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1 Kent Academic Repository Fu text document (pdf) Citation for pubished version Loyd, Danie R. (2008) Fina year research projects in communicating science. In: Luck, Martin and Wison, Jackie, eds. Student Research Projects: Guidance on Practice in the Biosciences. Higher Education Academy, pp ISBN DOI Link to record in KAR Document Version Pubisher pdf Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made avaiabe for research purposes. Uness otherwise stated a content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open icence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content shoud be sought from the pubisher, author or other copyright hoder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the fina pubished version. Users are advised to check for the status of the paper. Users shoud aways cite the pubished version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the icence status of this document, pease contact: researchsupport@kent.ac.uk If you beieve this document infringes copyright then pease contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at

2 Student Research Projects: Guidance on Practice in the Biosciences Martin Luck Teaching Bioscience: Enhancing Learning Series Edited by Jackie Wison

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4 Student Research Projects: Guidance on Practice in the Biosciences Martin Luck Associate Professor of Anima Physioogy Schoo of Biosciences The University of Nottingham

5 Teaching Bioscience Enhancing Learning is a series of guides intended to be an accessibe introduction to good earning and teaching practice within the context of competing research and institutiona pressures. The aim of each pubication is to provide a persuasive overview of the pedagogic reasons for adopting a particuar practice and support these reasons with sufficient practica guidance and information to turn ideas into reaity. The guides are structured around a common format; Chapter 1 provides a genera introduction to the topic, Chapter 2 advice on how to impement the topic and Chapter 3 more indepth information on the topic and the opportunity to investigate it further. In addition, each guide contains a coection of bioscience case studies highighting how others have introduced the topic into their teaching practice. It is intended that the guides wi be usefu to academics in their first year of ecturing, particuary those who are studying for Postgraduate Certificates in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, as we as to those with many years of teaching experience. Pubished by the Centre for Bioscience, The Higher Education Academy, Leeds LS2 9JT. ISBN: Copyright of this Guide resides with The Higher Education Academy of which the Centre for Bioscience is part. The materia in this Guide is subject to copyright protection and may be reproduced free of charge in any format or media without requiring specific permission, subject to it being reproduced accuratey and not being used in a derogatory manner or in a miseading context. Where the materia is being pubished or issued to others, the sources and copyright status shoud be acknowedged. This permission does not extend to any materia in the Guide that is identified as being the copyright of a third party. Copyright over this materia sits with the origina author. Whist every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, it does not constitute ega or other professiona advice. The Higher Education Academy does not accept any ega responsibiity for any errors, omissions or miseading statements (caused by negigence or otherwise). The Higher Education Academy does not assume any ega iabiity or responsibiity for the accuracy or competeness of any information contained in this Guide. The Centre for Bioscience ogo, incorporating an adaptation from an origina image of a Menyanthes trifoiata fower Pau Rycraft; adapted with the kind permission of Dr Pau Rycraft. Front cover images courtesy of istockphoto ( and Martin Luck (third from the eft).

6 Contents INTRODUCTION... 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... 2 CHAPTER 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences... 3 CHAPTER 2 Ways of impementing research projects... 9 CHAPTER 3 Project outcomes and assessment CASE STUDIES INDEX CASE STUDY 1 Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation CASE STUDY 2 Overseas fied-based projects: inkage to undergraduate expeditions CASE STUDY 3 Anayses in Bioogy : an anaytica aternative to traditiona research projects CASE STUDY 4 Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads CASE STUDY 5 Designing chaenging dry bioinformatics projects: expoiting pubic databases of genetic and post-genomic pant science data CASE STUDY 6 Commercia projects for fina year students CASE STUDY 7 Fina year research projects in communicating science CASE STUDY 8 Impementing the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS) as a fina-year project option CASE STUDY 9 A virtua aboratory for bioscience e-earning projects CASE STUDY 10 Research for rea an intensive honours research project REFERENCES... 67

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8 Introduction The purpose of this Guide is two-fod: firsty it is intended to provide usefu insights into current thinking about pedagogicay sound provision of student research projects, and secondy to showcase exampes of how student research experience is incorporated within UK HE-eve undergraduate bioscience programmes. Chapter 1 expores the key pedagogic advantages associated with research projects and the main benefits for students and staff. Research projects are of vaue to undergraduate students in severa important ways. Research work gives them ownership of their subject and aows them to experience the imits of confident knowedge, consistent with their approaching status of graduate. Research offers a taster of rea science, which may inform career decisions, and aows the deveopment of vauabe skis. Project students encounter a new eve of independence in their studies and shoud find the experience both motivationa and enjoyabe. For academic staff, projects provide an immediate ink between teaching and research. The research may be intrinsicay productive but it can aso be a chance to test ideas and take controed risks, provided these aims are consistent with educationa objectives. Chapter 2 takes an in-depth ook at the variety of forms of research project, the management of research project provision, and the nature of student supervision. The types of work which may be appropriate for research projects are numerous and are imited ony by the imagination of staff and their educationa context. Conventionay, the project is a practica, experimenta investigation but, as iustrated by severa detaied case studies, it may take diverse other forms provided certain characteristics and objectives are met. In fact, diversity is a feature of bioscience education, as of bioscience itsef, and this is nowhere better iustrated than in the project topics and styes which coeagues use. However, a crucia feature of research provision within in any department must be the assumption that a projects are of equa educationa vaue. Departments make certain practica decisions about how to incorporate research projects into their programmes and about how to manage them. Both set aside (caendar time devoted soey to the project) and muti-tasking (project runs in parae to other studies) modes are used, but there is aso variation in the extent to which students receive pre-project research training or are expected to work in teams. The choices made often refect pressures from cass sizes, imited avaiabiity of resources and oca approaches to funding. However, case studies again demonstrate that with a itte imagination and resourcefuness, impressive resuts can be deivered. In terms of funding, students shoud be expected to appreciate the cost of their research but not to take responsibiity for it. Project management starts with topic aocation (a departmenta activity) but then rapidy becomes persona. At the scientific eve, the supervisor s roe is to give the student gente but secure guidance in how to understand and define the question, manage their expectations and set reaistic targets. Underying a this is the heuristic objective of instiing an uncompromising approach to enquiry. This can be best achieved by a proper appication of the scientific method and by the adoption of a discourse appropriate to the subject area. Projects carried out this way carry imited educationa risk but retain the potentia for great excitement and genuine discovery. Some projects may require an ethica appraisa, and this too can be part of the educationa process. Mock grant appications provide a way of getting students to think objectivey and constructivey about the work they are about to undertake. 1

9 It is a singuar priviege to be a project supervisor. A unique reationship deveops between supervisor and student but this entais a set of mutua obigations, best described as amicabe professionaism. The supervisor needs to pan in anticipation of need, but must aso prepare for the unexpected. Reguar meetings, diarised and recorded, are the bedrock of successfu supervision and shoud be a natura aspect of the shared endeavour. It is hepfu to estabish from the outset a framework for writing which wi carry the student through to the report or dissertation. Writing is tough, and the supervisor has a direct and unavoidabe responsibiity to be both iterary coach and styistic guide. Few projects are probem-free; when difficuties arise, it heps to distinguish between those which stem from the project itsef and those which concern the persona circumstances of the student. Supervisors shoud be resourcefu in offering assistance but must aso know their imits and ca on others when appropriate. Chapter 3 highights some of the key principes of assessment and considers the range of outcomes and outputs which may be produced from student research projects; again drawing on exampes from subjects within the biosciences. Projects are primariy educationa in aim and need to have an assessabe outcome. The traditiona dissertation has advantages and disadvantages when compared to a research paper, and other forms of fina report may be appropriate for certain types of project. Length and content need to be broady defined to ensure parity between students but there shoud be individua fexibiity and discretion in the way rues are appied. Because undergraduate research projects shoud aways be reaistic, not contrived, it is to be expected that pubications wi sometime resut. This is icing on the supervisory cake and a chance to ceebrate student achievement. Besides conventiona journas, an increasing number of oca and nationa vehices are becoming avaiabe for the pubication of undergraduate research. Bioscience Case Studies: the second part of the Guide provides 10 case studies of student research in the biosciences. They cover a wide range of research project formats; conventiona aboratory or fied-based projects, group projects, and a diversity of aternatives invoving data-mining and anaysis, and commercia, communication and education-based investigations. A of the case studies show practice which offers essons for others and may be appicabe or transatabe to other contexts and subject areas. Each is written with enthusiasm and passion and gives insight into the probems or issues associated with impementation as we as the successes. Together the individua case studies encompass the theoretica concepts covered in the earier chapters. Expanded versions of the case studies, further bioscience case studies, and supporting materias are avaiabe from the accompanying web site to this guide ( Acknowedgements I am gratefu to the foowing: Thecoeagueswhogenerousyprovidedcasestudies DrJuianPark(UniversityofReading),forreferencetotheEngageinResearch website DrCaroWagstaff(UniversityofReading),forsuggestionsoncontentandhepfu discussion DrJackieWison(CentreforBioscience),forcommissioningtheGuide,organising the coection of case studies and providing editoria support 2

10 Chapter 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences 3

11 Chapter 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences Introduction Most undergraduate students are expected to do research at some point during their university education. This Guide discusses why this shoud be so, what s in it for students and staff, and how to go about making the experience as vauabe and productive as possibe for a concerned. There is no doubt about the importance attached to research and its centraity in the undergraduate curricuum. Survey responses from 58 UK bioscience departments (Cowie, 2005a) indicated that a offered some form of practica project in the fina year and many aso offered projects invoving data anaysis and iterature review. The vaue of the project in the undergraduate curricuum was indicated by its weighting of between 25 and 30% in the fina degree mark and the expectation that students woud spend an average of 240 hours over 16 weeks working on their projects. The Quaity Assurance Agency considers research to be a required component of undergraduate programmes. This is made expicit in each of the QAA subject benchmark statements of reevance to the biosciences (QAA, 2002 and 2007a and b). Why is research so important for undergraduates? What do they stand to gain from it and what can be done to ensure that the experience is a positive and productive one? As teachers of bioscience, we need to address these questions head-on so the right research environment is created and adequate supervision, resources and support are in pace. It aso heps if the experience of supervision can be positive for staff. What s in it for students? Here are four good reasons for enabing students to do research. i) Ownership: a phiosophy of higher education and graduateness What s so specia about higher education? Before they come to university, most students educationa experience has been centred on the acquisition of knowedge. Those coming through the conventiona schoo system have studied a proportion of mankind s coective wisdom, divided into subjects and arranged into a curricuum. Success has depended on the abiity to demonstrate the possession of facts, broad understanding and persona skis. Those who come to higher education after a break or for a change of career possess a good dea of ife experience but are aso expected to be knowedge-aware. A students arrive with a chosen fied (science, humanities, arts etc.) in which they fee broady confident or have a potentia interest. At university, study continues in the chosen fied, but there is a difference. Subjects deveop depth as we as breadth, information becomes more detaied and concepts become more chaenging. But this is not just a change of intensity. A key characteristic of successfu degree study is that the student comes to appreciate the fu extent of their subject, of how far it has deveoped and of where it might be going next. They aso move from being a passive observer of the scene to becoming an active participant. For further discussion of this topic, see Hounse and McCune, (2002) and McCune et a., (2003). This view of higher education eads to a definition of what it means to be a graduate. By obtaining a degree, a student shoud fee not ony that they can speak about a subject with some authority and confidence but aso that they have a sense of where the border between certainty and uncertainy ies. They shoud know something of the background to what they have earned but aso possess the skis to appraise and interpret new information or discoveries. University study coud therefore be described as the point where students experience the imits of confident knowedge. It shoud be the time when they are abe to reach from the ream of the known to the ream of the unknown. By arriving at this point, they shoud fee ownership of their subject. For academics, the question is how to create the right educationa environment for this to happen. Encouraging students to take part in research has ong been seen as a route to speciaist enightenment. In a practica scientific fied such as the biosciences, knowedge, understanding and advancement come from practica investigation and the evauation of observations. What better way coud there be to turn students into competent, rationa, professiona bioscientists than by offering them the true scientific experience? This Guide suggests some ways of making this happen. One further educationa point shoud be made here. Bioscience students arrive at university expecting, quite righty, to earn through experiment. However, their previous experiences may have given them a utiitarian rather than investigative perception of the 4

12 Chapter 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences experimenta sciences: experiments were used to demonstrate what is known, not to discover something new (Cois et a., 2007). The best way to change their view is to aow them to design, perform, anayse and interpret their own research (Garde-Hansen and Cavert, 2007; Hurd, 2008). ii) A taster of rea science Many bioscience students go on to academic and research careers in academia, the state sector or industry. A few may find that a particuar ski or knowedge of a topic, obtained in the course of their project, eads directy to a PhD position, but this is rare. For most, the project represents a unique chance to experience research in a reativey secure and supportive environment. They can decide if they are suited to it, whether they can accept its intensity, focus and frustrations, and whether they are ikey to enjoy it. Student research acks the absoute requirement of productivity - the emphasis is on process rather than outcome - so an eement of anxiety is removed from the experience. For graduates entering bioscience-reated jobs or professions where research is not the main preoccupation, there is vaue in having experienced the scientific process. They wi find themseves working with information suppied by others; they need to understand how science works and how information is gathered and evauated. They wi aso need to know when to be trusting and when to be sceptica, how to separate fact from presentation and how to distinguish importance from fashion. Many of these attributes appy equay to those moving out of science. The experience of research shoud prove to be vauabe for a graduates, whatever career they enter, and not just those with the higher casses of degree. Ryder (2004) convenienty distinguishes Knowedge of Science and Knowedge about Science as distinct earning outcomes of fina year research projects. The former reates to the scientific content of the project and the opportunity for directy engaging with and owning a number of concepts and ideas. The atter has to do with understanding methods of scientific enquiry, appreciating the reationship between caimed knowedge and rea data, and appreciating the cuture of science and its professiona, institutiona and socia contexts. When formuating ideas for investigation it may be hepfu to refect on the extent to which a particuar project may support these two earning outcomes. iii) Ski deveopment A previous survey of academic coeagues (Luck, 1999) generated a ist of some 46 adaptabe skis a student might acquire by doing a research project (Tabe 1). These were roughy divided between four headings: Process skis; Presentation skis; Management skis; and Persona skis. Simiar ski audits are avaiabe esewhere (Cowie, 2005b; Ryder, 2004). Projects are vauabe, not just for their intrinsic content or outcome, but for the skis obtained by the student. Here is one way of categorising some of these skis. Recognising ski deveopment in this way can hep the student to vaue their project and recognise their achievements. Tabe 1 Skis obtainabe from projects (Adapted from Luck, 1999) Process skis Presentation skis Management skis Persona skis Probem formuation Effective use of anguage Project panning Independence Probem soving Data awareness Setting objectives Sef-confidence Assessing information Ora communication Project management Sef-reiance Sifting and baancing evidence Audience awareness Progress review and evauation Sef-discipine Research techniques Debating and arguing Time management Sef-enquiry Literature searching and sourcing Persuading an encouraging Working to deadines Imagination Reading scientific information Effective use of dispay technoogy Working with others Originaity Deveoping arguments Report writing Person management Abiity or earn Designing investigations and experiments Writing for different audiences Coping with crises Making decisions Anaysing data Writing for different purposes Entrepreneurship Being adaptabe Attention to detai Accepting criticism Numeracy Literacy Computing skis Lab skis Safety awareness Writing for different purposes 5

13 Chapter 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences The QAA Benchmark Statement for Agricuture and reated sciences (QAA, 2002) gives a detaied ist of skis associated with its degree programmes, divided amongst Inteectua skis, Practica skis, Numeracy skis, Communication skis, ICT skis, Interpersona and teamwork skis, Sef management and professiona deveopment skis. About 75% of these can be associated directy with research work, as may many other skis. In addition there are subject-specific skis, associated with the research work itsef and earnt in order to carry it out (for exampe, a specific ab procedure, machine operation, mathematica mode or statistica technique). Some of those may aso turn out to be unexpectedy adaptabe to other situations. It has been fashionabe for some time to specify ski deveopment as a earning objective in course descriptions. In the case of research projects it may indeed be hepfu to define certain target skis, athough with such a ong ist to seect from one might debate whether accurate specification is necessary or indeed possibe. The deveopment of skis coud, by itsef, probaby justify the incusion of research in undergraduate courses. It is certainy vauabe to be abe to offer them as a tangibe outcome to students, especiay to those who may be ess academicay incined or sceptica about the vaue of getting invoved in research. In the end however, ski deveopment is inevitabe: any student competing a project wi have acquired a vauabe set of ife- and career-enhancing experiences, whether or not they have been deiberatey sought or expicity identified as skis. iv) Independence, motivation and fun Undertaking a research project represents a radica change in earning stye for most students. They move from the organised security of forma teaching situations (ectures, practicas, tutorias etc) to an individua investigative study for which they need to deveop their own earning environment. The project topic beongs to them and progress depends uniquey on their input. The progress they make wi be a measure of their sef-reiance and their abiity to convert enthusiasm into productivity. This is personaised earning. Many students find this independence motivating and energising. They enjoy the change of focus and respond positivey to the newy acquired responsibiity for their own earning. These are vauabe aspects of the research experience and they wi contribute to the student s persona, scientific and professiona maturity. As in most areas of ife, motivation, independence and peasure are cosey inked, so there is every reason to expect the project to be a peasurabe aspect of degree study. The foowing quotation is attributed to Benjamin Jowett ( ), a Greek schoar and Master of Baio Coege, Oxford: We have sought truth, and sometimes perhaps found it. But have we had any fun? What s in it for academics? In view of the cost of undergraduate research in time, effort and resources, it is reasonabe to expect a payback. The research itsef is being done for two separate reasons: for its educationa vaue and for its intrinsic scientific worth. Because the student doing the research is concurrenty earning how to be a researcher, there can be no guarantee that the research wi be productive or vauabe. So, what ese can staff expect to get from the experience? i) Linking teaching and research In recent years, there has been much debate about the ink between teaching and research in higher education (Sears and Wood, 2005; Jenkins et a., 2007). Do teachers need to be active researchers? Shoud research-focussed academics be expected to teach? What is the nature of schoarship? Are teaching and research inked or separate parts of academic ife? These questions come to the fore whenever the Research Assessment Exercise is mentioned and whenever comparisons are drawn between institutions with different academic priorities. More importanty, every academic is forced to address these questions for him or hersef. We each need to set our own priorities and adjust to the competing demands of what can fee ike an impossibe job. These issues have been discussed esewhere (Luck, 2006) with the concusion that teaching and research need to be integrated components of academic professiona ife; they infuence each other in a variety of important, often subte ways. Creating, running and supervising undergraduate projects can be a straightforward way of integrating teaching and research, heping to overcome the probem of competing pressures. Moreover, if 6

