1996-97
ASSESSMENT
Fifty-two students successfully completed the requirements for Biology 420 during the
academic year 1996-97. This capstone course entails successful completion of an
undergraduate research project. The activity culminates with the development of a
scientific research report written in the CBE style: introduction materials and methods
results discussion and literature citations. in addition students make an oral
presentation of their work and also prepare a poster board. As in years past student
performance was generally rated as strong by faculty who taught the Biology 420 course
those that mentored students and those who attended the student presentations. A recommendation from the previous year 1995-96
had been to enhance computer applications in both literature searches and in analysis and
presentation of data. This has now been integrated into both Biology 420 and the
prerequisite proposal development course Biology 375. The computerized data search system
Dialog is now integrated into both courses. Two weeks are devoted to learning the Dialog
system in Biology 375. Student feedback indicates that this has helped immensely in the
development of the Biology 420 project.
An area of emphasis in the future will be
to more tightly link the student proposal plan with the actual project. The Department has
begun this effort by structuring the Biology 420 course as a "1 + 1" endeavor
that crosses two rather than one semester. This allows for a more reasonable time frame
for completion and presentation of the work. The Department will monitor the "1 +
1" model over the next several semesters. |
