields such as medicine and dentistry. Although students who have been actively involved in research at the undergraduate level go on to medical school, they tend to take more advantage of research opportunities in medical school, and I think many of them go into medical research when possible. who have not considered medical research as a career. option. One former student, who is now a physician, says the research experience gave her the skills to know what questions to ask when evaluating new products from pharmaceutical company representatives or articles in medical journals describing new treatments, new protocols and new products. She feels that 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 to solve or propose possible solutions to a real problem, or for which there is no solution yet. Here is an example of a group problem solving strategy that an instructor uses in a Microbiology course of ninety students:
Because of his background in Microbiology, he is hired as a consultant for a large mining company. They want to use bacteria to clean (and possibly profitably extract minerals from) 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 the Microbiology class break into small cooperative learning groups within the large classroom to develop group solutions to complex problems like this one. Problems are specifically related to previous lessons and text readings and often require practical application of theories and ideas. This problem, for example, follows lectures and readings on oxidation reduction reactions and how bacteria obtain energy from redox reactions.
Problems are outlined in the syllabus so that students can prepare and come to their groups with some type of individual solution that 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 respect: the cooperative learning group focuses on performing a group task, such as, in this case, discussing, deciding, and writing a group solution to a problem. In this process, students become responsible not only for their own learning, but also for the learning of other students in the group. Science is now a cooperative activity and most scientists now work in groups.
A secondary but equally important reason for using cooperative groups to tackle problems in a large class is that these groups provide the logistics for weekly interactive discussion and writing in a large reading class. While the instructor can read eleven group papers each week, it would not be feasible to read ninety individual papers each week.
Using a simple quiz in which students check off 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 the 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 method of distribution prevents seniors with strong scientific backgrounds from being in one group and sophomores with more limited scientific backgrounds from being in another group.
The groups meet in class on Fridays to discuss a specific problem. Each student is expected to come to her group with some type of written solution, as well as problems they may have encountered in addressing the problem. The teacher and the TA go through the groups and check that each student in the group has prepared something in writing. If a student is not prepared, she will not be able to participate in the discussion. This simple check encourages students to prepare ahead of time and prevents the group from depending on one or two people to do all the work. In groups, students discuss and point out the flaws in the different proposed solutions. After the group discussion is complete, one person writes the collaborative solution over the weekend calling various members of the group to ensure the document accurately reflects the group’s decision. This “scribe” position should rotate each week. Occasionally, an entire group may meet over the weekend to discuss and work on the problem further.
The teacher grades the group’s work on a scale of one to ten and does not grade the group’s work competitively. Instead, each group can earn up to eighty points that will count as 20% of their total ranking for the course. Students count eight of the eleven problem scores. This flexibility also allows the teacher to drop an entire problem if it doesn’t work 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. On 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 wacky ideas they can think of. This won’t count in the answer to the regular question, but it won’t count if it’s totally outlandish and absolutely wrong. Bonus points are awarded to the entire group and are added after the final grades.
An important conceptual emphasis in the “Philosophy of Science” course is the process of thinking about science. Students gain insight into 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 the 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 booklet “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 about 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 handouts, instructors lay the groundwork for the topic by summarizing what is known, what are the reasonably specific questions where the answers are uncertain, and the hypotheses that people in the field are arguing about. These brochures give everyone a common foundation, regardless of their scientific background.
In class discussions and writing, students are asked to analyze the topic and think of the next problem they need to solve 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 really says and explaining the ideas presented. In these research articles, students read to understand what is known and what is not known and to notice where the clues are for the next step. Students also learn to deal with conflicting evidence by either expanding their hypothesis or explanation to include it or presenting a good reason to ignore it. The point is for students to synthesize a number of individual ideas and theories from the investigation and develop a comprehensive picture or explanation of what may be going on. In scientific research, everyone contributes a little bit and together they add up, instead of there being a sudden big revelation that changes everything. Students learn this as they put together the various research findings about a problem. The course shows how people discover things and gives students the joy of figuring something out and the course is about the thrill of discovery rather than just the joy of learning.