14 Chapter 1 The vaue of student research in the biosciences student project work is viewed as part of one s research activity, as much as a part of one s teaching, it can increase the motivation and reduce the burden consideraby. The foowing paragraphs ook at how this can happen. ii) Testing ideas, risk-taking Be reassured: it is OK to take (cacuated) risks with student projects! It is perfecty acceptabe to get students to investigate specuative ideas, to test hunches and to work on a sma scae, aways provided that the educationa environment and the scientific framework are sound and we managed. A research is risky otherwise it woudn t be research and student research is no different in that respect. The outcome of any research project is uncertain: if it were aready known, the project woud not be worth doing. Where student research does differ is in its purpose: because it is part of earning, the emphasis is on process rather than outcome. A project can be deemed a success if the student emerges from it with understanding, enthusiasm for science and a greaty increased portfoio of skis. In fact, whist a very few students are fortunate enough to make important discoveries, the vast majority of projects never generate anything remotey pubishabe. But if this is the case, how can student research be ooked on as a vauabe part of one s research activity? One answer is to make use of students as test piots. Get them to try out ideas which are too sma to give to a PhD student, which might be away from the main focus of your interests, which might be foowing up a hunch or tying off a oose end, or which you might otherwise find hard to get funded. As discussed beow, student projects can be wet, dry or iterature-based, or have a commercia or educationa context. In a of these situations, they offer an opportunity for you (the teacher/researcher) to engage with your own imagination, without the need for externa justification. Be cear this approach is not one of reckess risktaking. Quite the opposite is true: any project needs to be propery thought out, designed, resourced and managed otherwise it is not justifiabe and the student wi be et down. Be prepared to take risks in topic and concept, but be cear about the nature of the work. Give the student attainabe goas and adequate resources and know what you wi do if probems arise. iii) Surprises and dead ends Athough the vaue of most student research ies in the experience of the student, some projects do turn out to be scientificay vauabe as we. Student data can contribute to pubications incuding papers, books and conference presentations. It is exciting when this happens and a cause for ceebration. In Chapter 3, we ook at some ways of pubicy recognising student research and increasing its vaue. In addition to this be prepared for the odd surprise. Occasionay, research ideas which you may have thought to be unikey wi turn out to be inspired and far-sighted. Other ideas, thought to be routine and a safe bet, wi prove to be dead ends and not worth pursuing further. Students themseves spring surprises too. Given the opportunity to think for themseves, students can often bring a fresh imagination and an uncuttered perspective to a probem, and other productive suggestions or new interpretations. If this happens it is indicative of a successfu conjunction of circumstances: project, student, supervisor and resources a coming together in a conducive inteectua environment. And a further even more rewarding surprise is when a student starts to fourish unexpectedy, for exampe, when someone who has strugged in the face of conventiona coursework and exams turns out to have a rea aptitude for ab work or compex modeing or iterature anaysis. These moments, which are sometimes ife changing for both the supervisor and the student, are to be savoured. iv) Fun Supervising a project student inevitaby means getting to know them particuary we (Chapter 2, page 26). Whist it remains a professiona interaction, it is a deeper interaction than occurs esewhere at undergraduate eve. This adds immensey to the peasure of the job. Project work is a coaborative effort, even if the types and quantities of input are unequa, and strengths and weaknesses on both sides can be brought into sharp focus. Each supervisory experience is unique and each project assumes its own personaity and favour for this reason. At the end of the project, an experience has been shared and it shoud be possibe to refect on it with peasure. Jowett s question (above) shoud be posed at reguar intervas. 7

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16 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects 9

17 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Types of project Cowie (2005b) found that a the HE bioscience departments which responded to his survey (58, representing pre- and post-1992 universities) offered practica research projects based on aboratory or fiedwork. Over haf (52%) aso offered iteraturebased projects and 43% offered projects based on data anaysis. A fifth of departments offered projects not faing into one of these categories, suggesting that there is an extensive poo of aternative possibiities, designed and supervised by imaginative staff with a broad range of research skis and experiences to offer. In this section we ook at a range of types of project, both conventiona and unconventiona. We identify six broad types of research project commony used in the Biosciences (incuding the Life, Food, Agricutura and Biomedica areas) and consider the essentia characteristics of each. Case studies, kindy provided by coeagues, are presented to iustrate how these projects operate. The aim is to indicate the variety of research experiences which can be offered to students and to provide ideas and inspiration. Subsequenty, we consider the more abstract but important questions of whether different types of project offer equivaent educationa experiences and of what needs to be done to ensure a students engage with rea research. As a genera principe, a types of project can be investigatory and invove the appication of scientific techniques, even though individua contexts, methods and outcomes vary widey. An educationay successfu project is defined by process as much as by outcome and so a students shoud be expected to work within a rigorous scientific framework. We therefore emphasise an overty experimenta approach, grounded in a cear perception of and appication of the scientific method. A discussion of the importance of the scientific method and of ways of getting students to engage with it is given ater (Chapter 2, page 23). i) Laboratory Laboratory projects are traditiona in many bioscience discipines. They are the most obviousy experimenta in nature and it is straightforward to buid them around the testing of a hypothesis. The project wi probaby fa naturay into three phases: a period of practica experimentation, preceded by a reading of key iterature and foowed by data anaysis and interpretation. Because of the compexity and resource requirements of most practica bioscience research, these projects may require the appication of standard procedures. Methods of data anaysis may aso be we estabished. The student wi probaby be working as part of a we-estabished ab or research team. Despite joining an estabished research environment, the student has severa important tasks: a) to get to grips with the background materia, b) to produce a sound experimenta design, c) to become a responsibe aboratory worker, d) to earn the required techniques, e) to generate and anayse data or observations, f) to interpret data and reach an informed concusion. Each of these can be a significant chaenge, even where the bench work itsef is routine and reiabe data is ikey to be produced. For the supervisor these types of projects can be the most expensive and resource-intensive. The student needs to be provided with ab space, consumabes and machine time, and it wi be necessary to devote academic, researcher or technician effort to induction, training and troube-shooting. None of this input has a guaranteed return in terms of ab output. The experimenta design stage wi need to be carefuy guided so the student retains reasonabe autonomy, avoids known pitfas and ends up with a workabe scheme. Aso, students vary consideraby in their aptitude for practica experimentation, so a good dea of patience, toerance and support may be needed from others in the ab. The main advantages of ab projects are that they ead directy to practica skis and they fit easiy into a conventiona investigative framework. They are aso reasonaby straightforward to write up, either as a thesis or in the form of a research paper. The main disadvantages can be cost, the difficuty of providing access to adequate faciities and resources, and the need for cose supervision. Chaffey (case study 1) provides a typica exampe of a ab-based project buit around a straightforward and easiy adaptabe set of microbioogica procedures. A key feature here is that the simpicity and reiabiity of the technique aows the student to be imaginative and to suggest and test their own independent variabes. A tried and tested structure ike this aso means that appropriate emphasis can be paced on rigorous attention to experimenta design and the appication of scientific method. Partridge and Murphy (2004), and Latham (2008) are pubished exampes of ab-based experimenta 10

18 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects projects. Other high quaity research reports from bioscience projects can be found in the Bioscience Horizons journa ( org/). ii) Fiedwork and surveys In many respects projects invoving fied-based observations or coection of sampes from the fied (foowed by anaysis in the aboratory) are simiar to aboratory projects, and represent the traditiona student research project in fied-bioogy and environmenta bioogy discipines (agricuture, ecoogy, conservation, zooogy, and marine and freshwater bioogy). The fied-based eement of such projects may take pace within the UK or overseas (the atter may be particuary attractive to many students (and prospective students). The ogistics of organising fied-based projects (particuary overseas) can be compex and issues surrounding student supervision and heath and safety may be heightened. In addition to the constraints posed by arger student cohorts and research costs, the accessibiity of suitabe fied sites and the inherent nature of fied-based projects (invoving observation of biota and dynamic systems) can make project timing more probematic. As a resut, it is common for the fied-based or sampe coection eement of the project to take pace in the summer vacation preceding the student s fina year of study, which can sometimes give rise to questions over parity. According to Downie et a., (case study 2), they have found inking fied-based projects to undergraduate expeditions to be a particuary successfu strategy for overcoming such difficuties; enabing greater numbers of students to undertake projects overseas. Their soution has been to create fiedwork opportunities during the summer vacation (for which students in any year may appy) and to aow fina year students to use these as the basis for their fina year research. Projects may be based in the UK or abroad and in the atter case are inked to undergraduate expeditions organised jointy by staff and students. The key feature of this approach is that the fina year students take part in a arger endeavour which can be propery funded and academicay managed. The university retains oversight of the experience and expedition staff can ensure the correct scientific approach is being taken. Staff (and students) in the department recognise the inherent diversity of the projects carried out and the fexibiity permitted in terms of timing and input, but find the resuting studies are equivaent (in terms of time, effort and inteectua rigour) with other types of fina year project. An additiona advantage of this approach is the opportunity for students in earier years to gain research experience and earn aongside senior students, and staff undertaking research activities. Bryant (2005) concudes bioethica topics can be the basis for dry projects; with such projects embodying simiar eements to traditiona projects, namey: defining a research probem, designing appropriate methods to investigate the probem, and coecting, anaysing and presenting data/observations. Ethica approva is essentia for this type of project, which typicay invoves surveys/questionnaires or structured interviews (methods more common to the socia sciences), and can therefore represent a steep earning curve for bioogists. In common with wet projects, such projects may ead to pubishabe outputs (e.g. Bryant and Morgan, 2007). iii) Data anaysis, bioinformatics and modeing Many areas of modern bioscience, for exampe those based in genomics, proteomics and metaboomics, generate vast amounts of data requiring devoted and speciaist anaysis. These can generate abundant materia for student research. Many bioscience departments have speciaist bioinformatics staff who can provide inks to coeagues with suitabe data sets as we as offering support and supervision. Such projects, buit around data anaysis and modeing, are characterised by the fact the student is not responsibe for the generation of the data. Their roe is to understand its origin, design and structure and then to mine it for vauabe information. In this sense the ownership of the project is somewhat different from a conventiona experimenta investigation. The student needs to be cear about the eve of responsibiity they may have for the hypotheses being tested, the type of concusion they are expected to come to and the extent to which they are responsibe for the anaytica methods to be appied. A further issue to consider is the extent of the mathematica and statistica chaenge associated with the work. Most bioscience students are numericay competent to a esser or greater extent, but a significant proportion express a disike or insecurity over numericay-based work (and may even have chosen bioogy in preference to other sciences for that reason). In fact, with patient supervision and good speciaist support when required, the concepts and anaytica techniques needed for data-based 11

19 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects projects are we within the grasp of most students. Furthermore, once the methods are set, the anaysis wi be carried out by computer and the student s roe wi be to manage rather than manipuate it. Thus projects of this kind may need to be proposed and sod to students with care, perhaps pacing the emphasis on the bioogica outcome itsef, rather than on the methodoogy. James (case study 3) and Hejmadi (case study 4) provide projects based on bioinformatics topics which wi specificay encourage the deveopment of key research skis. Wagstaff (case study 5) finds that bioinformatics projects, if carefuy designed and supervised, can have equivaent inteectua and experimenta attributes to those of wet or ab-based investigations, athough students may need initia guidance on the reationship between arge-scae data anaysis and rea bioogica systems. iv) Literature review Pressure on staff time and resources mean that iterature-based projects are becoming increasingy popuar. On the face of it they seem a simpe way of avoiding costs and deaing with arge numbers of students. However to be effective they need to be propery structured investigations and must be carefuy managed. They shoud be more than just an extended essay. A usefu guiding principe for iterature projects is that the whoe shoud be more than the sum of its parts. Pubished information needs to be read, reviewed and summarised, but the resut shoud be a synthesis which provides a new interpretation, gives a new perspective or offers a nove expanation of the topic being discussed. This is not easy and it provides a significant and vauabe educationa chaenge. Such projects can be firmy grounded in the experimenta method and the key to this ies in the way the topic is set. The initia idea for the project might be a purey descriptive enquiry, based on a question starting with What, Where, When, How or Who and using soey the existing iterature to provide answers. The way to render these questions scientific is to turn them into testabe hypotheses (as suggested in Tabe 2), and then to use the iterature as evidence for the test. Once this is done, a the usua requirements of sound critica science come into pay: determining the vaidity and reiabiity of information, examining assumptions, identifying misinterpretations, spotting gaps in expanation, suggesting new experiments and deveoping new hypotheses. Tabe 2 Turning investigations into questions (Adapted from Luck, 1999) Nature of investigation Find out about something Measure something Find out how something works or why something happens Mode a possibe event Sove a practica probem Create a usefu product or practica soution Investigate an historica event Investigate an historica character Investigate a significant event Structure of question Is it true that? Where is X ocated? What does Y ook ike? What is the size of? Is X significanty different in size from Y? What is the cause of? Does X have a significant effect on Y? Does Y depend on Z? Do X and Y respond independenty to Z? What woud happen if? Coud X be the cause of Y? Is Y a necessary consequence of X? How can X be achieved? How can difficuty Y be removed? How can X be done, or done better? How can Y be made? When and why did X happen? Why did Y happen when it did? Who caused X to happen, or what was their roe in the course of events? Where did X happen? Why did it happen here? Test pubic opinion What do peope think about X? Study a process or poicy Which of X, Y and Z do peope prefer? What is the mechanism of X? How can Y be improved or made more efficient? Initiay, the student may find this approach unfamiiar, unnecessary, uncomfortabe or even irritating. However, if done in a structured fashion, they wi quicky find that it guides and focuses their reading and gives secure purpose to their 12

20 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects investigation. Unti this point they may have used pubished information as a reiabe point of reference. Their principe chaenge is to reaise that iterature is subjective, faibe, incompete and open to reinterpretation. When used in this way, iteraturebased projects can be exciting routes to discovery. Projects often begin with a genera idea of what needs to be investigated. An essentia eary step is to turn this idea into a focussed question. It heps to categorise the nature of the investigation and to phrase the question accordingy. Once this has been done it is generay straightforward to deveop hypotheses and appy the scientific method. The chaenges for the supervisor incude: Training the student s attitude and anguage towards a critica investigation; Keeping account of the baance of the work as it proceeds; Pointing the student to key sources at appropriate points in the investigation; and Encouraging them to use their imagination and heping them to find new points of view. Writing up a iterature-based project presents a further chaenge, and departmenta guideines for the structure of the thesis are ikey to need adaptation. Athough a conventiona experimenta framework is inappropriate, it is sti important to identify questions and hypotheses, to present evidence and evauate it and to come to cear concusions. The iterature review section wi probaby be greater in extent and it may be appropriate to have a separate section, anaogous to the Resuts, where key items are evauated in depth. The Methods section wi probaby be short but coud contain a brief account of the iterature search strategy (sources and databases used, keywords, eves of search, threads foowed) and of any metaanaytica or data assemby procedures empoyed. Equay, it is usuay necessary to design a specific marking strategy for these kinds of projects rather than force the assessment to fit that appied to a conventiona, experimenta project (for exampe, see University of Nottingham, Schoo of Biosciences). It is important to understand the requirements of the work and expain these ceary to the student at the outset of the study. v) Commercia; Product deveopment Some departments expoit inks with industry to provide both ideas for project topics and the materia for investigation. This approach recognises that many students wi deveop careers in industry and commerce. They can benefit enormousy by seeing how a business operates, whist at the same time working on a research idea of direct interest to the company. From the university s point of view, it adds variety to the project options avaiabe but aso heps to ease pressure on resources. A key determinant of the success of these arrangements is the carity and effectiveness of the ink between the supervisor and the business partner. The supervisor retains educationa responsibiity and may need to guide the partner over matters such as expected achievements, workoad and timescae, as we as the need for a carefuy structured and objective assessment of student performance. The partner s agenda wi be centred on the product and its commercia vaue or importance to the company. They may have a mutua interest in the science underpinning the research and wi need to estabish an ongoing diaogue to ensure that their interests and those of the student are sufficienty catered for. Tatner and Tierney (case study 6) expoit inks with oca bioscience companies to deveop sponsorships for individua students. The topic for research is suggested by the company and the work itsef is done on the company s behaf, athough the student has a university-based supervisor with responsibiity for the underying science. The student s performance is assessed by a conventiona project report and a technica document, the atter becoming the property of the company. Students taking this type of project undergo an intensive twoweek business orientation course to prepare them for the commercia environment they are about to enter. Simiary, Przyborski (2005) describes a yearong enterprise eective offered by the Schoo of Bioogica and Biomedica Science at the University of Durham, with input from the University s Business Schoo. Students generate an idea for a business opportunity based on a scientific discovery, and then appy their knowedge and understanding of science to deveop and research their idea into a technoogy that can be readiy commerciaised. They work and are summativey assessed both in groups and individuay; producing an extended essay, a presentation and a business pan. Jeings (2003) describes Technoogy Transfer projects, designed to strengthen the inks between research iterature and vocationa graduate destinations. The use of these projects was encouraged by discussions with empoyers, and they were found to substantiay increase the 13

