Course Description
Students are provided with an authentic research experience in the area of physiology (i.e., course-based undergraduate research experience, CURE), where the experimental outcome is unknown. Students will gain skills in all aspects of research from reading primary literature and maintaining a lab notebook and lab techniques to generating research questions, collecting and interpreting data, and presenting results.
Athena Title
Course Based Research in Phys
Prerequisite
BIOL 1108 or BIOL 2108H or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Effectively read primary literature and search for articles 2. Maintain a lab notebook 3. Work collaboratively and develop teamwork skills 4. Develop self-directed research questions based on primary literature and background information 5. Develop skills in planning and executing a research project 6. Practice writing lab protocols 7. Provide constructive feedback 8. Develop and carry out research techniques and methods 9. Conduct an experiment with proper controls 10. Collect, visualize, analyze, and interpret data 11. Communicate and present results in writing and orally
Topical Outline
1. Research methods a. Lab safety b. Lab notebook c. Reproducible research d. Ethics 2. Collaborations in research a. Teamwork b. Feedback 3. Reading primary literature a. Article types b. Search engines and reference management 4. Peer review and publication process a. Manuscript to publication b. Reviewing a manuscript 5. Hypothesis generation and testing a. Predictions, null hypothesis b. Methods 6. Background information pertinent to research topic a. The topic will vary based on research questions in a given semester 7. Technical lab skills a. Following and executing experimental protocols b. Failures and troubleshooting 8. Generating and analyzing data a. Tidy data in Excel b. Basic statistical analyses c. Figures, labels, legends, captions d. Interpreting results 9. Presenting research findings a. Scientific writing and final report b. Poster vs. oral presentation c. Conferences
Syllabus