Multiweek Projects for the Biology Lab

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2011, Volume 32

Joy B. Perry

Abstract

Biology courses at the University of Wisconsin – Fox Valley often utilize multi-week projects. These activities offer students a more authentic experience of how science is done than typical lab activities completed within two or three hours. Students have opportunities to gain greater depth of understanding and, often, an interdisciplinary perspective. Projects that extend over multiple weeks are also ideal opportunities for effective teamwork, allowing teams to develop cohesiveness, and to practice skills such as time management and communication. Indeed, our experience has been that well-managed, extended team projects often produce superior results than those completed by individual students. This mini-workshop described several examples of multi-week projects in my courses and included group discussion of the barriers and opportunities afforded by these kinds of projects as well as teamwork structure and management.

Keywords:  multi-week laboratory

Dalhousie University (2010)