21 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects empoyabiity of students who competed them. Each project is structured around an assessment of recent deveopments in an organisation which expoits technoogies associated with speciaised areas of the student s degree programme, couped with a targeted anaysis of a particuar business. The project is thus directy reevant to both the student and the business. The chaenge for the student is to probe the inks between technoogy and its appication and to understand how communications between and within technoogy-using organisations actuay work. It was found possibe to assess project performance by adapting standard criteria to incude both the business anaysis and the student s abiity to design systems for the communication, transfer and embedding of new technoogica information. vi) Educationa resource deveopment/ Communication projects Students often express an interest in the way science can be communicated and taught. Many wi go into teaching where there is a cear need for wedeveoped communication skis couped with an abiity to describe compex topics in a straightforward and understandabe manner. Others may be attracted to careers in journaism, pubic reations or as science writers in commercia, industria, government or charity settings. Even those who enter more conventiona academic, scientific or research careers, are increasingy required to be abe to justify their work to ay-assessors or describe what they do to non-speciaists (for exampe when appying for research funding or patents). Like a bioscience students, students foowing any of these paths need to have a good understanding of their subject and to have experienced research first hand. However, there is an additiona advantage if the research they carry out for their degree has an expicit cear communication eement. Severa departments have deveoped projects offering this combination of experiences. The chaenge in designing and running them is to ensure that the student engages with the scientific process at the same time as deveoping suitabe styes of presentation. Loyd (case study 7) offers science communication projects as one option amongst a variety of project types and styes. Project topics are often drawn from topica and controversia areas in the pubic eye (of which there is sedom a shortage given current deveopments in bioscience, biotechnoogy and biomedicine). The outcomes of the project are a dissertation and an ora presentation, together with a communication piece in a format suitabe to the nature and context of the topic. This combination ensures ampe opportunities for the student to demonstrate their communication skis, but aso aows them to show that they can engage deepy with a scientific issue, undertake in-depth research and depoy the crucia toos of critica judgment and anaysis. The assessment scheme is expicit in terms of achievement in each area. (See aso, Whitte (2003).) Grady (2008) simiary offers projects tagged as Education. These often ead to the deveopment of a teaching resource reevant to schoo bioogy and may require the student to make contact with or seek advice from a teacher. The project earning outcomes specify that origina research must be undertaken and that there must be some experience of scientific and investigatory techniques. Thus the research work is in every sense equivaent to that being carried out in more conventiona bioscience projects. The added attraction, especiay for students interested in a career in education, is the targeting of research towards pedagogy and the chance of deveoping communication skis and awareness. In both of the above cases the requirements and earning objectives are specified in such a way as to ensure that academic and scientific rigour are maintained. This ensures parity with other projects and prevents students from seeing it as a soft option. It aso dispes any uncertainty amongst academic coeagues about the equivaence of the research chaenge. Broadey (case study 8) has deveoped the use of teaching experience as a fina year research project. Students taking part in the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme ( engage in esson panning as the basis of their fina year dissertation. Aongside the deveopment of a teaching resource, they undertake research into aspects of pedagogy and are required to refect criticay on the progress of their own earning and deveopment. Thus, rather than gaining technica scientific skis, their research skis reate to communication and pedagogy, couped with an understanding of their own area of bioscience. The project is marked to a rigorous scheme which ensures equivaence with more traditiona types of research project. Students taking this option have previousy foowed a modue caed Communicating Biosciences which provides them with some basic skis and raises their awareness of the styes of communication required for different audiences. 14

22 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Wakeford and Mier (case study 9) and Hoingsworth et a., (2004) describe projects invoving the deveopment of e-earning resources, which have been an option for a number of years, for fina year students at the University of Manchester. Students produce e-earning resources for undergraduate use, such as data-driven activities, or virtua experiments to support aboratory casses. As part of these projects each student is invoved in designing, creating and then evauating their resource and its suitabiity for their intended audience. Adams (2008) describes the deveopment of an information website as the outcome of a research project in pant biotechnoogy. The aim was to provide a vehice through which information about the seenium fortification of bread, arising from government-industry sponsored research on fertiiserbased agro-fortification, coud be communicated to scientists, heath professionas, industry and the pubic. Adams task was both to understand the biotechnoogy and nutritiona science underying the topic, and to consider the most effective way of designing and constructing a dynamic and informative website. Thus the project combined a need for sound evauation and understanding of scientific information with an appreciation of effective design and communication. vii) Reative vaues Students ony get one chance at a research project, so it is essentia that a are given an equivaent educationa opportunity. Given the enormous variety of possibe topics, it is reasonabe to ask whether some types of project may be inherenty more vauabe than others. There is certainy a view amongst some academics that a bioscience students shoud have the opportunity to carry out conventiona, ab- or fiedbased research and that any other type of project represents second best. In fact, this need not be the case: the vaue of a project ies principay in the experience it provides of the scientific process, not in its factua or methodoogica content. Furthermore, given that about 50% of biosciences graduates go on to get empoyment outside the subject area (Brown et a., 2005), it woud be hard to argue that specific ab or fied techniques shoud be experienced for their career vaue. Each of the project types discussed above wi faciitate a proper experientia engagement with science, provided they are constructed, performed and supervised in the right way. Wakeford and Mier (case study 9) acknowedge the need for a students to experience reaistic research, whatever type of project they carry out. They promote investigative and critica thinking in virtua aboratories, using a anguage of enquiry mode and a carefuy structured and supported earning environment. As a matter of practicaity, arge cass sizes and the avaiabiity of funding and staff resources demand that a fexibe approach is taken to project design. Furthermore bioscience education, ike bioscience as a discipine, thrives on diversity and so the range of avaiabe projects shoud refect this. A students shoud receive an equa chance to demonstrate their skis and abiities and it woud certainy be wrong to pre-seect them on the basis that some projects are inherenty more difficut or intrinsicay more vauabe than others. It is notabe that the journa Bioscience Horizons ( which pubishes expert-reviewed and fuy citabe artices derived from student projects, reports not ony traditiona-stye ab investigations but aso fiedwork reports (e.g. Crompton, 2008), ecoogica surveys (e.g. Worster, 2008), iterature-reviews (e.g. Kaczmarczyk, 2008) and web resource deveopment (e.g. Adams, 2008). It is ceary reaistic for a students to be offered a fu research experience, and for expectations to be set high, whatever the nature or type of the investigation. Students may express particuar preferences or interests and this can be refected in the aocation of topics, provided a fair distribution system is used (see beow). However, experience suggests that students wi demonstrate their eve of abiity whatever type of project they do, provided the project itsef is designed to afford them that opportunity. Aptitude, abiity and ski are unpredictabe attributes. Strategies for project management i) When to do it Undergraduate research projects in the biosciences normay take pace in the fina year of a three year BSc degree course (or four year Scottish equivaent). An aternative strategy, currenty more common in the physica sciences than the biosciences, is for a three year BSc degree to be converted to an MSci by an extra research year. Traditionay, the incusion of research within a three year course 15

23 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects distinguished an honours degree from an ordinary degree, athough this distinction has been burred since the massification of HE began in the second haf of the 20th century and the widespread adoption of credit ratings and moduar course structures in the 1990s. Research projects are aso avaiabe to many students taking medica or veterinary courses at the end of the pre-cinica training period or as part of intercaated degree studies. The credit weighting appied to research within the overa degree assessment varies consideraby across universities, coeges and departments, refecting variation in the amount of time aocated to research within the degree programme. Cowie s (2005a) survey indicated projects contributed on average 26.4% to the degree mark (higher for practica and data anaysis projects and ower for iterature-based projects) but with a ikey range of between 10 and 50%. This variation is to be expected given the autonomy of universities to create their own degree programme structures and the avoidance of time specifications in QAA subject benchmark statements. ii) Two modes There are aso two distinct modes for incuding research in the degree programme. The mutitasking mode (by far the more common; Cowie, 2005a) requires students to take a project modue(s) aongside their other studies and the research may therefore be extended over one, two or even three terms/semesters. The set-aside mode aows for a period of study to be devoted entirey to research. The amount of caendar time may be substantiay ess under this mode (say 8-10 weeks or one semester) but the hours of study shoud be proportionate in terms of credit weighting and assessment. In the end, the department wi decide which mode is adopted and wi buid the project appropriatey into the rest of its teaching and assessment programme. Projects which are based on seasonay-dependent resources (for exampe, in appied and-based or environmenta subject areas) or which invove vacation or pacement work, may have to be run on a muti-tasking basis simpy to aow access to the necessary materia. Such a project may be designed to have distinct periods of time devoted to experiment or data coection, with the rest of the time assigned to iterature review, data anaysis and write-up. In genera the muti-tasking approach aows for a diversity of project types to be made avaiabe within a singe department. The set-aside mode ends itsef we to ab-based projects and can be particuary efficient to run where groups of students need to be taught a common set of techniques or given devoted access to resources, for exampe in moecuar, biochemica or ce cuture aboratories. Athough muti-tasking and set-aside are equay vaid approaches, the project experience of students under each mode may be quite different. Under muti-tasking, the student is exposed to the research topic for an extended period and there is time for their thoughts and ideas to deveop. The opportunity to separate background reading from practica research activity may be expoited to aow the student a significant infuence over project design. On the other hand, muti-tasking students may need to be particuary we-skied in time management and wi probaby need to negotiate constanty with supervisors and members of the research group over timing and access to resources. Muti-taskers typicay show variations in motivation and enthusiasm over the course of a ong project and can require fexibe supervision and sensitive encouragement. Set-aside students have the advantage of singe-minded devotion to task but may have ess opportunity to think about the investigation before it gets underway. With devoted resources and ab time, the opportunity to deveop practica skis is high but there may be itte time for fase starts or repeats. Overa, the imited period avaiabe means the project must be carefuy taiored to aow for each eement of the work and for a proper write-up to take pace. The set-aside experience may be more reaistic as a representation of ife as a career researcher, if that is the student s intention. On the other hand, the eventua sense of success or faiure may be exaggerated, simpy because the research experience has been compressed. iii) Preparation for research We have aready acknowedged that students do not come to their projects as skied or experienced researchers. The project is thus as much a chance to earn as a chance to research. However, to make progress students need some basic skis. So, how do they acquire these? Wiiams (2004) identifies two approaches to the deveopment of research skis and competence. In a Nature approach, students are immersed in a research cuture and gain their research experience from frequent practicas and sma projects embedded within their course. They have contact 16

24 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects with research active staff but the rate and extent of ski acquisition depends to a great extent on sefmotivation and the student s innate curiosity. In a Nurture approach, the student foows a series of structured sessions (ectures, tutorias, workshops) on aspects of research methodoogy incuding quaitative and quantitative methods, experimenta design, ethics etc., expicity designed to prepare them for project work. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach. Wiiams advocates a mixture, recognising that there are constraints on staff time and financia resources. The advantage of this is that students can be motivated to deveop their own ideas and take responsibiity for project design whist aso receiving adequate and comprehensive amounts of research training. Structuring the preparative activity aso makes it open to both formative and summative assessment, if this is considered to be a necessary part of project preparation. Davies and Cotter (2008) describe a Leve II course, designed to deveop research skis and encourage student-driven earning. Students work in teams of six and foow a structured framework to define project aims and investigative approach. Assessment emphasises groups responsibiity and is designed to ensure that a participants fuy understand the project. Huxham (case study 10) requires students to take a 3rd year preparatory dissertation and statistics modue during which they aso produce an assessed iterature review. His students are aso expected to have acquired key research skis from modues taken earier in the course. Reader (2008) introduces Leve II students to project work in behavioura ecoogy through a two-week fied course. Students pan experiments before they go and then work in teams to generate data based on the oca resources. The emphasis during the fied course is on the systematic coection and statistica anaysis of data as we as on the deveopment of work management and organisationa skis. Many of the projects carried out generate pubishabe materia. This high eve of success is attributed party to the focus achievabe by reocating to a conducive ocation and having a arge staff input for a short period of time, but aso to a cear sense of student ownership and responsibiity for the project work itsef. Motivation is aso provided by the good possibiity of eventua pubication. Work which does not reach this eve is coected into an in-house voume which can be passed on to the next generation of students. Lintern (2007) describes the use of ab workshops to train students in common aboratory techniques ikey to be needed in their research projects. She reports good eves of satisfaction amongst students for this type of approach even though the skis being deveoped are fairy basic and despite not a students immediatey appreciating their reevance. Jervis (Latham and Jervis, 2008) uses short, easiy designed and inexpensive practica projects to introduce second year students to a particuar area of bioscience they may not have encountered previousy. They offer basic ski training and boost students confidence in practica research. The project topics are inked to academic research going on in the department but are designed to be attractive and accessibe. They are therefore reaistic and purposefu tasters for what might be avaiabe in the fina year project. Yeoman (2008) eads an optiona second year research skis modue in which students undertake open-ended, heaviy supported mini-research projects in sma groups, which are designed to give them the basic technica, anaytica and writing skis needed for fina year aboratory projects. Students receive an introduction to the research environment and gain confidence from spending a sizeabe amount of time in the aboratory (an average of 7 hours per week for eight weeks). An aternative approach to supporting practica work is the provision of a bank of technica worksheets for commony used techniques, such as that avaiabe at Bristo (Langton, 2007). iv) Group projects With pressure on staff time and ever-increasing cass sizes it is tempting to aow students to do their research in groups. This can simpify departmenta management of the research eement of the degree programme and can bring about savings for the supervisor in instructiona and support time. Generic research skis, in the ab or fied but aso for iterature research and data anaysis, can be taught to the group in a more structured or schedued manner than may be possibe when individua projects are being supervised. A team of students wi be abe to tacke a consideraby arger project and if they work we together they can a benefit from the extended scope and depth of enquiry. It may we be reaistic to represent research as a coaborative activity in this manner: most professiona researchers work as part of a team, or 17

25 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects at east see their work as contributing to the effort of a arger group or ab-wide endeavour (Wright and Boggs, 2002). Students working as a group wi start to sense how research teams operate and wi be abe to deveop usefu teamwork skis. They shoud aso hep each other to achieve greater breadth and depth of understanding. However, some particuar chaenges need to be overcome if student research is to be approached in this way. These reate to the equaity of experience, the assessment of individua performance and the absoute educationa requirement that one student s performance shoud not be dependent on that of another. It becomes crucia to design the project in such a way that every student retains some autonomy and individua responsibiity so whatever the fina outcome of the research, their own abiities and skis are propery represented. Students may benefit by motivating each other and from sharing expertise and experiences, but it woud be quite wrong for a student to fee that the fina assessment of their performance depends on the efforts of their peers. Saffe (2008) describes a research modue in which students work in sma teams (3 students/team) to propose, design and execute an investigation. Athough the teams take responsibiity for their research, they operate within a highy structured environment which ensures that the experimenta work is propery executed and that the project deveops through an appropriate sequence of phases. The students produce individua pans and reports for assessment. Hejmadi (case study 6) provides team projects (usuay 2 students/team) with a ess structured framework, athough there is sti emphasis on carefu panning, a rigorous scientific approach and the deveopment of skis. The achievement of some key skis (incuding probem soving, critica appraisa, team working, data anaysis, experimenta fair) forms an expicit part of the assessment process, aongside assessments of ab performance and a conventiona research report. Wakeford and Mier (case study 9) tacke the probem of arge student numbers and imited resources by creating a framework of virtua aboratories in which groups of 7-10 students can carry out enquiry-ed projects. Students design e-earning materias and contribute to the deveopment or evauation of educationa resources. The projects are particuary attractive to students seeking to do non-aboratory research, but are designed to ensure that the investigatory experience is equivaent. The emphasis is on interaction between individuas rather than team working per se, and assessment is managed by ocating each student s contribution to a number of organised tasks as we as through individua reviews and reports. v) Singe/joint supervision In some circumstances, it can be usefu for projects to have more than one supervisor. This may be for practica scientific reasons (for exampe, in the provision of resources or expertise) or to aow a junior coeague to obtain supervisory experience. Responsibiity for guiding the work may change as the project proceeds, such as between a period of practica work and the write-up. This wi not present difficuties provided one supervisor is recognised as being in over a charge of the project, and provided the student is cear about roes and responsibiities right from the outset. Projects invoving an externa study pacement wi usuay have a partner supervisor who guides the offsite work. These individuas wi be working outside the academic environment and wi need to be propery briefed about the home institution s requirements and conventions. The project needs to be designed so that the interests of the partner are compatibe with those of the student in terms of the time avaiabe and the quantity of work to be performed. The home supervisor wi retain academic responsibiity and it is best if the roes of each individua in the partnership are expicity agreed at the start of the project. The student needs to be absoutey cear about whom to refer to for guidance at each stage of the work. It woud aso be unfair to aow them to become embroied in disputes over, say, resources or costs. In the case of coaboration with commercia partners, the home supervisor shoud ensure that no conficts of interest are ikey to arise, that data ownership is cear and that any inteectua property rights are ceary estabished. It can be hard for a student to write up their dissertation or consider pubication of exciting findings if they are hampered by what they are permitted to report. It is often usefu to assign a student to a nonacademic coeague for guidance and day-to-day supervision. Post-docs and experienced technica staff, if carefuy chosen and propery briefed, may reish the opportunity to take on a student. They may even be in a position to suggest research topics or propose particuar approaches to an investigation. It is sedom appropriate to ook upon the student as 18

26 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects just an extra pair of hands. Nonetheess, a propery trained and reasonaby competent student may prove to be a vauabe addition to the research team, to the extent that this is compatibe with the overa educationa purpose. Academic responsibiity in these circumstances must remain with the supervisor, and it is essentia the student aso appreciates this. The use of postgraduate students to run or oversee undergraduate projects is more controversia and best avoided uness it is part of a carefuy panned programme of postgraduate training. The main difficuty is that postgraduates, however wiing, have their own study agendas and can find it difficut to share their time and inteectua energy with another student. They shoud aso be protected from the risk of feeing responsibe shoud the work go wrong or mis-understandings occur. Furthermore, if the undergraduate and postgraduate work cosey together, a probem of ownership of resuts and data can easiy arise. Postgraduate input can be extremey vauabe but is probaby best imited to demonstrating methods, providing occasiona informa guidance and offering friendship. vi) Location: research abs, teaching abs, working with others In panning and designing practica projects, supervisors need to give some thought to the ocation of the research. Some departments aow their project students to use teaching abs as a base (e.g. Hejmadi, case study 6), particuary if non-speciaist equipment is needed. Others wi offer space in a speciaist ab, possiby for a imited period of time or to accompish a specific set of tasks. Issues to consider in making these decisions incude the need for speciaist guidance, physica access to buidings and time taken to move between ocations. Speciaist abs typicay have access restrictions for safety or security reasons, and the student may require some additiona training before they can use them. They wi need cear guidance on a aspects of ab poicy, on responsibiities for resources and on access rights and booking of equipment. In a research ab where everyone ese is fuy trained and we estabished, it can be easy to forget that a project student is sti a novice and a guest. A further consideration is the extent to which a student may be sociay isoated: this wi be determined by the nature of the investigative work and the physica ocaity, but it can be advantageous for students to be in contact with their peers or to have a dayto-day support network in the shape of friendy postgraduates and fu time researchers. It might be hepfu to set up a VLE or socia network site for the research project modue, so ab-based students can emerge from a hard day at the bench to the more famiiar environment inhabited by their peers. vii) Funding According to Cowie s survey (2005a), about two thirds of departments offered funding to support undergraduate research projects and the median amount avaiabe for practica projects was 145. It is cear from this information and from discussions with coeagues that, despite the recognised importance of research in the undergraduate curricuum, there is no consistency between departments or universities in the extent to which project work is seen as a funding priority. A great many coeagues receive no direct funding and are forced to support projects using margina sums scraped from other budgets. Even where direct support is avaiabe, it is ikey to be consideraby ess than the true costs of the research and may cover itte more than photocopying, oca trave or a coupe of simpe reagents. Given this background, supervisors are constanty expected to come up with imaginative, efficient and cost-effective ways of aowing students to undertake rea research. In highy research-active departments, with roing programmes of grant support from pubic or commercia sources, it may be possibe to incorporate student work within the margins of arger projects being carried out by fu time researchers and postgraduates. However, even in these cases, resources need to be carefuy accounted for and there wi need to be a deicate assessment of the ikey contribution which the student effort may make to the overa research programme. Evidenty most supervisors do not find themseves in this position, and furthermore, student projects shoud reay fa under an educationa budget heading rather than being subsumed within the supervisor s research budget. An absence or inadequacy of funding paces a severe constraint on the type of research which can be undertaken and wi aso infuence the extent to which students are offered non-practica rather than practica projects. Dry projects, such as those based on iterature or data anaysis, or invoving survey work or externa coaboration, may be ess expensive than aboratory or fiedwork projects but may sti come at a price (information access costs, photocopying, computer hardware and software, 19

