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NIGMS > Minority Programs Update > Fall 2001 > The Value of Student Research Experiences |
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FROM THE MORE DIRECTOR Much has been written about how the teaching
of science has drifted away from the joy of discovery to the memorization
of facts. In the interest of economy,
lab classes are sometimes scaled back or are designed to have a "right"
answer that reinforces the lecture material. It seems well accepted
that a research experience is an important tool for motivating undergraduates
to pursue graduate education and research Assuming that engaging in research is a highly effective activity for developing students, it makes sense that we would want as many students as possible to have the opportunity to perform research. Unfortunately, at many institutions the number of interested students overwhelms the number of active research labs available to host them. A common response is to accept only the best prepared and most enthusiastic students--the top 10 percent--into research labs. A practical alternative is to design laboratory classes for all students who meet the prerequisites so that they can experience the way we actually do science. To do this, we need to adjust our thinking about what a laboratory class should be. First, it doesn't need to cover every technique important to the discipline. Second, it doesn't need to cover every principle mentioned in a lecture class. And third, the laboratory class can stand alone, justified for its own heuristic value--it doesn't need to be woven into the fabric of a lecture class. It doesn't even need to be offered during the same academic term. I recall a class that had a great deal of influence on me as an undergraduate. One semester, I missed registration because of an athletic injury, so I was "stuck" with a comparative plant anatomy class. The course had an associated lab section, but it was different from other classes--we were taught the fundamentals of histology and were then left on our own to experiment. We were encouraged to find our own material to prepare 10 slides of different specimens and a set of serial sections designed to illustrate some aspect of plant anatomy. Our lab practical assignment was to make an oral presentation of the slides to the instructor. When my professor asked to keep the slides I had made of cross sections of a banana and serial sections of a carrot root, I was filled with the joy that comes from exploring--of doing something different and doing it well. In my former life as a professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, we offered a number of laboratory classes that were stand-alone courses. The courses often mirrored the current interests of and techniques used by the research faculty. This exposure to "cutting-edge" technologies of the time--such as in situ hybridization, PCR, and monoclonal antibody techniques--helped many students get jobs in the biotechnology industry. Although these courses required significant work on behalf of the researchers--from preparing materials to ensuring broad student access to the lab--the benefit to the students, as well as the host researchers, was indisputable. More importantly, these research-oriented lab classes--much like working in a research lab--taught new ways of thinking and provided a context for the concepts. The process of formulating and performing experiments made these concepts real. Dr. Clifton Poodry, poodryc@nigms.nih.gov, Director, MORE Division, NIGMS, Room 2AS.37, 45 Center Drive MSC 6200, Bethesda, MD 20892-6200, 301-594-3900
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careers.
Working in a research lab gives a practical reason for learning details
about an experimental system--as well as about the broad problem to
be solved and alternative ways to approach the problem.