 |
click on the image to view poster
In this first project, students role-play a group of graduate students who have to present research papers they have read for a routine research journal club. The underlying goal is to develop skills to grasp one primary article and then communicate it orally to a scientifically literate peer audience. Each student group picks one paper from several cell biology oriented articles published in Cell, Science, and Nature that I have chosen. No two groups select the same paper. Each paper elaborates on topics covered in lecture and/or lab and has clear public relevance. Groups give 45-minute presentation using PowerPoint, followed by a 15-minute open discussion. All groups within a lab section (typically 3-4 groups) present their journal club during an assigned lab period. To best prepare students, I require groups to meet with me at least 3-4 weeks before their presentation, during which time we read the paper together. Prior to meeting me, they are expected to have read the paper thoroughly. Students know that at this stage, despite multiple readings, they are not expected to understand more than one-fourth of the paper. At this meeting, we also discuss relevant papers students have collected to use for journal club background, to understand methods, and for discussion of findings. Most often, I help students understand the anatomy of a primary article and provide conceptual understanding of background and methods, clarify hypotheses, with added guidelines for extra research on discussion. By the end of this meeting, we strive to reach a three-fourths understanding of the paper. Depending on the group, one or more additional meetings may be scheduled. During the preceding week, students are encouraged to practice their presentation at least once and I provide them with computers and data projectors for these practice sessions. Students often invite advanced biology majors to these presentations as sources of peer feedback. The journal clubs are made public so that non-course related students and faculty attend. During the journal club, presenting groups provide a two-page pamphlet that summarizes the main points of the paper and how it connects to cell biology, to further demonstrate their ability to educate peers.