27 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects trave and accommodation expenses, etc.). These costs aso need to be reaisticay assessed at the start of the project. In genera, it woud be wrong to expect the student to contribute from his or her own resources. There is every reason to make students aware of the costs of their project, to encourage them to be economica with resources and to bring reaistic financia considerations into their panning. This, after a, is a key aspect of a research and shoud be part of the undergraduate research experience. As a supervisor, you need to assess whether the investment in time and precious resources is ikey to be rewarded by robust resuts, or whether you risk spending ots of money finding out you have a weak student who cannot produce anything usefu. If possibe, it can be hepfu to retain a eve of generaity in the project description to aow for fexibiity unti you have assessed the capabiities of the student you have been assigned. Remember, however, that the student does not have any absoute responsibiity for the cost of the project or for the provision of resources. It woud be quite wrong to invove them in disputes over funding or to make them the scapegoat for probems. Most difficuties of this sort can be pre-empted with good panning. Unexpected probems, and strategies for deaing with them, can be shared as part of the research experience but ony to the point where the supervisor assumes fina responsibiity. See aso the suggestion of a mock grant appication (page 25). Structures and processes i) Proposa and aocation of topics Departments adopt two main approaches to the aocation of projects. They may ask staff to describe possibe topics and ask students to seect from a ist, or they may ask students themseves to think of ideas for research (for exampe, see Gaagher et a., 2008). Given that students vary widey in their understanding, knowedge and enthusiasm, a combination of these approaches often emerges in which the majority respond to staff ideas whist a few have particuar interests or a desire to get invoved in particuar subject areas. Most departments invite students to seect from a ist of projects by indicating their preferred tites in order (Cowie, 2005a; Huxham, case study 10). Some departments aso ask students to identify projects they particuary do not want to do. About haf of departments report that they take students previous academic performance into account when resoving the aocation of popuar projects. A very few departments make the aocation entirey randomy. The decision on which approach to adopt has to be a departmenta one but in essence it depends argey on the ratio of topics (and staff) to students, the diversity of subject areas covered by the department and how much fexibiity is to be aowed. The advantages of working from staff-suggested projects are that staff workoads can be eveny distributed, projects can be designed to be reaistic and feasibe, resource requirements can be predicted and projects can be integrated with the overa work of a research group. A disadvantage of this approach is that students have to take the vaue of the research on trust and do not immediatey own, or perhaps even fee an affinity for, the topics they are given. This can be a genuine probem, especiay in a cass with a variety of abiity eves: strong or enthusiastic students might miss an opportunity to demonstrate their skis or aptitude for a particuar type of work and weaker students might quicky find themseves out of their depth. Students may aso be forced into projects or topic areas for which they have no particuar enthusiasm. These difficuties can be avoided provided the aocation is skifuy managed and there is a fexibe and sensitive approach to individua student needs. The reasons behind student choices are diverse (Harand et a., 2005): besides topic interest and the attractiveness of the tite, they may incude the chaenge of the topic, personaity issues to do with staff, practica considerations (timing, type of research), the potentia for ski deveopment and career aspirations. Students may express some very particuar preferences when making their choices (for exampe: preferring ab-based or iterature work; wishing to avoid particuar animas, pants or tissues; possessing or acking necessary mathematica skis; avaiabiity for seasona work that cashes with vacations; the need to deveop a particuar jobreated ski; having a preference for or antipathy towards individua members of staff, etc.). Students shoud be given an opportunity to express these preferences and expain them to whoever is arranging the aocation. However, once these have been taken into account, there is vaue in not extending the fexibiity too much and in not overdoing the negotiation. Students need to get on with their 20

28 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects work and they need a fina decision on what they are to work on. Exerting a itte discipine at this stage heps to emphasise the rationaity and objectivity of the aocation processes and can prevent excessive and irrationa discussion. In attracting students, it often heps to give a brief outine of the main question to be addressed, the type of work to be done, the principa techniques to be used, and some indication of the sort of outcome in terms of resuts, skis, or understanding. It can aso be hepfu to suggest one or two key papers to read for background information, but make sure these are easy to read, reevant and accessibe: a research paper which is technicay chaenging or obscurey written, however important it may be to the topic, can have the reverse effect from the one intended and frighten students away. Tabe 3 suggest some key information that wi hep students decide if a project is right for them. Tabe 3 Suggesting projects: Information needed by students Students need at east the foowing information in order to make informed decisions about the projects they wish to do. A concise, accessibe tite The name of the supervisor Any particuar modues the student shoud have taken or skis they wi need to possess Short descriptions of Objectives Background Content Expected outcomes The types of methods to be used Skis which are ikey to be acquired Timing: the ikeihood of irreguar hours, vacation work, periods of intense investigation; externa constraints on when work must be done A brief summary of or ink to previous work A sma number of key references Contact detais for further information or discussion Keep the information short, concise and accessibe to a non-speciaist. A ong-winded or over detaied project description wi deter seection. Inviting students to suggest their own project topics has the obvious advantage of immediate ownership and high eves of interest and enthusiasm. Equay obvious perhaps, is the risk that suggested topics wi be unreaistic in scope, that resources wi not be avaiabe or that there may be no one with sufficient knowedge to act as supervisor. Experience suggests however that students showing initiative of this kind respond we to sensitive and constructive guidance: their initia ideas may ack focus but with a itte discussion it is usuay possibe to shape their ideas into workabe and interesting project materia. Supervisors often report that when supervising projects at the edge of their own current experience, they expand their own understanding and may even deveop new research interests themseves. As aways, it is a matter of baancing the interests of the student and the supervisor against the educationa vaue of the project and the risk of faiure. In any kind of aocation there wi be students who do not get to work on their preferred subject and who fee hard done by. To wrap up the aocation process it is we worth expaining to a students firsty that a projects are of equa merit and secondy that, whatever the topic, if they put sufficient effort into their work they wi become fascinated and absorbed by what they are doing. They might aso be reminded of the obvious point that making a choice excudes comparison. It is a common experience that students enjoy their project work. Even those who get their first choice frequenty find that the topic turns out to be rather different from what they expected. ii) The first meeting: Setting the question and managing expectations After project tites have been aocated, it essentia supervisors sit down with each of their students to work out in some detai what their projects are about. Some ski is needed in making this first, detaied conversation productive: the student needs to be inspired by the overa concept, but aso eave with enough detai to know what their immediate practica goas are. They need to get their reading of the iterature off to a good start, but not fee so swamped that they suffocate under a banket of unfamiiar terminoogy or compex methods. They need to see their contribution wi be vauabe and aso to fee what you are asking them to do is within their grasp and has a good chance of success. An essentia outcome of this first meeting must be a cear formuation of the research question. Encourage the student to use active and scientificay meaningfu verbs ( to measure, to test, to compare, 21

29 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects to evauate ) and to avoid a retreat into targetess generaisations ( to consider, to ook at, to wonder, to describe ). Tabe 2 suggests some ways of turning different types of enquiry into focussed research questions. The acid tests of whether this has been successfu are: The ease with which the question can be reformuated into a testabe working hypothesis, and Whether the nature of the outcome can be successfuy predicted (see iv). The other centra purpose of this meeting must be to estabish a good working reationship. The student needs to fee they have your support, that they can ask ignorant questions and that you wi abe to guide them safey as their knowedge and understanding increase and as they get deeper into the study. They need to know how and when to contact you and what your offer of an open door reay means in practice. You can find out what the rest of their study timetabe ooks ike and find out how they pan to distribute their project work over the working week (and beyond). Now is aso a good time to introduce them to other members of your research group, incuding the technicians, post grads and post docs they wi see around. They may aso find themseves working aongside other students with whom they have not previousy had contact. iii) Setting feasibe targets Having agreed the project topic, discussed its context and decided on its aims, it is time to pan a detaied way forward for the research. The student is suddeny faced with a ot to do: as we as needing to read some iterature and understand the topic, they have to pan investigations and earn the methods they wi need. At the same time, they need to get to grips with their new working environment and get to know key peope. This phase of the project needs carefu and sensitive handing. The student wi fee enthusiastic and keen to get going but probaby won t know where to begin and might easiy fee overwhemed and confused. Rather than presenting them with an extensive and daunting ist of references, it is better to give them a singe research paper or review to read: offer something which wi hod their interest and which they wi fee abe to discuss next time you meet. On the practica side, it can hep to set them going with a singe, reativey straightforward investigation or an experiment which has a high chance of generating resuts. If it is necessary to train them straightaway in a particuar technique, this is best done using rea bioogica materia or ive data if at a possibe. This approach wi make them fee empowered and capabe of making progress; it wi hep to raise and maintain their confidence. An inteectua chaenge faced by bioscience students as they move through their degree course is in coming to reaise that experiments are for rea, that the observations they make are intrinsicay correct and vauabe. Their experiments at schoo, and possiby aso at first year university eve, were seen as a way of demonstrating known facts rather than of generating new knowedge. Thus a successfu experiment was one which achieved an intended outcome (or had an unintended outcome which coud be expained away). Now, as they take on their own research and do experiments for themseves, they are exposed to rea investigative science for the first time. Suddeny, success is to be measured not by reassurance and fufiment of expectation but by having sound processes and confidence in the outcome, whether the resut is expected or unexpected. Interviews with students (Ryder, 1999 and 2004; Cois et a., 2007) show that they are aware of these changes in the purpose, context and scope of their work; their perceptions of science as a whoe evove significanty. Experience suggests students emerge from this crucia eary phase of the work at different rates and with different eves of confidence in their own abiities. It may we come as a surprise to a new project student to discover that not even their cever supervisor knows what the resut of an investigation is going to be! For the first time, they are working at the edges of confident knowedge. There is a new insecurity to be faced, but the potentia for great excitement as we. iv) Setting a scientific context Students carrying out research in biosciences, ike those in other scientific discipines, are heirs to a ong and extraordinariy successfu human endeavour. In guiding their research projects, we expose them to the discipines and rigors of the scientific process in the hope and expectation that they wi achieve scientific iteracy and phiosophica awareness. Some wi go on to become professiona bioscientists and academics, eventuay making a direct contribution 22

30 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects to the corpus of human understanding about the biosphere. Those who disperse to other professions wi retain an informed view of bioscience and of science in genera, and wi bring this to bear in other areas of ife and cuture. Underying everything we do and teach is the phiosophy of our subject and the set of procedures, conventions and assumptions caed the scientific method. Appying the scientific method makes for sound research; being abe to do so amounts to a professiona ski. In giving students the experience of research, how far shoud we go in educating them formay about the scientific method? It seems unreasonabe to expect bioscience students to become fuy-fedged phiosophers of science, much as we might wish them to have some grasp of the history of bioscientific ideas and a passing acquaintance with key figures in its deveopment. Much of the iterature on the history and phiosophy of science is hardy bedtime reading and we might prefer our students to be concentrating on more immediate matters. On the other hand, we want them to be propery aware of what they are doing and to understand why science works in the way it does. Experientia earning wi be the key to this awareness and understanding (Shearer, 2007). In designing their investigations they wi be forced to confront some deepy fundamenta concepts such as the testing of a hypothesis, the distinctions between independent, dependent and expanatory variabes, the use of contros, the meanings of accuracy and precision, the importance of variabiity and the use of discriminant statistics. They wi aso come to understand why progress in science can be sow, why resuts and anayses need to be exposed to pubic scrutiny and why interpretations are subjective and cuturay contextua. Some undergraduate courses expicity teach the scientific method and expose students to these ideas in a phiosophica or historica context. Most bioscience courses wi aso incude some study of statistica methods in which the theoretica basis of experimenta design is ikey to feature prominenty. Other departments set up support resources designed specificay for project students (for exampe, the University of Reading s, CETL- AURS website ENGAGE in research). Whist these are vauabe earning opportunities, it is probabe that students achieve a deep understanding ony when they set out on their own research and start to generate and anayse their own data. Because of this, there is a responsibiity on supervisors to engage students propery with the scientific method and to expect them to acknowedge it in their dissertation or fina report. Here are some ways of achieving this: Estabish an appropriate discourse during the design stage of the project. Force the student to set testabe hypotheses, state them expicity and express them precisey. Get the student to anticipate a possibe outcomes to an experiment and think them through in reation to anayses and interpretations. Make the student aware that they are working within an estabished paradigm. Get them to read the iterature with critica eyes, a sense of history and a sharpened awareness of assumptions. Encourage the student to think ateray about the observations they make and their possibe causes, then to make a baanced and informed appraisa of the most ikey expanations. At the end of the project, get them to refect on a) the extent to which their hypotheses and assumptions were adequatey tested, b) the effect of their work on the subject paradigm, c) any new and testabe hypotheses their research has exposed. Many of these thought processes wi arise naturay during the deveopment of the research and some eements wi be discussed when the project is being written up. The essentia point is that they are expressed in such a way that the phiosophica basis and scientific context of the study is brought into focus (Cotton and Scaise, date unknown). The foowing discuss the scientific method, at practica and phiosophica eves, and are vauabe as guides for both staff and students: Gauch (2003); Ladyman (2002); Luck and Wagstaff (2003). The foowing are practica research guides for students which appy the principes of the scientific method in a manner appropriate to projects in biosciences: Barnard et a., (2007); Jones et a., (2007); Luck (1999); McMian and Wyers (2007); Reed et a., (2007). 23

31 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects v) Setting ethica guideines and frameworks Much bioscientific research invoves human and anima experimentation of one kind or another. Whist undergraduate project students wi not be directy responsibe for such work 1, they may find themseves associated with it or being expected to use materia or data derived from it. They may aso have to buid deays for approva procedures into their project panning. It woud be sensibe to encourage them to think about the ethica impications of their work at an eary stage. This is party because it is an aspect of their training and education (Downie and Carkeburn, 2005; QAA, 2007b), but aso because it wi give them a reaistic view of what is scientificay permissibe and give them the confidence to defend their work in the face of criticism. Ethica questions can be usefuy incorporated into a wider ream of thought which incudes the ega, socia and environmenta impications of the research. This may be a good way of raising the matter with students because it can be turned into a routine part of the panning framework for a projects. Tabe 4 offers a checkist of questions which a students can be asked to consider. The questions fa under the natura headings of Informed Consent, Confidentiaity, Anonymity and Legaity, pus a further set reated to the scientific professionaism and persona integrity of the researcher. Tabe 4 Ask ELSI: Ethica, Lega and Socia issues Informed consent How can I be sure that my subjects are wiing to be invoved? Am I exerting any pressure on my subjects to take part (e.g., use of famiy members, coeagues; reciproca agreements)? Do they know what to expect by taking part in the study? Do they have a cear statement of their rights and obigations? How much background information shoud I give them; wi this affect the quaity of the data? Are there any persona risks that they need to be made aware of? Do they have the opportunity to withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason? 1 Some student research using human vounteers, for exampe in non-invasive physioogica studies or psychoogica surveys, may require specific approva from an ethica committee. The supervisor wi have forma responsibiity for the work but the student may we be abe to take the ead in formuating the appication. Confidentiaity Are my subjects happy for information about them to be made pubic? In what form? Wi they be teing me things which woud normay be kept private? Can subjects ask me not to use, and to destroy, particuar information if they so wish? Wi my subjects be abe to confirm that the information I have recorded is factuay correct? Anonymity Have I ensured that my subjects are not individuay identifiabe to anyone outside the study team? Coud any circumstantia information uniquey identify one individua? Wi the recruitment of subjects to the study serve to identify them as beonging to a particuar (socia, medica, ethnic) group? Legaity Does the study raise any ega questions? What wi my attitude be to information which appears to resut from or refect crimina activity? Coud the data I obtain expose any of the subjects to ega risk? Have I obtained approva for my study from my oca Ethica Committee? Is my supervisor fuy aware of everything I intend to do and prepared to take responsibiity? Who wi own the information or fina report which is produced? Professionaism Does the study need to be done: am I sure that the data I want does not exist aready? Is the study propery designed and have I got the anaytica techniques I need? Have I got the right number of subjects: wi I have sufficient data to justify my concusions, or aternativey, wi I be invoving more subjects than I require? (Have I obtained adequate statistica advice?) Am I prepared to treat my subjects with courtesy and respect, even if I find their views or habits personay objectionabe? Have I arranged appropriate emergency support if things go wrong? (Adapted from Luck, 1999) 24

32 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Tabe 5 The ethica matrix Interest groups Beneficence Non-maeficence Autonomy Justice Who is affected by this project? Who does it depend on? Are animas invoved? (What benefits wi come from the project?) (How wi harm be avoided?) (What rights are avaiabe and how wi individua integrity be maintained?) (How wi benefits, risks and costs be fairy distributed?) These ists of questions (Tabe 4) can be used to hep your student identify issues associated with their project. The ist is designed for projects invoving human interaction (as experimenta subjects, as providers of data, in surveys, or in product testing etc.) but coud be easiy adapted for work with animas. Use it as part of the diaogue with your student during project design, either by itsef or as a way of competing an ethica matrix (Tabe 5). Athough not a questions wi be reevant, the experience of considering and openy discussing them wi prove vauabe in getting students to pace their research in context. Even projects which are remote from bioogica materia or human invovement can benefit from this type of scrutiny, for exampe regarding rights of access to information sources and the uses to which new information may be put. In the case of environmenta bioogy, guidance on responsibe fiedwork is provided by the British Ecoogica Society (Smith, 2002). A compementary, sighty more phiosophica approach is to appy an Ethica Matrix (Tabe 5) to the study. This was originay deveoped within a bioscience context (Mepham, 1996 and 2005) and has proved to be instructive in teasing out the essentia costs and benefits of ethicay-sensitive research work of a kinds (Forsberg, 2005 and 2007). A wider view of the incorporation of ethics education in science courses is aso being considered by the Inter-discipinary Ethics Appied (IDEA) Centre for Exceence in Teaching and Learning ( eeds.ac.uk/). The Ethica Matrix provides a framework for evauating the ethica questions associated with a research project. It does not provide answers but it heps in formuating the right questions to ask. Its purpose is to raise awareness and identify issues. The coumns in the matrix need to be competed according to the nature and context of the project. The student can do this but wi need guidance. Competing the matrix can be part of the diaogue of project design. The Interest Groups coumn shoud be competed first, using as much imagination as possibe. Each interest group shoud then be assessed under the other four coumns. vi) Mock grant appications An interesting approach to getting students to prepare propery for their research work is to ask them to write a mock grant appication. This can form the basis for the research work itsef and can aso be used for summative assessment. The main purposes of this exercise are: To identify the main question(s) to be addressed in the project; To formuate testabe hypotheses and present them in a forma manner; To begin the process of experimenta design; To predict the nature of the data to be obtained and the need for statistica anaysis; To identify the key methods to be used; To identify the resources that wi be needed; To give the student a reaistic appreciation of the costs of the project; To consider any ethica impications and seek approvas; To anticipate the kinds of outcome which might be achieved; To start the process of iterature review, and above a; To justify in the student s mind what the research is reay about and why it is worth doing. In addition, the student wi deveop vauabe skis such as writing to a word imit, reading and summarising iterature, designing and formuating experiments and identifying outcomes. The reative emphasis to be paced on these skis and the scientific content of the project can be decided according to oca circumstances, and the grant appication can even be used as the project itsef (Henderson, 2003). 25

