Blog rationale OR what this blog is about

In teaching college students in the sciences, we are faced with the challenge of moving students from the classroom to the lab and field. Teaching scientific skills and methodology occurs in laboratory and field classes as well as research internships where students volunteer or work as research assistants. In this blog, I will focus on situations where students are expected to actively participate in research, whether as an assistant on a large research project or on an experiment in class. I will discuss what I believe to be important for a developing scientist as well as ideas for aiding in the student’s development.

Much of my recent activity as a teacher has been through taing a laboratory course and advising undergraduate assistants. The undergraduate assistants agree to help with my laboratory and field research, so that they can gain research experience and receive academic credit. In both of these situations (and in many others), students are accustomed to the academic environment- they can take tests and write papers, but they have little or no experience in research. The students need to develop skills, attitude and critical thinking ability if they are to become scientists.