A year‐long research‐oriented biochemistry laboratory to promote critical skills increase confidence and inspire an enthusiasm for the bench

Abstract

Successful student learning is achieved when learners are involved in inquiry‐based activities. Training new scientists requires a strong emphasis on creating a student‐learning environment and focuses on research‐based exercises. This project integrates research‐based teaching into two semesters of biochemistry laboratories. The first semester focuses on using a single protein in the context of a semester‐long research project to drive student learning. In this semester, students will begin to make their own decisions and design their own experiments. In the second semester students are empowered to design, execute and analyze their experiments. Here students are allowed much more freedom to conduct research in a controlled setting. The concept is to allow each group to work as independent research groups all working on a similar set of genes or proteins. Much of the skills gained in the first semester are directly applied in the second semester. This style of laboratory replaces a variety of shorter labs in favor of an in‐depth research experience. The outcome of this style of research‐oriented laboratory is a student that is much more confident and skilled in critical areas in biochemistry and molecular biology. We have also found that students without research experience prior to the laboratory perform better in advanced courses and in the workplace. This work was funded by NSF CCLI DUE 0511629