33 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Students wi require some guideines for this activity perhaps a proforma with specified sections resembing those of one of the major grant awarding bodies (Wecome, BBSRC, MRC etc.), together with cear guidance on ength, content and focus. It may be possibe for them to cost the research as we, athough this can be rather difficut uness some specificay identifiabe kit or materias are to be purchased. They can certainy anticipate costs by thinking about repication and identifying the quantities of materias they are to need. (E.g. Davies, 2002.) For those students who eventuay seek careers in academia or research, the experience of having deveoped a grant appication wi prove invauabe. For a students there is significant vaue in getting them to justify, to themseves and others, what it is they are about to do. This wi aso pay dividends in terms of focus and organisation of materia when the research is written up. Eventuay, when the project is finished, there wi be chance to refect constructivey on how the reaity compared with the intention. The art of supervision Being a project supervisor is a singuar priviege. You have the chance to guide a student as they take their first steps in rea science. Suddeny, your teaching becomes persona. The experience wi probaby be unforgettabe for you and your student; this section ooks at ways of making it a positive one. i) Student-supervisor contract and mutua obigations The reationship between student and supervisor may often become a cose one, academicayspeaking. This is to be expected and may even be desirabe. The coseness stems argey from the fact the student, probaby for the first time in their forma education, has an opportunity to bring their own thoughts and ideas to bear on a detaied and undecided issue. This can be an unfamiiar, perhaps unnerving experience. The supervisor s roe is to encourage the student and to provide a supportive, secure and risk-free environment in which ideas and thoughts can deveop. If this works effectivey, the student wi mature inteectuay. One of the great privieges of being a supervisor is to be present as this happens. In idea circumstances, it woud be surprising if coseness and a certain degree of friendship did not resut. Despite this, the student and supervisor need to retain their respective positions within the educationa context. At the very east, the supervisor wi be required eventuay to assess the dissertation and the student s overa performance. Objectivity wi be caed for, and this wi depend on, and may even chaenge, the supervisor s academic professionaism and persona integrity. During the conduct of the project itsef, the reationship has aso to faciitate guidance, support and a mutua respect for the work in hand. Emotions and extraneous infuences can chaenge this, possiby very seriousy. Probems and difficuties need to be pre-empted if possibe, or deat with as they arise. There is aso an important sense in which the supervisor acts as roe mode for the student. The supervisor represents academia: they are the voice of wisdom and knowedge, and the student expects them to be a source of experience on how research is carried out. The student wi watch and be infuenced by the supervisor s behaviour, their persona vaues, their attitude to students, and their approach to facts, knowedge and ideas. Prior to the start of the project, the student s ony interaction with the supervisor may have been across the impersona spaces of a ecture theatre or teaching ab, or through the highy contextuaised medium of comments on an essay. This reationship changes rather suddeny when the project begins. With these compexities in mind, it is pain to see that the student and supervisor need to work at their reationship to make it productive and harmonious. Some mutua obigations, rights and responsibiities naturay emerge (and anecdota evidence from a handfu of bioscience departments indicates they may be communicated expicity in modue handbooks and associated codes of conduct). There are aso some impied obigations, such as offering career advice or writing references, which extend beyond the project itsef and may continue some time after graduation. Tabe 6 summarises aspects of the studentsupervisor reationship which shoud be considered. Some are aso discussed in more detai beow. To be a project supervisor is a singuar priviege. It carries obigations and responsibiities, but the rewards can be many. The reationship works best on a friendy but professiona footing. (Tabe adapted from Luck, 1999.) 26

34 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Tabe 6 The student-supervisor reationship: amicabe professionaism Student s attitude to supervisor Acknowedge greater knowedge and experience Accept advice and guidance Show increasing independence as the work proceeds Avoid being defensive in the face of criticism Respect existing work practices and conventions Don t waste resources Respond to communication and keep appointments Keep appointments Don t hide unresoved probems Recognise when hep is provided Compete agreed work on time Use research time as effectivey as possibe Take responsibiity for the work schedue Use imagination but recognise imits Be frank and honest about progress Don t be afraid to ask stupid questions Invite friendship but respect its imits Seek support when considering jobs and careers Supervisor s attitude to student Acknowedge patienty the need to earn Offer constructive advice and guidance Give support and encouragement, and recognise progress and deveopment Give objective criticism in a constructive but sensitive manner Provide a safe and secure working environment Anticipate requirements and provide appropriate resources Respond quicky and fuy to requests for hep Be avaiabe, within reason Anticipate probems as far as possibe Dea with probems rapidy Moderate and return work swifty Acknowedge time imitations Give space for refection as we as earning Encourage inquisitiveness but set boundaries Encourage and recognise success; point out deficiencies Answer a questions fairy and fuy Encourage friendship but respect its imits Freey offer career advice and act as referee ii) The research environment As a supervisor, it is wise to remember that students do not arrive with a ready-made toobox of persona or research skis. Practica casses are being reduced in many undergraduate courses (ABPI/Biosciences Federation, 2007; Biosciences Federation, 2005; Cois et a., 2007) and even fundamenta techniques such as making soutions or organising data may be unfamiiar (Lintern, 2007). You might reasonaby expect to have to teach a student how to run a ge or how to appy a statistica test, but you might be surprised to have to show them how to use a pipette, write up experiments in their ab notebook, or book their use of the utracentrifuge. Simiary, with a project based mainy on iterature assessment, the student may initiay have itte idea about how research ibraries work, how journas are organised and pubished, about the importance of peer review or about the reative vaues of and reiabiities of different types of information source. The ony response as a supervisor in these situations is to shouder the responsibiity and teach the student what they need to know. This is now your roe, irrespective of whether anyone ese shoud have guided or trained the student previousy. Giving any sign of irritation or frustration at a student s ack of abiity must be avoided at a costs: it creates a despondent atmosphere and heps no one. At the ab or group eve, students wi need to be inducted into safe ways of working and the conventions of the oca research environment. They need to be introduced to the senior technician or ab supervisor and to understand that they fa under that person s jurisdiction as far as use of faciities and resources is concerned. They shoud be expected to take on responsibiity for the tidiness of their own work area and to dispose propery of any bioogica, chemica or hazardous waste they may generate. They shoud be encouraged to attend ab/research group meetings and be given guidance about contributing to preparing stock reagents and buffers, if that is the way the ab operates. If their work invoves engthy or time-consuming procedures, they need to know if they can be aone in the ab or fied and whether they are permitted to work beyond norma hours or at weekends. It heps if they know who the other users of the ab are whom they can ca on for advice or in emergencies. As a supervisor, you cannot anticipate every eventuaity but it is best to be proactive rather than reactive as far as possibe. It heps to treat the 27

35 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects student ike any other member of the ab and invove them in responsibiities ike ordering stock, ceaning benches and washing up gassware. The goa to aim for is independence and it makes sense to treat ab awareness as a key transferabe ski. In one sense, students on practica projects need to make the transition from junior technician to independent scientist. In other words, they need to progress from being tod what to do to using their initiative and taking responsibiity. Some wi do this rapidy, others may never achieve it, and their position on the abiity scae wi eventuay be refected in a summative assessment. Cear indications of aptitude wi emerge: whether they need to be shown how to do things more than once, whether they can anticipate the next step in a compex procedure or whether they can think on their feet when unexpected difficuties arise. As in any one-to-one teaching situation, you need to be responsive, patient and adaptabe to individua need. In deciding when to watch over and when to disappear, when to manage and when to aow freedom, one fees a bit ike a parent. There is no correct way to do it, but with sensitivity, patience and humour it is usuay possibe to aow both the student and the work to fourish. iii) Reguar meetings and project management Reguar meetings are an indispensabe way of maximising the success of a project. They can be used to set short-term targets for work, to encourage the deveopment of ideas, to maintain a good working reationship and to monitor progress. In the case of practica projects they are an opportunity to check and sign the ab book and make sure that proper records are being kept. For non-practica projects they are a chance to make sure that the student is getting the data they need, that references are avaiabe and that they are making appropriate judgments and evauations of information. More importanty, reguar meetings ensure that the student fees vaued in their work, that what they have to say is being istened to and that there is some forma and professiona respect for what they are doing. A good way to operate is to hod weeky meetings but with expicit fexibiity in duration and content. Start by negotiating a mutuay suitabe time in the week, say Tuesdays at However, put ony the next meeting in the diary and agree you wi work from week to week in finding the best time. Expain to the student that they must come to every agreed meeting, but that sometimes they wi have much to report and sometimes very itte, that in some weeks you may meet for haf an hour and discuss detaied matters whereas in others the meeting may ast a minute or so and contain itte more than peasantries. Expain to them that you recognise the compexity of their ife but you expect the project to be given the attention and time it deserves. Expain aso that you expect the progress of work to be uneven. There wi be periods of intense activity, when the project takes over their ife and others when it recedes to the background. Sometimes, other coursework wi need to take priority. At other times, a ot of background reading wi be needed and practica work or data anaysis may have to be postponed. Writing wi need a specia effort and may need to be done in short bursts or in onger stretches invoving midnight oi. A of this is quite norma and needs to be buit in to the way meetings are managed. The student s side of this fexibe bargain is that they keep you fuy informed about how they are doing, they act on the agreed outcomes of meetings and they bring any probems or issues to you as soon as they arise. Time management is a particuary difficut and occut ski to earn. A few students seem to be naturay we organised and can envision the timescae of the project from the outset. More often, they seem to view the coming weeks and months in a kind of distant haze: they may never have set out to work on a arge, time-consuming project before and may have no sense of scae. They may not know how to pace themseves or to make ong term pans, and they may not see the urgency of getting on with tasks or using windows of opportunity. It may be frustrating to have to dea with these issues as a supervisor but it is part of the job. It is easy to et your mind sip into critica mode and to subjectivey devaue the student or their efforts, simpy because of mistaken expectations. As a student, they are earning not just the materia of the project but how to research, how to earn, how to study and how to manage themseves and their time. iv) Recording meetings and keeping portfoios A brief, written record of each supervisory meeting shoud be considered essentia and obigatory. The student shoud come to view it as an automatic part of the supervision process and therefore of meetings in genera. The record shoud summarise 28

36 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects the outcomes of the meeting but aso set targets for the next one and identify actions, in much the same way as committee minutes usuay do. Encouraging the student to be the record maker and keeper, right from the start, is a particuary effective way of giving them ownership of the project. As you get to know your student better and to understand their work patterns and abiities, you can gauge how far record keeping needs to go and what works best. However, both student and supervisor need free and open access to the record at a times. If a particuar student repeatedy fais to attend or needs excessive chasing, it can be reassuring to have a ist of missed meetings as evidence. Probems and compaints are rare but there are times when records of activity can be crucia. Meeting records can aso form part of a more comprehensive project portfoio invoving ab records, summaries of iterature sources, visits to ibraries or research centres, copies of key documents, ideas and data evauations, interim reports and presentations. Some students are required to maintain portfoios as part of their project activity, to faciitate effective and objective assessment and to provide evidence for externa examiner moderation (Wright, 2005). They can therefore be both a vauabe heuristic aid for the student and a functiona pedagogic too for the supervisor and his/her department (Cavert et a., 2007). v) Finding time and being around As a supervisor, you have an obigation to be avaiabe to your student(s) and to set time aside to hep them. It reay is not acceptabe to take on students in an atmosphere of resentment or irritation. Nor shoud it be viewed as a periphera or trivia part of your work. Whatever your view of the burden of supervision, and even if there are unresoved issues of workoad urking in the departmenta background, the ony professiona approach is to treat each student as a vauabe individua and to give them the best support you can. From their perspective, the project beongs to them, you are their supervisor and they have a right to your time and whoehearted support. Despite this, issues of time can be difficut to resove. You need to manage your supervisory effort efficienty and there wi be times when this is probematic. You are entited to switch off at weekends, to use your discretion about, say, answering emais during the evening, to disappear for conferences and hoidays at appropriate moments and to do a those other things that add to the joyfu compexity of academic ife. It is entirey reasonabe to expect your project students to recognise this and to acknowedge it as part of the supervisory bargain. Indeed, it wi aid the deveopment of their own time management skis to reaise that their interactions with you need to be respectfu and reasonabe. vi) The framework for writing The main outcome of the project wi usuay be some kind of written document: a dissertation or a report in the stye of a research paper or review. It wi probaby be the ongest and most compex document the student has ever produced and they wi need a good dea of guidance, encouragement and support. The starting point must be the departmenta guideines. (See for exampe: University of Nottingham, Schoo of Biosciences.) These shoud be expicit and unambiguous regarding ength, format, stye and expected content (if they are not, campaign for them to be rewritten). They shoud aso expain the assessment system. It is essentia that the student has a copy of these at the start of the project and knows that they wi be expected to conform. A subsequent supervisory discussions can then use them as a reference point. It wi aso be hepfu for the student to ook at some exampes of dissertations and reports, so they can get a fee for what wi be expected. As a supervisor, there is advantage in being a discipinarian over presentation. Because the writing process itsef putting thoughts into words, constructing sentences, achieving carity and brevity, finding a suitabe stye and producing a coherent document is inherenty difficut, it heps if the presentationa framework is soid and secure. Tabe 7 ists ten eements of a framework which can be easiy imposed on the student from the start. Everything in the ist wi be usefu in the fina write-up; none of it is a waste of time and much of it is obvious. It wi hep the student work efficienty and aow them to concentrate on the much tougher business of putting words together. When you meet the student to review progress, or if they send you draft materia to comment on, you can easiy refuse to ook at their work if it is not in the correct format. This may irritate the student to start with but they wi quicky conform (especiay if they know that marks wi eventuay be ost for incorrect presentation). They wi then be abe to focus on what reay matters. Good habits wi be in pace and you wi both be spared much wasted time and effort. 29

37 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects Writing is hard. To make it easier, set your student a framework to foow right from the start. This sma discipine wi make ife easier for both of you, save time and encourage good writing habits. Tabe 7 A framework for writing: Ten instructions for students 1) Set up severa word processor fies with the correct defaut format (font, ine spacing, margins, paragraph eves, page numbering, anything ese required by the departmenta guideines) and use ONLY these for project work. 2) Keep a singe eectronic fie of bibiographic detais of a iterature sources, propery ordered and in the correct format. Ony record bibiographic detais once. Throw away bibiographic notes written on scraps of paper. 3) Maintain a ist of abbreviations and their meanings. 4) Write up methods and procedures as they are performed. 5) Keep a ist of chemicas, equipment and other resources used, or be abe to go straight to this information in your ab record book. 6) Anayse data and interpret resuts as they are obtained. Do this for every experiment or investigation whether preiminary, fina, inconcusive or concusive. 7) Use correct speings and have an awareness of grammar. 8) Give every diagram, figure, tabe or other iustration a proper egend. 9) Keep a dated backup copy of everything. 10) Keep another dated backup copy of everything. As we as providing a framework for writing, Tabe 7 incudes instructions for ensuring that information wi aways be to hand. In addition, you might want to ask the student to send you eectronic copies of their data (spreadsheets, ge scans, micrographs, survey resuts etc.) as they obtain it. This wi give you direct access to their work, for checking and evauation, but it wi aso mean that you have it stored for ater access, after the project is finished. vii) Reviewing the thesis: how much to correct? How to be fair to a. Writing is difficut. Few of us find it straightforward and it takes a good dea of time, effort and practice to get it right. The biosciences have their own set of inguistic styes and the student wi need to earn and deveop an appropriate one in the course of writing up their project. It is aso obvious to anyone who has written anything compex or technica, that expressing onesef ceary goes hand-in-hand with understanding what one is trying to say. The supervisor has a crucia educationa roe in guiding and moderating the student s written work. What is uncear is the amount of supervision to be given: how much can the fina dissertation depend on supervisory advice or editing? At one extreme, the student might be expected to work virtuay aone and produce a write-up which perfecty refects their independence, warts and a. At the other extreme, the supervisor coud edit and correct every eement of the work as it is produced, so that the write-up approaches some kind of academic perfection but ony distanty refects the student s abiity. The question of where to operate between these extremes is faced by a teachers. The answer, if there is one, is usuay heuristic: aow for tria and error and give as much advice as required. The probem is different students need different amounts of support. This makes it difficut to be equitabe to a. It is aso particuary hard to ensure the fina assessment remains fair and objective, even where mark moderation procedures are in pace (Chapter 3). Some departments try to get around this by specifying aowabe eves of correction. For exampe, the supervisor may be permitted ony one ook at a draft text, or there may be certain parts of the dissertation (the Abstract, say, or the Discussion) which must be the work of the student aone. Such rues superficiay suggest fairness but may be harsh on students whose first anguage is other than Engish or who require additiona earning support. Nor do they aow for differences in ife experience or educationa or socia background. They may aso imit the chance that the student wi earn and improve through experience. It woud be fair to say that most students deveop and refine their writing skis consideraby over the course of their project. This is encouraging because it suggests that supervisors can operate in response mode, genty guiding rather than savishy correcting. Occasionay students have major difficuties with anguage and might need to be given extra attention or referred for professiona support. In this situation, 30

