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Schedule
Instructor:
Bretton Kent
Overview
CLFS
725 is a two-credit graduate course that focuses on helping participants
develop the skills necessary to plan, conduct and analyze original biological
experiments. The course is designed for teachers developing new innovative
laboratories for their students, or participating in research projects
with other investigators. Unlike traditional laboratory courses which
focus on the laboratory and field techniques for collecting data, this
course emphasizes the development of effective experimental designs. Participants
completing this course will be expected to design innovative research
projects for their own students that will be presented to the other class
members.
All of
the laboratory exercises in CLFS 725 can either be performed within the
course website, or by using materials that are readily available locally.
A fundamental component of the course is an experimental design package
within the course website. This package consists of a hyperlinked, design
tool that uses information provided by an investigator to identify appropriate
experimental designs and analytical tools for a particular study. Further,
the design tool is linked to conceptual overviews and customized spreadsheets
of specific statistical tests and recommendations of the appropriate forms
of tables and graphs to use with different experimental designs.
The course
is based on a cooperative learning model, with participants assigned to
research groups that work together to investigate the principles of experimental
design and apply these principles to research problems presented in the
course. This course contains a number of components that will help research
groups (and individual participants) to develop effective designs for
biological experiments:
•
Readings are used to provide the basic theory behind the experimental
designs used in biological research. These readings are in the form
of web-based notes and sections from the course textbook.
• Discussion questions are used to explore the
practical and applied aspects of the topics presented in the readings
and laboratories in greater depth. Each research group posts answers
to these questions for grading.
• Research problems are short summaries of experiments
that contain flaws in their experimental design. Research problems are
not graded, but are intended to help you assess your understanding of
experimental design principles covered during the course.
• Laboratories are the most critically important
portion of the course. In these exercises, research groups (which change
every four weeks) apply the experimental design principles they have
learned to specific research problems. Unlike traditional laboratories,
each research group constructs, implements and analyzes an experiment
of their own design.
• Chat sessions are online synchronous discussions
of course material. Chats are used to clarify the mechanics, concepts,
and assignments in the course.
• Individual portfolios are required of each
participant. Each portfolio consists of two research projects selected
and designed by an individual participant in the format most appropriate
for their own students.
Webtext
The course
website contains an online textbook, A Conceptual Review of Experimental
Design for the Life Sciences, that provides a compact, essentially non-mathematical
overview of experimental design.
Textbook
There is an optional textbook for this course: Townend, John. 2002. Practical
Statistics for Environmental and Biological Scientists. John Wiley and
Sons, Ltd., 276 pp. This is a good, general introduction to experimental
design in the life sciences. It can be used as a reference to supplement
readings from the webtext in the course website.
Laboratories
The laboratory exercises for the course are available online within the
course website. Each unit in the course contains one exercise. The execises
contain a problem to be investigated experimentally, accompanied by reference
articles and web sites on useful experimental procedures. Exercises are
available in condensed, downloadable formats for use as hard copies away
from networked computers.
Grading
The course consists of eight units, each one week in length. There are
two assignments due at the end of each unit, an experimental laboratory
exercise and an answer to a discussion question. To facilitate work on
these assignments, the following time table will be followed:
Monday:
The new unit becomes available online.
Wednesday:
Individual experimental designs for the laboratory exercise are due.
Thursday:
Individual responses to the discussion question are due.
Sunday:
Group laboratory report and group written response to the discussion
question are due.
The grade
for both types of assignment will be based on two components: (1) the
group submissions, and (2) each individual's contributions to these.
Laboratory
Exercises
The group submissions for the laboratory exercises will be graded on a
10 point scale, with the grade determined by the overall scope and completeness
of the response. Grading for individual contributions are more complicated,
but is also based on 10 points:
2
points for submitting an individual response to the assignment.
2
points for completing the individual responses on time (i.e.,
by Wednesday).
4
points for actively participating in group discussions during
the completion of the final submissions for grading. Active participation
will be defined as providing two substantive suggestions that move the
discussion forward. Comments such as "I don't think this portion
of the answer is clear. Perhaps we should rewrite it as ...", or
"I think _______ is more important to this process and we should
place greater emphasis on it." would be substansive and would clearly
indicate activie participation. Responses such as "Good job!"
or "I completely agree." would not be considered substansive.
