WILL IT ROT? DEVELOPING UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN THE CLASSROOM

Many undergraduates do not partake in the full scientific process during their time in college. For many students, the experience of creating and running an experiment first occurs in a capstone course or as elective independent research during their senior year. Undergraduate participation in faculty-led research during class often only incorporates data collection and analysis, rather than the full experiment from design to interpretation. Exploring the scientific method should not be left to the student’s last year or restricted to those students self-motivated enough to engage in independent research. Incorporation of student-designed and run experiments into the classroom increases appreciation and understanding of the process of science. It also de-emphasizes the common notion of science-as-memorization. In an upper-level undergraduate paleontology course for biology students, a taphonomy project was used to develop science process skills. The students experienced the full scientific process from experimental design, set-up and trouble-shooting to data collection, analysis and interpretation.

The taphonomy project is a semester-long experiment designed and run by students. Following a discussion of taphonomic processes during the first week, the students come up with original questions to test, which explore aspects of pre-fossilization processes affecting carcasses. Students work in groups drafting an experimental plan. The plans are posted to the class website, where they are reviewed by the instructor and other students in an on-line discussion. The experiments are set up during the fourth week of class and monitored over the course of the semester. All students are required to submit weekly electronic journal entries that summarize both the experiment’s progress and the participation of other group members. The students have to analyze and interpret their data in light of the taphonomic literature. During the last week of class, the groups give 20-minute conference-style presentations in which all group members participate. This project develops student skills in experimental design, data analysis and written, oral and visual communication.