38 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects it becomes important to see beyond the anguage issue and ensure that the research work itsef can proceed unhindered. viii) Deaing with probems: persona issues It is unikey that any student project wi run without a hitch; experience suggests they sedom, if ever, do. However, provided the project is we panned and conscientiousy supervised, most issues can be deat with as they arise and disasters wi be rare. Most of the probems that a supervisor wi face resut from the unexpected, unpredictabe variabes in the scenario. These incude the ski and enthusiasm of the student, the reiabiity of methods and the avaiabiity of materias. Difficuties arising for these reasons can be compounded by the imited time the student has avaiabe and the need to produce an assessed piece of work. And of course a backdrop to everything is the inherent uncertainty of the project itsef: this is both a potentia probem and an opportunity, for predictabe research is scarcey worth doing. There are undoubtedy difficuties which resut from the action, inaction or competence eve of the student. These must be faced but they can be the hardest to dea with because they require patience, sensitivity and the avoidance of persona accusations or bame. Some students wi earn how to carry out a new technique the first time they are shown, whereas others may be shown it five times and sti not be abe to get it right. A keen but modesty skifu student may work diigenty yet have itte to show for their enthusiasm, whist another may put in minima effort but hit a rich seam of productivity which scarcey refects their input. It is impossibe to predict the characteristics and quaities of the student before the project begins. Nor is it possibe to predict the student s reaction to the work once it gets underway. A student s ski as a researcher may be at compete variance with their previous performance in the exam room or in coursework assignments. The ony wise strategy for a supervisor is to assume the foowing, unti evidence indicates otherwise: The student is motivated and enthusiastic; The student is capabe of earning tasks and of carrying them out effectivey; The student wi show reasonabe eves of care and responsibiity in what they do; The student has the iterary, organisationa and numerica skis to compete the project and write it up; The student is capabe of baancing the requirements of the project against the other demands of their academic and private ife; and The student is capabe of bringing the project to a satisfactory concusion. Adopting this approach shoud aso hep to ensure that a students are treated fairy. If a student is strugging or things are going bady, the supervisor has to take the ead in trying to improve matters. Students can become quite upset and defensive about what they perceive to be their own faiure or incompetence, even when this is not the case. Simiary, a student who oses motivation or sips behind in their work may withdraw from contact or avoid meetings. Both these types of behaviour can compound the underying probem and require sensitive handing. It is quite unacceptabe to eave the student to founder without showing interest or offering support. Simiary, resorting to banket assumptions of aziness or compete incompetence, whether thought or expressed, must be avoided at a costs. Most academics wi have a pastora care eement to their job and it is sometimes hepfu to adopt this type of approach to a project student with obvious difficuties. Giving the student time and space to tak in a secure and non-judgementa atmosphere can hep consideraby. It may not of itsef move the project forward but it wi enabe the student to take stock and face the reaity of their situation. The supervisor s roe then is to hep them find an effective way forward. This may invove an adjustment of targets, a change of pace in the work or even, in very difficut circumstances, rethinking the nature and scope of the project entirey. In these situations, your obigations must be principay to the student rather than to the project. If the student s difficuties arise from outside the project, the norma support mechanisms of the department and university shoud be engaged at the eariest appropriate opportunity. A confidentia chat between the supervisor and the student s persona tutor or other staff might provide enightenment. There wi aso be professiona support services in the institution to ca on, just as in any other circumstance where difficut issues of pastora care emerge. Your 31

39 Chapter 2 Ways of impementing research projects duty of care to the student in making sure they seek the support they require is just the same as that of any other member of staff. In the end, it is up to the supervisor to make a judgement about the best way to work with each individua student. A sensitive approach and optimistic atmosphere wi aow them to revea their strengths and indicate the most appropriate rate of progress. Expectations can be stated and targets must be set, but they shoud be fexibe enough not to become overwheming. Students shoud find their project work chaenging and demanding, but ony to the point where they prove to themseves what they are capabe of. ix) Deaing with probems: project issues Student projects sometimes go wrong. Methods fai, resources run out, accidents happen, fied sites are fooded, abs get contaminated and machines break down. Key iterature may be hard to ocate, data may be unavaiabe or incompete, starting assumptions may prove erroneous or other groups may pubish first. These types of unavoidabe disaster befa a research from time to time and student research is no different. Even the best-panned and thoughtout projects occasionay fa fou of inanimate mendacity. Where a student project may differ is in the effect that a particuar probem may have. As indicated earier, there is aways ikey to be a certain amount of tension between the objectives of the research and the educationa imperatives of the project, and this means that a singe probem may have mutipe consequences. On top of this, there is a imited amount of time avaiabe: it may just not be possibe to repeat compex techniques, to wait for suppiers or to generate new archives of data. Circumstances ike these are frustrating and annoying for both student and supervisor, even though neither may be at faut. The student may fee obiged to take some bame for what has happened, even when this is competey unjustified, and it can take considerabe supervisory ski to dea with the resuting combination of disappointment and feeings of responsibiity. Even if they don t fee responsibe, the student may ose motivation or become disaffected if the supervisor fais to intervene at the right moment or offer the right amount of support. The supervisor aso needs to devise a rescue pan, both for the project itsef and for the educationa predicament. There are no easy answers here and a certain amount of imagination and inspiration wi be caed for. It may be possibe to ater the direction of the project, either by refocusing the objectives, changing the depth of anaysis or modifying the scae of the investigation. If a practica project becomes competey unworkabe it may be possibe to recast it as a iterature review or theoretica study, capitaising on and extending the background work the student has aready done. If the probem ies with experimenta materia rather than methods, it can be educationay vauabe to run the procedures and anayse contros, and then to make predictions about the possibe outcomes that might have emerged. The student wi then at east see the vaue and integrity of the experimenta design and sti have some contact with the investigatory process. It woud be trite to suggest that working through major probems gives the student a vauabe esson in ife as a researcher, true though that may be. They are unikey to see it that way, if ony because the quaity of their degree probaby hangs on how we they perform in the project. They need to be competey reassured that their grade wi not be affected by circumstances beyond their contro. They need to know that they wi sti be assessed fairy and objectivey and with just as much chance of a high mark as any other student. As a supervisor, and eventuay as an assessor, you wi need to distinguish ceary between faiure and ack of success, and to make a fine comparison between what was achieved and what was possibe. 32

40 Chapter 3 Project outcomes and assessment

41 Chapter 3 Project outcomes and assessment The project report i) Dissertation or research paper? As discussed in Chapter 2, the product of fina year research has traditionay been a dissertation or thesis. This is an extensive document, comprising a standard set of chapters and often resembing a mini- PhD thesis. Traditionay, copies may be expensivey bound in hard covers and tooed in god ettering, often finding positions of soid permanence on the sheves of both the student and the host department. More recenty, ring-, spira- or perfect-bound versions have been the norm. Cowie (2005) found that about 70% of departments set a word imit on the report, commony around words. At this ength, the equivaent of a substantia monograph, the thesis is by far the ongest document most students wi ever have written. In contrast, about 30% of departments (Cowie, 2005) require a shorter document, written in the form of a research paper for a speciaised journa (e.g. Wagstaff, case study 5). This may present no ess of a iterary chaenge to the student, given the need for focus and the adoption of a constrained stye of writing. It is possibe to see advantages and disadvantages in both approaches. The creation of a thesis encourages a comprehensive iterature review, the recording of methodoogica minutiae, the presentation of resuts in briefy summarised as we as fuy anaysed formats, and a detaied discussion. The discussion in particuar can aow a strong student to use their understanding and creativity to deveop ideas and demonstrate initiative. Equay, a ess academic student may see the imitess expanse of the document as an insurmountabe chaenge or an opportunity for unfocussed rambing, as if assessment were based on weight or wordage rather than quaity of content. There is no doubt an abe student wi benefit enormousy from the experience of writing, assembing and having editoria contro over such a arge document. If time permits, the priviege of being abe to expound on a concept at ength, attempt different soutions to probems, baance evidence and construct cogenty written arguments is, at its best, about as profound an educationa experience as one coud wish an undergraduate to have. The counter-argument, which is perhaps particuary appicabe to students with no aspirations towards further research or in subject areas with a strongy appied context, is that the thesis is a fase god: it does not train them in proper scientific writing, it does not reay focus on tangibe outcomes, it bears no resembance to anything they are ikey to read or write in future and it demands a set of iterary and styistic skis which they may neither possess nor reay need to acquire. Furthermore, the production of a thesis takes time, energy and expense. A research paper undoubtedy gets around the probems of ength and ack of reaism. It aso offers a kind of natura symmetry in terms of subject deveopment: the student competes their research by generating a document with exacty the same format as those they used to deveop their knowedge and expertise. They need to write in a voice simiar to the one they have been used to reading and they are forced to work at a eve of detai and argument which is appropriate to the step-wise deveopment of their subject. They add their brick to the wa and can immediatey see that they have done so. Yet this format aso brings its own frustrations: a research paper pretends that the work proceeded in a certain way, ogicay and coherenty, when it may not have done; preiminary investigations or unproductive methods may go unreported, despite having occupied significant amounts of time and energy; the summary of existing iterature may have to be imited or curtaied; there may be inadequate space to present reasoned arguments and insufficient scope for specuation. Overa, the student may fee the paper does not adequatey refect everything they have done. Both types of report wi incude an abstract. This is discussed beow in the context of short reports. ii) Length and content Athough departments usuay specify their expectations in marking rubrics, it may be difficut to impose tight restrictions on report ength. The main reason for this is the diverse requirements of different types of work. For exampe, a project based on data anaysis may use a sma number of tried and tested anaytica methods requiring very itte description and may ead to a predictive mode which can be expressed in a few equations or ines of text. In contrast, a ab-based investigation may depend on the deveopment of a compex, muti-step procedure, eading to many pages of detaied description, and resut in, say, a quaitative account of a bioogica phenomenon. Equay, different topics start with widey differing amounts of pubished information, 34

42 Chapter 3 Project outcomes and assessment and the amount of background reading required of the student may aso depend on the coseness of the subject matter to the course they have foowed. In the case of a paper-stye report, ength and content may be governed by the conventions of the journa the student is expected to use as a mode. Thus it makes sense to buid fexibiity in to the system and to aow supervisors a certain amount of discretion in the way they impose the requirements. At the eve of individua section or subsections, students frequenty ask: How ong shoud it be? They may fee that there wi be a cose association between ength and inteectua effort, to a degree not appreciated by supervisors. The answer to this question is a matter of education and negotiation: it is reay part of the guidance the student receives and is part of the way they earn and understand their subject. In the end, and notwithstanding attempts to unify expectations within departments or facuties, the ony answer to the ength question is: As ong as necessary and as short as possibe. At first sight, this response appears fippant or trite, but it contains the essentia truth about a scientific reporting and possiby a kinds of writing. It certainy recognises the pointessness of writing expansivey just for the sake of a rue, and the danger of removing essentia materia if imits are over-restrictive. iii) Short reports: ora presentations, posters and abstracts Most departments require students to present their work in more than one format (Cowie, 2005a). These commony incude ora presentations and posters. Dissertations and papers wi incude an abstract and many departments aso treat this as a distinct form of report. Such short reports offer opportunities for both presentationa ski deveopment and forma assessment, distinct from those of the main project report (dissertation or research paper). The principa characteristics of short reports are brevity and focus and they chaenge the student to describe the key eements of their work in a particuary concise manner. Because time (ora) or space (poster, abstract) are at a premium, the student is forced to confront the precise question they have investigated, the essentias of the experimenta design and methods they have used, their most significant resut(s), and the essentia vaue of the outcome. These eements must be carefuy baanced so the presentation has shape and structure. Unike the dissertation, there is no room for extended scene-setting, for over-detaied methodoogy, for inadequatey reduced data, or engthy interpretation. Furthermore, the essentias need to be expressed in a way which is accessibe to a non-speciaist istener or reader. In these respects, ora presentations and posters share many of the characteristics of the abstract and there may be vaue in getting the student to prepare them concurrenty or by a simiar process. Earier (Chapter 2, page 23) we advocated the adoption of a rigorous investigative approach to project work, based on the scientific method. Experience indicates that where this has been done the construction of a tak, poster or abstract becomes an entirey natura, even automatic process. Whatever the project, and irrespective of abiity, the student can return with some confidence to the security of the hypothesis testing framework: the key eements of the research process are specified and ordered and, at a minimum, a the student needs to do is draw in their own materia. This is the scientific process in its quintessentia form and the student wi see immediatey the extent to which they have engaged with it. Despite the quasi-formuaic possibiities of short report preparation, there remain penty of opportunities for summative assessment. On the one hand the content of the short report wi refect that of the project as a whoe; the quantity, quaity and importance of the work wi be reveaed and potentiay exposed for criticism. On the other, the short report itsef can be evauated by the assessment criteria used for any other kind of coursework or presentation: the quantity and quaity of the information given, the fow of the materia, the accessibiity of the content and the baance of the presentation as a whoe. A these quaities can be measured against specified criteria for ora, poster and abstract formats. Athough generic assessment criteria can be set for most types of projects (e.g., Huxham, case study 10), it can be hepfu to both students and staff if these are recast in greater detai for each type of presentation. For exampe, see University of Nottingham, Schoo of Biosciences (2008). In this way, the student knows what is expected and has a target, and some objectivity in marking is achieved. iv) Other forms of presentation Other forms of report or outcome may be of vaue in particuar circumstances (Cowie, 2005a). Projects invoving the production of a useabe object (for 35

43 Chapter 3 Project outcomes and assessment exampe, a website, an agorithm or piece of software, a device, a new anaytica method, educationa materias, etc.) can be judged by the tangibe success of the endeavour and the extent to which the object meets the origina brief. In these cases, as we as evauating the product itsef, it might be appropriate for the accompanying dissertation or other written report to discuss success or faiure and to evauate the deveopmenta approach taken in the work (for exampes, see Broadey, case study 8; Wakeford and Mier, case study 9; and Grady (2008). Loca decisions wi be needed to decide the reative importance of outcome and report. As with other assessment options, it is crucia the criteria are carefuy constructed and as objective as possibe. An interesting way of assessing the student s inteectua deveopment is the earning og or portfoio. This approach reminds us immediatey that undergraduate research projects have a dua function (see Chapter 1): the competion of some research with intrinsic scientific vaue and the educationa and ski deveopment of the student. A carefuy designed and managed portfoio can revea process information about both of these; it can therefore be a specified outcome of the project and can be used as an eement of fina assessment (Cavert et a., 2007; Wright, 2005; Broadey, case study 8). v) Pubications? This Guide has repeatedy stressed that undergraduate research shoud be rea not contrived, that students shoud be experiencing bioscience at the edge of confident knowedge and that they shoud come to own their subject as a resut of their engagement with its deveopment. This view is widey shared (e.g. Hurd, 2008; Howard and Miskowski, 2005; DebBurman, 2002; see aso a number of the case studies). A natura consequence of this approach is that students wi sometimes compete work of pubishabe quaity. Severa of the case studies in this Guide indicate this happens (Chaffey, case study 1; Downie et a., case study 2; Huxham, case study 10; Latham and Jervis, 2008; Murphy, 2008; and Reader, 2008) and there are a number of oca (e.g. Biooge (Leeds); Origin (Chester); and BURN (Nottingham)) and nationa (Bioscience Horizons) journas devoted to undergraduate research reports and papers. Less easy to quantify are those occasions where student research has contributed to the pubished output of supervisors and departments, but there are surey numerous instances of this occurring every year. The achievement of pubication is something to be ceebrated by everyone invoved with the work. For the student, of course, it can be the pinnace of their university education and potentiay the foundation of a CV and a research career. An important question, however, is the extent to which the achievement of externa pubication shoud be either an expectation of project work or shoud be used as an assessabe eement of it. Recaing that the purpose of the project is party (mainy) educationa, and aso bearing in mind that students usuay have itte or no contro over the wider significance of the research they are asked to undertake, it woud seem essentia on grounds of equitabiity of treatment that students are not expected to produce a pubishabe outcome. Where interna pubication occurs, departments and universities wi make their own decisions about the extent to which submissions are seected or invited and the intensity of any peer-review. They wi aso decide how much research work each pubished artice is expected to represent. In the case of Bioscience Horizons (the nationa eve UK/Ireand journa devoted to undergraduate biosciences research), nominations of top quaity research are invited from university departments at the competion of each academic year and the resuting manuscripts are subjected to rigorous and seective expert review prior to pubication. The quaity of papers pubished to date has been remarkabe: in many cases the quantity, depth and quaity of the research described has been indistinguishabe from that pubished in many eading professiona bioscience journas. Despite these successes, most undergraduate research remains unpubished and hidden. Many projects, of course, woud be unsuitabe for wider dissemination but experience suggests a great dea of vauabe work anguishes on university sheves, gathering dust and hidden from critica view. This is a waste of effort and of good science. There is considerabe scope for the deveopment of further vehices for externa presentation. Pubication, whether interna or externa, can provide severa further advantages. It is a vauabe resource for promoting the university and for iustrating to outsiders and prospective appicants what it is students actuay do. It is aso a great way of incentivising current students, particuary those who are about to start their own research: it shows them what can be done and wi encourage them to achieve things they never imagined possibe. 36

44 CASE Chapter 3 Project STUDIES outcomes and assessment The foowing section contains a coection of 10 bioscience case studies. A the case studies have been written by bioscientists with considerabe experience of supporting the provision of fina year projects to students and/or research modues in earier years of study. The case studies are organised around common headings ( Background and Rationae, How to do it, Advice, Troubeshooting, Does it work? and Further Deveopments ), but each study refects the author s individua stye and preference. Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation N.J. Chaffey, Department of Bioogy and Food, Bath Spa University, Bath, BA2 9BN. E-mai:n.chaffey@bathspa.ac.uk 1 Undergraduate Expeditions as a vehice for fina year projects J.R. Downie, Joanna Smith and S. White, Division of Environmenta and Evoutionary Bioogy, University of Gasgow, Gasgow G12 8QQ. E-mai: j.downie@bio.ga.ac.uk 2 Anayses in Bioogy : an anaytica aternative to traditiona research projects Heen James, Schoo of Bioogica Sciences, University of East Angia, Norwich NR4 7TJ. E-mai: h.a.james@uea.ac.uk 3 Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads Momna V. Hejmadi, Department of Bioogy and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY. E-mai: bssmvh@bath.ac.uk 4 Designing chaenging dry bioinformatics projects: expoiting pubic databases of genetic and post-genomic pant science data Caro Wagstaff, Department of Food Biosciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AP. E-mai: c.wagstaff@reading.ac.uk 5 Commercia projects for fina year students Mary F. Tatner and Anne M. Tierney, Facuty of Bioogica and Life Sciences, University of Gasgow, Gasgow G12 8QQ. E-mai: M.Tatner@bio.ga.ac.uk 6 Fina year research projects in communicating science Dan Loyd, Department of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ. E-mai: D.Loyd@kent.ac.uk 7 Impementing the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS) as a fina-year project option Martin Broadey, Schoo of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire LE12 5RD. E-mai: Martin.Broadey@nottingham.ac.uk 8 A virtua aboratory for bioscience e-earning projects Caro Wakeford and Ian Mier, Facuty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL. E-mai: caro.wakeford@manchester.ac.uk 9 Research for rea an intensive honours research project Mark Huxham, Schoo of Life Sciences, Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT. E-mai: M.Huxham@napier.ac.uk 10 These case studies iustrate a range of approaches to supporting fina year student research and preparation in earier years of study. It is envisaged these case studies wi provide guidance, inspiration, as we as practica advice on impementing fina year projects for bioscience students. There is aso an accompanying web site to this guide ( The web site contains further practica materia to aid the reader in impementing fina year research projects for students. The site incudes an eectronic version of the fu text of the guide, expanded versions of the case studies and supporting materias, and further case studies drawn from the biosciences. 37