2
points for work beyond the minimum necessary for completing
the discussion question. For example, someone who made more than the
minimum two substansive suggestions during the completion of the final
answer or who took the lead in writing the final submission would receive
these points.
Note
that if someone does the minimium work: (1) submits an individual response,
(2) submits it on time, and (3) provides two substansive suggestions during
the drafting of the final answer, they would receive a total of 8 points
(= 80%, or a B) for the individual portion of the assignment. To receive
an A for this portion of the grade, they would need to do work beyond
the minimum and earn the remaining 2 points.
Discussion
Questions
The grading for the answers to the discussion questions are similar to
that of the laboratory exercises, except that it is based on a total of
10 points (5 pointsfor the group submission and 5 points for individual
contributions). The point breakdown for individual contributions is:
2
points for submitting an individual response to the assignment.
1
point for completing the individual responses on time (i.e.,
by Thursday).
1
point for providing one substantive suggestion during the completion
of the final submission.
1
point for work beyond the minimum necessary for completing
the discussion question answer.
As with
the laboratory exercises, someone does the minimium work would receive
4 points, or a grade of 80%.
Individual
Portfolios
Individual portfolios are not group activities. They consist of two laboratory
exercises selected by each participant and presented in a format for use
with the participant's own students. They can be modifications of existing
laboratories or original exercises. Each exercise will be graded on a
total of 65 points:
5
points for feasibility and suitability.
10
points for correctly identifying relevant variables.
30
points for the suitability for the overall experimental design.
20
points for appropraite analysis.
Summary
The course grade is based on a total of 350 points, divided among the
three listed activities. The total points are distributed among these
activities in the following manner:
| 140 points |
Experiments designed
by research groups and posted to the course website. Experiments for
the laboratories during Units 1-7 are graded on a 20 point scale (=
10 points for the group response and 10 points for individual responses;
see above). There is no group experiment due during Unit 8. |
| 80 points |
Discussion question
answers to each of the eight discussion questions posted by each research
group. Each set of answers is graded on a 10 point scale (= 5 points
for the group response and 5 points for individual responses; see
above). |
| 130 points |
Individual portfolios
of two laboratory exercises presented in a format for use with the
participant's own students. Each exercise will be graded on a 65 point
scale (see above). |
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| 350 points |
TOTAL |
Missed Work
Occasionally, course participants may miss a unit due to other obligations
(e.g., illness, family vacation, etc.) Notify both the members of your
group and the course staff of any absences. Missed work will be completed
as an individual, rather than a group, assignment within one week of returning
to the course.Course Schedule
| Unit |
Webtext
Readings |
Optional
Textbook Readings |
Laboratory
Exercise |
| 1 |
Introduction
(sect. 1-1.3) |
pp. 3-8 |
The Search for
Alien Civilizations1 |
| 2 |
Scientific
Method & Experimentation (sect. 2-2.3) |
pp.
27-44, 63-90 |
The
Curious Coffee Creamer Quality Control Committee2 |
| 3 |
Conceptual
Statistics (sect. 3-3.7) |
pp.
9-26 |
Blood
Cell Anomalies in Spring Peeper Frogs3 |
| 4 |
Experimental
Design Principles (sect. 4-4.6) |
pp.
45-61 |
Iodine
Value of Cooking Oils4 |
| 5 |
Basic
Experimental Designs (sect. 5-5.2.2) |
pp.
93-105, 129-143, 173-195, 200-202 |
Fractal
Geometry of Oak Leaves4 |
| 6 |
Advanced
Experimental Designs (sect. 6-6.6) |
pp.
107-127, 143-146, 163-171, 195-200 |
Tea-Juice
Precipitation Reactions5 |
| 7 |
Presenting
the Results of Biological Research (sect. 7-7.3) |
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Evaluating
Published Research5 |
| 8 |
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Individual
Portfolios5 |
Restrictions on statistical tests:
1 chi-square
tests only
2 chi-square tests or quick tests (i.e., Tukey's quick test, sign test
for two samples, sign test for correlation) only
3 any basic statistical test (i.e., tests using either one or two samples)
4 any basic statistical test, complex contingencity table, or one-way
ANOVA
5 no restrictions
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