Lessons from my undergraduate research students

J Biol Chem. 2018 Jul 6;293(27):10447-10452. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.003722. Epub 2018 May 9.

Abstract

From very early on, my personal/professional life has been shaped by teachers in many different settings. Teaching and learning form a two-way street. In the process of teaching undergraduate students, particularly in the research lab, I have learned some profound lessons about the importance of listening to them, challenging them, giving them autonomy, and allowing them to enjoy success and to risk failure. I am now working with a team of faculty members to implement these lessons in a course-based undergraduate research experience in the biochemistry teaching laboratory. Our goal is to seek answers to the question "How do students become scientists?" and to implement those answers with our future students.

Keywords: CURE; bioinformatics; chromatography; computational biology; enzyme; gel electrophoresis; mentor-student relationship; protein function prediction; structure-function; teaching lab; undergraduate research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Awards and Prizes*
  • Biochemistry / education*
  • Biomedical Research / education*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Humans
  • Laboratories / standards*
  • Learning*
  • Models, Biological
  • Problem-Based Learning / methods*
  • Students / psychology*

Associated data

  • PDB/1AKO
  • PDB/3L1W