45 Case Study 1 Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation NJ Chaffey Background and rationae The project outined is an exampe of one of many aboratory projects from our Bioogy Dissertation, a 40-credit fina year project-based modue, undertaken as part of degree requirements for BSc Bioogy or Environmenta Science. Intended earning outcomes for the modue are: Criticay review reevant iterature (essentia preparation for the project, both as initia background in devising the project proposa and in informing the Introduction and Discussion of the thesis). Devise a goa and pan an appropriate study to achieve it (a research proposa with aims, objectives, project management pan, and competed risk assessment is submitted and approved! before work starts). Impement a study using reevant methodoogy and appropriate techniques (carrying out the proposa with supervisor guidance, etc where necessary). Criticay evauate your own work (to encourage the student to criticise their project s shortcomings, etc. and suggest remedia action/further work, part of the Discussion). Produce an appropriatey structured dissertation (a conventiona bound thesis of 10,000 words). Communicate your work to a non-speciaist audience (a short ora presentation of the investigation to their peers to deveop communication skis other than written; takes pace about 6 weeks before submission so feedback can inform and improve the write-up. How to do it In summary, candidate iquid pant extracts are appied to fiter paper discs which are paced atop a microbia awn growing on agar. The pant extract diffuses from the disc and either kis microbes or does not. The kiing zone (zone of inhibition ZOI) appears transucent reative to the rest of the awn. The diameter of the ZOI is measured and compared between different extracts, contro treatments, etc. The project uses standard microbioogica techniques and shoud be suitabe for most bioscience departments. Where appropriate, students may be invoved in a stages of the preparation of media, production of awns, steriisation of equipment, etc. Otherwise, a decision needs to be made regarding how much hands-on invovement the student has in the usuay behindthe-scenes preparatory work. We encourage students to source detais of techniques, etc. themseves using past copies of undergraduate theses and pubished iterature as inspiration. This is discussed with the supervisor before any practica work begins and in conjunction with project management panning and risk assessments. Because of a the variabes pant/seaweed species, pant part, deveopmenta stage of pant, harvest season, etc. that coud be considered in any project, it is difficut to be too prescriptive regarding how to do it. The foowing is offered as a guide to the considerations that need to be appied in each study. There are three main stages to the investigation: i) Microbia cutures and preparation of agar pates Choice of microbes is important and needs to be reevant to the investigation. For heath and safety reasons, we generay use reativey harmess microbes, or non-pathogenic isoates of otherwise harmfu ones. To cover a range of microbes, students generay use a Gram-positive bacterium, e.g. Staphyococcus abus (as a member of the same genus as the MRSA bug), a Gram-negative bacterium e.g. Escherichia coi B (as a proxy for a major stomach-upset causing organism), and a fungus e.g. Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbes are usuay purchased from Phiip Harris (Ashby de a Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 1NG). Each microbe has its own preference for growth media and cuture conditions (the suppier can advise on this). For those mentioned above we generay use: Organism Growth medium Incubation temp. (oc) Staphyococcus abus Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nutrient agar 37 Sabouraud s agar 30 Escherichia coi B MacConkey agar 37 38

46 Case Study 1 Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation Further detais and formuations of the growth media can be found in standard microbioogy texts, manufacturer s cataogues, or reputabe internet sites. Lawns are made by spreading c m of microbia cuture over the appropriate agar in a Petri dish and incubating overnight. ii) Preparation of pant materia and discs In the past students have used fresh materia (eaves, roots, stems, fowers, etc.), dried materia, commercia preparations either soid (e.g. dried herbs) or iquid (e.g. essentia ois). The goa is to get an extract that can be mixed/dissoved in an appropriate sovent so that it can be soaked up onto a fiter paper disc, and made up in a reproducibe formuation. This may take some experimenting (and can be both a fun and frustrating! part of the investigation); sovents routiney used incude water, ethano, industria methyated spirit (IMS). Factors to vary incude the time of shaking of extract and sovent, and the degree to which pant materia is crushed or cut up before extraction. Issues that can arise incude pigmentation of extract soutions which can obscure identification/measurement of any ZOI, and difficuty of dissoving extracts (e.g. Aoe muciage). If pant materia does not dissove, it shoud be possibe to obtain an extract by shaking the pant materia with a suitabe sovent; again, some tria-and-error is amost inevitabe here. In some cases it may be possibe to use discs of pant materia directy appied to the agar. An aternative to use of rather crude whoe pant sampes is to consider steam-distiation of pant materia to reease essentia ois, which can then be tested. This may be done in an attempt to narrow down the range of potentia anti-microbia agents. iii) Incubation of pates and measurements of ZOI Sterie discs (we routiney use 13 mm Whatman fiter papers) are dipped in the pant extract, drained of excess iquid and dried in a seaed sterie Petri dish. Up to four discs can be accommodated in a Petri dish (but if the extract is highy active ZOIs can merge between one disc and another) and are appied to the surface of the agar containing the microbia awn. The dishes are then seaed with tape (and not opened again usefu safety practice) and incubated for 24, 48 hours or onger at appropriate temperatures (depending on the investigation). Dishes are inspected for microbia death, which can be identified by a cear/transucent zone around the fiter paper discs. The diameter of this zone of inhibition (ZOI) is measured and recorded and is the basis for comparison of effectiveness of anti-microbia activity of pant extracts/sovents. Appropriate contros are essentia: principay this is a disc dipped in the sovent used to extract the pant materia. Another contro we empoy is to use an acohoic extract of garic (3 g crushed fresh garic and 10 m IMS, shaken for 10 minutes) against the microbes to be tested. Garic inhibits/kis a of those microbes mentioned above and is a good test of the student s aseptic technique as we as demonstrating a positive resut. Sufficient repicates are aso needed to permit sensibe statistica anaysis of the resuts. This atter points needs to be borne in mind when designing the investigation the demands on time for preparation of the arge number of pates often needed, can be considerabe! Subsequent anaysis of resuts can then be undertaken using standard statistica tests. Refinements (these are but a few encourage students to be imaginative!). Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) how diute can the pant extract be before it does not inhibit microbia activity? A series of doubing diutions can provide usefu information on this aspect of the investigation. Of necessity this is a reativey crude measure because the concentration of the active principe(s) is often unknown, but it can hep to rank extracts effectiveness pending further anaysis of chemicas invoved. Steam-distiation to reease essentia ois (see above), which can then be tested. Whether there is seasona activity of any antimicrobia activity found. Whether anti-microbia activity is dependent upon stage of growth of pant. Assessment of the Dissertion Each project is written up as a standard scientific dissertation and submitted in dupicate. One copy is marked by the supervisor; the other independenty by another member of staff. A tabe of marking criteria for the various sections of the thesis is competed; scores are given for each section and the scores discussed between the two markers. In the exceptiona case where consensus is not reached on an overa mark, a third marker ooks at the thesis. The agreed mark is reduced to a maximum of 85%; the remaining 15% of the fina project mark is at the discretion of the supervisor having regard to the student s commitment and dedication to the project, adherence to agreed aboratory times, supervisory meetings, etc. 39

47 Case Study 1 Traditiona aboratory projects using tried and tested methodoogy create room for experimentation Advice on using this approach Ensure the students are thoroughy briefed on heath and safety issues get them to research and write the first draft of the heath and safety/risk assessment for discussion with their supervisor before undertaking the work. Impress upon the students the need to be organised and manage their time appropriatey there are potentiay a ot of pates to work with! As with every project, things can go wrong and the unexpected can happen part of the earning outcome of the modue is how students cope with these matters. Depending on the pant materia investigated/ microbes used, increasing eves of care/contro/ containment may be needed in carrying out work/ disposing of used materias. Troubeshooting The commony-encountered main probems are: 1) Not finding any anti-microbia activity. Make this a positive resut (not a pants are antimicrobia) by ensuring they do a dummy run with garic and microbes (that does work). 2) Poor aseptic technique. This shoud be overcome with practice. 3) Issues in finding the appropriate diuent for pant materia. This issue requires experimentation to overcome it (which shoud be part of the fun of doing research!). Probems specific to particuar test organisms incude getting the microbes to grow suitaby (ideay, as a awn) so that anti-microbia kis can be identified and quantified. Does it work? Athough an important aim of any dissertation is for students to get experience of a proper research project, too many traditiona aboratory investigations can get bogged down in trying to get the methodoogy to work, without generating resuts. This study uses proven methodoogy and shoud mean the student spends more time on panning the investigation, and obtaining and anaysing their resuts. As a resut, this sort of investigation is idea for undergraduate projects. Not ony is there the enjoyment and satisfaction of undertaking a project that works (usuay!), it is an investigation that is highy reevant to topica concerns about the unexpoited biomedica potentia of pant resources. There is great scope for student imagination in seecting the microbes to use, the treatment combinations to appy, the pant/seaweed species to investigate, and then which parts and which sovent to use, determining MICs of extract, whether to investigate seasona microbiocida activity, etc. The method is straightforward, and is tried-and-tested both within our department and the pubished iterature - see Harding and Maidment (1996), Maidment et a., (2006); Maidment et a., (2001); Maidment et a., (1999); and Maidment et a., (1998). It aso ends itsef to students suggesting their own ideas of materia to test (chrysanthemums against jock-itch is one memorabe investigation suggested by a student!), so they have ownership of the project. Additionay, this investigation often has the bonus that if done we it may ead to pubishabe resuts (severa of the above papers arose from such student projects). Further deveopments No significant changes are panned it works very we as it is! However, with over 250,000 species of fowering pants there is penty of scope to broaden pant materia tested and microbes investigated. Having identified interesting pant materia, a ogica step is to attempt separation and identification of active ingredients (those technica considerations are beyond the scope of this case study). Additiona materias The ge diffusion assay technique has been used for many investigations of anti-microbia properties within undergraduate projects e.g. New Zeaand shrubs, Aoes, spice pants, Mediterranean herbs, commercia garic preparations, essentia ois, UK ittora seaweeds, and honeys. Some of the projects have been written up and pubished, whie others are in preparation. Interested parties requiring further information are invited to contact the author for detaied instructions. 40

48 Case Study 2 Undergraduate Expeditions as a vehice for fina year projects Undergraduate Expeditions as a vehice for fina year projects J.R. Downie, Joanne Smith and S.White Background and Rationae The honours degree programmes we offer are in Zooogy, or Marine & Freshwater Bioogy, but the scheme we describe coud suit programmes in Ecoogy, Conservation Bioogy, etc. Many students in these areas are interested in fiedbased projects and are particuary attracted to the idea of doing fiedwork abroad, in areas of high biodiversity. However, there are severa difficuties associated with overseas fiedwork: a) cost, b) safety and supervision, c) timing i.e. it is not feasibe to do the fiedwork for an overseas project at the same time as studying core modues at the home university. Different universities no doubt find different soutions to these probems. For exampe, some may have rather short projects which can be tacked on to the end of an overseas fied-course; some have a rigid separation in fina year between a taught-modue term or semester and a period entirey devoted to the project. It is aso possibe to devove projects to organisations such as Operation Waacea ( who provide exceent opportunities, but are rather costy to students. At Gasgow, our pattern for aboratory-based projects is that they stretch over most of two semesters, concurrenty with taught modues, and that they occupy about one third of a student s time over up to 20 weeks (incuding writing-up). This is a substantia time commitment, and fied based projects are expected to be broady equivaent. Our scheme aows students to do the fied-based part of the project (in the UK, or abroad, but this case history concentrates on projects abroad) during the summer vacation between the Junior Honours and Fina years (3rd and 4th years of a Scottish degree). Overseas projects are inked to Undergraduate Expeditions. How to do it Our expeditions are jointy organised by staff and students, and must have a member of staff invoved if they are to receive University approva and support. Expedition members can be undergraduates from first to fina year, and postgraduates as we as staff. The genera educationa aims of an expedition are a) to give students experience of chaenging fiedwork abroad that can generate worthwhie resuts; b) to give students the opportunity to be invoved co-operativey in the ogistica chaenges of organising an overseas expedition. Our expeditions are not organised for the purpose of providing project opportunities for fina year students, but it is generay possibe to devise projects as part of the overa programme of work done on the expedition. There are considerabe advantages in this approach: Overseas fiedwork is costy, but we cover it through the fundraising effort needed to run the expedition. This deveops the vauabe generic skis of organising fundraising events and writing grant appications. Because students understand the considerabe vaue to their persona deveopment of participating in an expedition, they are very wiing to spend considerabe time on fund-raising. Since ony a proportion of students on an expedition are working on fina year projects, the others can act as hepers when they are not busy with other work. This has severa benefits: it provides fied safety; it heps with data coection; and junior students earn some of the skis invoved in a fiedwork project before they need to work on their own project i.e. there is an eement of peer-assisted earning. On the spot supervision, heps quaity assure the process as far as the University and funders are concerned, and may be abe to do some of his/her own research with the assistance of expedition members. It is common for our expeditions to be ocated in paces where members of staff have one-off or ong-term research interests. This means that the research-teaching ink is strong for the student projects. 41

49 Case Study 2 Undergraduate Expeditions as a vehice for fina year projects Troubeshooting Three probems we have faced are: 1) Equity How to equate the project opportunities of students who have been abe to work on their project abroad over the summer, compared to term-time projects at home? Our pragmatic soution has been to require summer project students to submit their reports just after the Christmas vacation, whereas term-time projects are submitted at Easter. We have not attempted to put imits on the amount of time a summer project student can devote to fiedwork. We have been peasanty surprised that students have rarey compained that summer project students have an unfair time advantage over term-time project students. We suspect this is because students reaise that projects are very diverse, and that the time any student chooses to devote to a project is a persona decision: and that these factors make summer/term-time difference insignificant, especiay given that students fuy recognise the vaue of aowing summer projects. 2) Staffing Not everyone wants to spend a substantia part of the summer vacation in the company of undergraduates! However, we can run staffing as a rota; and by inking expeditions to staff research interests, we reduce this probem. 3) Heath & Safety Over the years, we have become more professiona on risk assessments and safety precautions. Again, this is a exceent training and experience for students. The avaiabiity in many overseas ocations of modern communication methods such as mobie phones has become a great hep. However, accidents can happen and students can catch serious diseases, despite operating to the best avaiabe advice and practice. Since such events are ikey to be more aarming overseas, it is vita to have effective procedures in pace to cope with such probems, incuding communicating with parents etc. at home. in In 2008, we are running nine overseas expeditions, and over 10 students wi do their projects under this scheme. Projects on expeditions have been of high quaity, with many eading to pubications in refereed journas, usuay the first such pubication for the students invoved. Many graduates who have participated in expeditions have proceeded to fiedwork based research careers, and often comment that the opportunity to do a fiedwork project abroad was the best part of their undergraduate experience and infuentia in starting them on their career path. The variety of projects undertaken has been very diverse. Most have been basic bioogy, ecoogy, or conservation reated. We have aso had human-based projects, using interview and questionnaire-based data. Accompanying materias The Exporation Society provides support to expeditions of various kinds: maintains a funding-source database; organises first aid training; organises briefings on fied safety and safety assessment; ensures that reports of previous expeditions are avaiabe (hard copy in the University Library; increasingy aso avaiabe on the web). The Exporation Society website is under deveopment and wi eventuay provide a more comprehensive package of resources. In the meantime, pease contact the first author for further detais. Does it work? A growing number of our fina year projects have been carried out overseas, since we began this practice 42

50 Case Study 3 Anayses in Bioogy : an anaytica aternative to traditiona research projects Anayses in Bioogy : an anaytica aternative to traditiona research projects Heen A James Background and rationae At the University of East Angia (UEA), we pride ourseves in our strong commitment to research ed teaching. In the Schoo of Bioogica Sciences this is utimatey borne out in the fina year (year 3/4) research project, where a our undergraduates have the opportunity to carry out their own piece of nove research. At UEA these projects have traditionay taken the format of the student spending 8 weeks (10-15 hours per week) on the data coection aspect in the aboratory or in the fied prior to writing a report and giving a tak. Over the ast few years a number of different pressures on traditiona project provision have buit up from both students and supervisors perspectives, as they have at other universities (Hoingsworth et a., 2004; Ryder, 2004). From the students perspective a sma, but significant, proportion of students each year do not want a practica-based project due to particuar career aspirations or the knowedge that hands-on research is not for them. From the supervisors point of view growing numbers of students have imposed increasing strains on the provision and supervision of the projects. These combined pressures ed us to seek an aternative to the time and resourceconsuming aboratory or fied-based research project, but which maintained a strong research ed approach to teaching. This resuted in the deveopment of a new Year 3 modue tited Anayses in Bioogy. Anayses in Bioogy is an aternative to the aboratory or fied-based project with very simiar earning objectives, which runs in tandem with the traditiona project modue. Its aims are to provide an introduction to bioogica anaysis, the formuation of hypotheses, and appreciation of the processes invoved in undertaking rigorous anaysis of existing data and determining outcomes. Upon competion of the modue students shoud have: Deveoped an understanding of the nature of scientific research and anaysis; Deveoped key skis incuding an appreciation of experimenta design and hypothesis testing, written and ora communication and the use of speciaised anaytica methods; Deveoped the abiity to acquire, anayse and assess data and to criticay test theories and concepts. It is compusory for a our students to take a project of some description. The choice between the two project modues is open to students on a of our degree programmes except Ecoogy, who take their own variant of the project modue (Ecoogy Research Project). Students on our Biochemistry degree programme can choose either of the bioscience project modues, or a project modue based within the Schoo of Chemica Sciences and Pharmacy. Students make this decision in the spring preceding their fina year. At registration in September they are provided with a ist of supervisors and research areas and have two weeks to meet, chat and discuss possibe projects with the supervisors. Students then submit their top four supervisor preferences. The modue organiser then has the task of aocating students to projects, ensuring suitabiity of project for degree programme and an even spread of projects between members of facuty. How to do it Anayses in Bioogy is not an easy aternative to the traditiona hands-on research project nor is it an opt-out from research. Importanty, it is aso not just a iterature review. Instead it invoves the student undertaking his or her own rigorous anaysis of existing bioogica data. A variety of projects can be imagined; here are a coupe of exampes from UEA. One student ooked at protease profies in head and neck cancers and their correation with certain risk factors. The project student was provided with rea time PCR data generated by a PhD student from the supervisor s aboratory. The student interrogated the data to determine if there was a gene signature that correated with gender or smoking status and tumour grade. They produced hierarchica custering and heat map data aongside an in-depth iterature search of gender and smoking in head and neck cancers. A simiar sort of project was offered with data generated from microarrays (norma vs. pathoogica sampes). Another exampe is to use onine databases such as FyBase and FyAtas and to ask questions about specific Drosophia genes. The student identified interesting expression patterns of a famiy of genes and postuated function from ocation. Comparisons were made to other species and phyogenetic trees were created. These sorts of projects therefore provide the students with a sighty different ski set, yet one which is of equa vaue to them. 43

