A University Laboratory Course to Improve Scientific Communication Skills

A Poster-Session Review to Reinforce Course Concepts and Improve Scientific Communication Skills†

Mutation-Based Learning to Improve Student Autonomy and Scientific Inquiry Skills in a Large Genetics Laboratory Course

Laboratory education can play a vital role in developing a learner's autonomy and scientific inquiry skills. In an innovative, mutation-based learning (MBL) approach, students were instructed to redesign a teacher-designed standard experimental protocol by a "mutation" method in a molecular genetics laboratory course. Students could choose to delete, add, reverse, or replace certain steps of th...

Experiences to improve the quality of a practical parasitology course for Students of Laboratory Sciences

Introduction: Medical parasitology courses are highly sensitive to medical students, especially students in laboratory and medical sciences. Therefore, the aim of this study is Expression of experiences to improve the quality of a practical parasitology course for Students of Laboratory Sciences, especially the training session of laboratory tests performed on stool. Methods: In this research,...

Assessing Higher-order Scientific Process Skills in a Research-oriented Laboratory Course

We developed a laboratory course in which students explore microbial diversity within environmental samples. We hypothesized that the curriculum would develop skills critical to a student’s competence as a research scientist. We compared the effectiveness of a guided-inquiry format (lab A) to that of a traditional ‘cookbook’ class (lab B). Students in lab B, the control group, perform technique...

Using Writing Assignments to Improve Self-Assessment and Communication Skills in an Engineering Statics Course

This study explores the use of writing as a tool for metacognition in the engineering classroom. We used the “explain-a-problem” type of assignment in the Engineering Statics course for four terms. The objectives associated with the assignments were grouped under student self-assessment, student communication, and administration. Performance on each of four grading criteria for each assignment ...