Recasting a traditional laboratory practical as a “Design‐your‐own protocol” to teach a universal research skill

Abstract

Laboratory-based practical classes are a common feature of life science teaching, during which students learn how to perform experiments and generate/interpret data. Practical classes are typically instructional, concentrating on providing topic- and technique-specific skills, however to produce research-capable graduates it is also important to develop generic practical skills. To provide an opportunity for students to develop the skills needed to create bespoke protocols for experimental benchwork, a traditional practical was repurposed. Students were given a list of available resources and an experimental goal, and directed to create a bench protocol to achieve the aim (measuring the iron in hemoglobin). In a series of teaching events students received feedback from staff, and peers prototyped the protocols, before protocols were finally implemented. Graduates highlighted this exercise as one of the most important of their degrees, primarily because of the clear relevance of the skills acquired to professional practice. The exercise exemplifies a range of pedagogic principles, but arguably its most important innovation is that it repurposed a pre-existing practical. This had the benefits of automatically providing scaffolding to direct the students' thought processes, while retaining the advantages of a "discovery learning" exercise, and allowing facile adoption of the approach across the sector. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44(4):377-380, 2016.

Increasing creative self‐efficacy: Developing the confidence of biochemistry undergraduates to innovate

“…The creative exercise within the intervention module has been described previously 41 . In brief, the module is practical‐based, with students undertaking a weekly series of biochemistry ‘wet lab’ experiments during the first half of the module, following staff‐provided experimental protocols.…”

“…In brief, the module is practical‐based, with students undertaking a weekly series of biochemistry ‘wet lab’ experiments during the first half of the module, following staff‐provided experimental protocols. During the latter half of the module the students progress to design their own step‐by‐step experimental protocols (working in pairs), which they then implement in the laboratory, to determine how many atoms of iron there are in a molecule of hemoglobin (the ‘intervention’) 41 . Assessment of students was through their production of written reports for each experiment, including the experiment for which they developed their own protocols.…”

“…Feedback from peers was reciprocal, interactive and happened in real‐time as the draft protocols were implemented. Finally, a week later a final version of the protocol was implemented by the protocol creators 41 . The ‘intervention’ had been implemented for several iterations before this study and the both the module and the intervention assessment gave reproducible marks each year.…”

“…The creative exercise within the intervention module has been described previously. 41 In brief, the module is practical-based, with students undertaking a weekly series of biochemistry 'wet lab' experiments during the first half of the module, following staff-provided experimental protocols. During the latter half of the module the students progress to design their own step-by-step experimental protocols (working in pairs), which they then implement in the laboratory, to determine how many atoms of iron there are in a molecule of hemoglobin (the 'intervention').…”

“…During the latter half of the module the students progress to design their own step-by-step experimental protocols (working in pairs), which they then implement in the laboratory, to determine how many atoms of iron there are in a molecule of hemoglobin (the 'intervention'). 41 Assessment of students was through their production of written reports for each experiment, including the experiment for which they developed their own protocols. Their protocols (i.e., the products of their creativity) were not assessed directly.…”