51 Case Study 3 Anayses in Bioogy : an anaytica aternative to traditiona research projects The students wi sti own the research and they wi be producing nove findings. Exampes of such projects from the previous two years incude: protease profies in head and neck cancers and their correation with certain risk factors (using rea time PCR data), simuated computer modes of protein foding, anaysis of microarray data to identify the patterns of gene expression within a tissue and investigating gene homoogues and sequence comparisons for a number of species. The students choose these projects at the same time as the aboratory or fied-based projects (in September), so it is important coeagues have been reminded of the different types of projects to offer so they have had time to think about potentia anaytica projects. The students doing anaysis projects are expected to spend a simiar amount of time on the data anaysis part of the project as the aboratory-based students spend in the aboratory. They are aso assessed aong the same ines as the aboratorybased students: on their conduct during the project, the written report and an ora presentation. Advice on using this approach It is important both styes of project are regarded as equay robust and scientificay equivaent by both staff and students. The vaue and importance of Anayses projects must therefore be sod to both groups, since the aboratory and fied based projects are often considered the god-standard. It is important to be transparent about the objectives of both styes of project and their intended earning outcomes. Assessing students undertaking anaytica projects by simiar criteria to those doing the aboratory or fied based projects is a usefu quaity contro and ensures comparabe standards. In our experience both strong and weak students opt to take this modue. Strong students can reay exce at an anaysis project they can demonstrate independence, initiative and critica thinking. They are not handicapped by experimenta errors or technica difficuties that can be common in aboratory undergraduate projects and, consequenty, can achieve a ot in comparison to some more traditiona projects. Weak students, however, can use this stye of project to hide. If, during the course of the project, the student is working out of sight of the supervisor and ony meets with the supervisor once a week, for exampe, then the student coud put itte effort into their project or strugge with concepts. Troubeshooting aternative to the traditiona research project. Severa issues have arisen in this time. The first is convincing coeagues of the vaue of such a modue and this type of project, and that it is not a soft option for students. One coeague was very sceptica as to the appropriateness of the modue. However, having supervised a student undertaking this sort of project (bioinformatics/moecuar modeing), he is now a strong advocate of the Anayses in Bioogy modue. Not ony are these types of projects reativey cheap (no consumabes, though there can be software requirements), they are ess time consuming as the student needs much ess hands-on supervision and often the student can carry out some sort of anaysis which the supervisor has been wanting to undertake. Nevertheess, some coeagues remain reuctant to offer this type of project. Sometimes this is a case of ack of ideas or data for the student to work with, but more often it is that the supervisor has not thought through the possibiity of such a project nor reaised what this stye of project coud offer a student. Some students are reuctant to opt for an anaysis project, athough the reasons for this are not immediatey apparent. Perhaps it is perceived as having ess importance than the traditiona aboratory project, and we have not yet managed to convince them of the vaue. We hope that this issue wi become ess of a probem as more students (and supervisors) have successfuy passed through the modue. Does it work? We have run the Anayses in Bioogy modue for ony two years and in that time ony a reativey sma proportion of our students (7%) have taken the modue instead of the traditiona research project. With such sma numbers of students it is difficut to obtain meaningfu statistics; however, in their evauation of the modue this year it scored the same high score as the traditiona research project. The students were very positive about their experience: I reay did enjoy my project, it was briiant. I got to deve in to the subject and I enjoyed the project and iked the nature of the anaysis. Students have aso recognised the advantages of an anaysis project fet as if you were up and running right from the start rather than the sower earning curve of a abbased project. As more of these projects are carried out both staff and students are becoming more comfortabe with their stye and earning outcomes. Coeagues are beginning to see the projects vaue (scientificay equivaent to the aboratory or fied-based research projects and time and financiay ess intensive) and that they have a usefu pace within our fina year teaching. We now have two years experience of offering the anaysis 44

52 Case Study 4 Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads Momna V Hejmadi Background and rationae Laboratory research projects shoud be designed to hep train scientific minds by enabing students to understand the process of inquiry and scientific rigour. In practice however, they pace huge demands on resources. In our department, student numbers have increased substantiay without any increase in research ab space. Projects are expensive but the budgets are sma, and they pace huge demands on staff workoads. Most importanty, students may not necessariy enjoy or appreciate the process of scientific inquiry or deveop the key skis needed for research or empoyment. These probems are common to many universities (Cowie, 2005a). To tacke these issues, I successfuy introduced changes to our fina-year aboratory project for biochemists in 2005: Students carry out aboratory research projects in pairs or groups of three, and are assessed on the individua report and key research skis. The changes were designed to hep students appreciate the process of scientific inquiry and deveop transferabe skis such as team-work, probem-soving, etc., with a minima demand on resources. This 12-credit unit, invoving 200 study hours, runs in Semester 2 (11 weeks) and is mandatory for a fina year biochemists without pacement experience and optiona for those with pacement experience (year 3/4). How to do it Instead of taking pace in research abs these projects are carried out in the teaching abs, with students working together to pan and carry out their research. Additiona assessment criteria encourage deveopment of key skis, and staff workoads associated with student research projects are minimised. The specific changes are outined beow: 1) Choice of Projects: Students choose from research projects which are carefuy seected to highight key research skis whie minimising demands on space and consumabes. E.g. Bioinformatics projects invoving identifying nove targets such a gene homoogues, spice variants, differentiay imprinted genes/ promoters etc in different but reevant tissues, assay deveopment strategies etc. Initia training on bioinformatics, PCR, coning etc. is given to the entire group. Students are aso encouraged to hep each other by sharing reagents, resources etc. 2) Location: Instead of using research abs, these projects take pace in the spacious practicateaching abs, thereby making the best use of the resources avaiabe. Bench space is set aside for project students and students are directed to manage their experimenta time around schedued practicas. The abs are fuy equipped and technicians are on hand to supervise basic aspects of aboratory work (buffer / media preparation etc.). The research ethos is maintained as a resut of these students coaborating with each other, other postgraduate students and reguar meetings with the supervisor (simiar to a reguar research environment). 3) Team work: Each project is done by a pair of students (3 if needed). This heps deveop their team work and communication skis, with the added benefit of students earning from each other. It aso reduces the number of projects by at east haf. Generay, students sef-seect their partners and project choices, but I have intervened occasionay where I thought this woud benefit the students. 4) Using dedicated postgraduate demonstrators: Two PhD students hep in the supervision of the projects. They are funded by the department for 4 years (instead of 3) with the undertaking they hep in this project for 11 weeks every year. The benefit for the postgraduate students is that they gain experience in research supervision work and are invoved in a aspects of project teaching, incuding assessments. These students are trained in aspects of research supervision by reguar meetings with the unit convenor and by attending staff deveopment workshops on research supervision. 45

53 Case Study 4 Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads 5) Assessment: Instead of conventiona assessments based on a written report aone, I embedded additiona key skis as part of the assessment (beow). These were monitored contemporaneousy through reguar meetings with the supervisor. This was done to enabe students to recognise and deveop key skis that are invauabe for their future (either PhD or empoyment). These skis are presumed but not aways rewarded in conventiona assessments for research projects (usuay written report / viva). Reguar meetings: I found it very important to schedue reguar meetings with student teams to go over probems, discuss resuts and ways forward. I aways try and get them to think out answers to probems and ways forward. I usuay meet students every week for ~30 min for each team (sometimes a whoe day may be spent doing this). Troubeshooting This stye of ab projects has run very we for the past 2 years. There have not been any major probems. However some issues that have arisen in the past incude: Assessment weighting (%) Assessment criterion/ skis assessed How assessed/ assessment task 50 Scientific report writing? Fina report 5 Experimenta design Experimenta draft (before meetings) 5 Critica appraisa skis Abstract of project and iterature review (week 2) 5 Data anaysis and interpretation 25 Performance in the aboratory: Refection in ab records; discussion meetings with supervisor 10 effort Observation and ab records 5 good aboratory practice Observation and ab records 5 record keeping Lab notebook 5 team work Observation, ab records and progress 5 Deveopment of probem soving skis 5 Originaity / fair for experimentation or initiative Discussion meetings with supervisor Discussion meetings with supervisor; ab notebook Large numbers of students: I started off with 12 students in the first year and had 25 ast year. The maximum capacity for doing research in the practica abs is ~40. This has enabed four coeagues to share this space with their project students using a simiar mode. Most of the students were very keen to spend more time in the ab to get good data, athough not everyone wi be so incined (see student feedback). Ensuring that students have reaistic expectations of how much they can achieve in terms of resuts within the avaiabe time is important. Some students, particuary those from overseas, have not aways interacted we with the rest of the group. This coud be due to the reativey arge student cohort (~60 in the biochemistry degree) combined with anguage or cutura barriers. See beow for how we pan to address this issue. Does it work? Advice on using this approach Preparation: Carefuy panning and choosing projects that optimise output is vita. For exampe, a broad project can be shared by a group of teams with each team adding their component e.g. assays, RT-PCR, Western Bots, etc. can be done by individua teams and contribute to the overa resuts. It aso encourages teamwork. Communication: It expedites things if everyone is informed of the detais in advance, e.g. teaching technicians (for practica scheduing etc.), students (choice of projects given at east 2-weeks in advance), and postgraduate demonstrators (detaied briefing sessions). Mentoring the research mind: Since the new strategy for projects was introduced (incuding assessment criteria), more than 50% of the students have gone on to do a PhD, either in the UK or the USA. Athough ab projects may not be the ony reason, the research environment and ethos created may certainy have contributed to their decision (see feedback beow). Effective use of resources: Maximising use of the bench space and reagents avaiabe. Reducing workoads on staff. Postgraduate skis training: The responsibiities given to postgraduate demonstrators ranged 46

54 Case Study 4 Mentoring scientific minds through group research projects: maximising avaiabe resources whie minimising workoads from ab supervision to marking written reports (moderated by me). This empowerment heped their own research training and enabed them to better appreciate their own research supervision. Student feedback The vast majority of students (~ 85%) who competed the modue evauation form indicated the project had been a usefu earning experience for them. Exampe comments on the best things about the project were: Bonding exercise: I was inspired by Eizabeth Dunne s (University of Exeter) teamwork activities presented at a Higher Education Academy meeting (Assessment: Students supporting students London, 21 March 2007). I wi be adapting some of her methods for this unit next semester in order to get the students (especiay overseas students) to integrate better as a group. Accompanying materias The insight into rea research gained through actuay taking part in a rea research project Being abe to compete a project from beginning to end without simpy foowing a protoco, earning new skis and impementing the science you have earnt over the years. This project invoves a ot of hard work but is very rewarding and enjoyabe and a great earning experience My project was interesting and enjoyabe. It has given me the chance to deveop techniques and skis I wi need for my PhD Reay enjoyed it The accompanying web site to this guide (www. bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/ TeachingGuides/) contains a downoadabe version of this case study and the foowing additiona materia: project handbook The major criticism about the project from the student point of view was the amount of time spent in the aboratory (they fet this was much higher in practice than indicated in the modue handbook). Peer Response I gave a tak to coeagues in the department on how I run the project and four coeagues have since used it for the projects they run. The externa examiner commented these carefuy designed teaching research projects can be more informative to a student than a poorypanned or specuative rea research project. They aso provide a more eve paying fied for the assessment of the abiities of these students. Further deveopments Reaistic expectations: Need to better manage student expectations by carifying time imitations wi resut in imited data. 47

55 Case Study 5 Designing chaenging dry bioformatics projects: expoiting pubic databases of genetic and post-genomic pant science data Designing chaenging dry bioformatics projects: expoiting pubic databases of genetic and post-genomic pant science data Caro Wagstaff Background and rationae Like many institutions we have experienced the pressure of many fina year students wishing to do projects couped with extremey imited financia resources that are not sufficient to support a aboratory based project without additiona funding from existing research grants. Finding dry projects that sti provide a chaenge to the student that goes beyond a iterature review or dissertation is not easy, but the requirements are that the student can find out something nove, foow scientific method and have the scope to achieve the maximum grade if the project goes we. I have recenty started to offer projects that make use of the weath of post-genomic information and free databases that now exist, together with sequence information for many organisms, to design projects where information from one species can be used to inform a programme of research on another species. Food Biosciences is sma compared to most Bioogica Sciences departments (about 55 students per year of undergraduate study and the same on MSc programmes) and about 20 staff offer approximatey three project tites each. At present, I am the ony member of staff offering bioinformatics projects, athough some of my coeagues do offer aternative dry projects in the form of conducting food choice surveys or accessing resuts from arge-scae diet and heath studies. We have no restrictions on project choice, other than to imit the number of students per staff member to around four. Both wet and dry projects carry the same amount of credit (40 out of 120 credits) in the fina year and run over two terms. This is the second year of offering informatics projects in my present job, but I aso ran them in my previous position when I was a post-doc in a Bioogica Sciences department. I woud say that they were more popuar amongst the Bioogists than those studying Food Science or Nutrition, probaby because the former have a better background in genetics and pant science and are more aware of the growth of bioinformatics within their discipine. How to do it Informatics projects invove 3 eements: 1) A bioogica probem; 2) Moecuar genetics; and 3) Database interrogation. The project can start at many different points depending on the prior knowedge of the student. Some wi have a good understanding of the bioogica probem being investigated e.g. antioxidants in pants, but not of moecuar genetics or database interrogation, whereas others wi have knowedge and experience of different eements. Essentiay the informatics project brings together components of a three areas by the end of the study. I woud aways advise starting with the bioogica principes behind the project, expaining to the student the rea-word reevance of the investigation. For exampe, my students are a studying some aspect of food biosciences and are wary of a project that ooks too much ike pure pant science. Once they appreciate that considerabe breeding efforts go into our pant-based food crops and that pants donot make antioxidants (or any other secondary product) for our benefit, they begin to see the reevance. I generay have to do a ot of expaining about what Arabidopsis is and why it is so usefu, but a student of pant sciences woud have ess need of this, and perhaps more need of an introduction to which pant products are of dietary significance to humans. Thankfuy, with food issues having such a high profie in the media there is a high eve of genera awareness of dietary goods and evis amongst students. These projects require a fairy heavy input of time from the supervisor at the beginning of the project in order to famiiarise the student with the reevant databases, but once the student is equipped with the reevant toos the project requires much ess effort to supervise. The important thing is that students fee confident to go and try things for themseves. The student wi coect a variety of data in the form of gene/protein sequences, descriptions of gene/protein function and expression vaues. The projects are written in the form of a research paper our department has just taken the decision to use Biosciences Horizons (biohorizons.oxfordjournas.org/) as the guiding format 48

56 Case Study 5 Designing chaenging dry bioformatics projects: expoiting pubic databases of genetic and post-genomic pant science data and these projects are therefore assessed against the same criteria as aboratory based studies. The foowing case study iustrates the resources I directed students to for a particuar project: Using Arabidopsis to identify targets for future research to manipuate the favonoid content of ettuce. a) Direct the student towards some reading designed to famiiarise them with the different types of favonoids, under what situations (e.g. stress) the pant produces them, and the importance of different favonoid groups in the diet. Hopefuy with a bit of guidance they wi then decide to focus on one major pathway for exampe anthocyanin biosynthesis. b) Show the student how to use the Kegg metaboic pathway maps for Arabidopsis pathway.htm. The favonoid biosynthesis pathway can be seected from the ist of secondary metaboites and the reference pathway changed to the organism Arabidopsis thaiana. You shoud now be at www. genome.jp/kegg/pathway/ath/ath00941.htm. On this page, the rounded boxes ink to other pages from the same metaboic map (in this case specific favonoid groups such as anthocyanins, phenypropanoids). It can be usefu to foow such inks if you are ooking for genes that reguate arge chunks of the pathway. Each square box represents a gene that is thought to reguate that step of the reaction. If it is shaded green the information comes from Arabidopsis. If you seect a square box by cicking on it you wi be taken to the detais of that gene, incuding AGI code, and genomic and cdna sequence. Save the information in a separate document. For exampe, bget?ath+at3g51240 encodes a gene invoved in the synthesis of a number of important favonoids, incuding anthocyanins. (See screenshot beow.) c) Ask the student to copy the amino acid sequence (ringed in red) from this page and paste it into the ettuce database bast faciity at edu/database/sms/query.htm using fasta format. Check the ettuce EST database and tbastn search boxes before running the bast. A number of sequences are produced with significant aignments. This is a good opportunity to expain to the student what to ook for when assessing aignments good % match over a short region or ower % over the whoe sequence. Take care because the ettuce ESTs are not a fu ength. The ettuce genome is not fuy sequenced so the student needs to check they have a homoogue (or severa) to their gene of interest in the ettuce database before proceeding with the more onerous tasks beow. d) The project can now go in severa different directions. At this juncture I usuay show the student some software for interrogating expression datasets such as Genevestigator gv/index.jsp using their virtua northern too. This too can be used to seect genes of interest and find out in which tissues they are expressed, at what stage of deveopment and in response to which stress stimui a by taking pubicy avaiabe array data. Another reay nice too for visuaising the spatia expression patterns of genes can be found at www. bar.utoronto.ca/ using the efp browser too (see screenshot above), athough others on this site are worth a ook too. A the toos mentioned here of course use Arabidopsis so you wi need to go back to your origina gene IDs but at this point the students are furnished with the knowedge of which ones show up in ettuce and are worth pursuing. This is particuary important when deaing with gene famiies and the toos mentioned above come into their own to reay answer some questions. For exampe, the gene identified in part b 49