Scaffolding soft‐skill development into a two‐semester undergraduate laboratory course

Abstract

We have designed a two semester sequence of biochemistry labs that provides each biochemistry major a research experience studying the structure‐function relationship of a model enzyme. During this two semester sequence, students master a set of technical skills and develop proficiency in the soft skills that will allow them to thrive in their post‐graduate careers. A firm grasp of the structure‐function paradigm is a central tenet for students within biomolecular science programs. Critically, students need to understand that any molecular model is built on a preponderance of data from overlapping experiments. Allowing students to develop their own data and models requires that a coordinated experiential learning component accompanies lecture content. In addition to studying the structure‐function relationship, the labs also develop many of the top ten soft skills sought after by employers and graduate schools, including data analysis and interpretation, experimental design, teamwork, collaboration, and oral and written communication. This high impact research embedded course progression can implement almost any biological system, provided meaningful data can be generated during a typical lab time. We have found that a two semester approach is critical to adequately prepare students for an independent research project. By using teams of students and building on previous years of data collection, we have been able to reinforce the collaborative nature within science, while generating publication quality results. To force students to consider the big picture of their work we have found it critical that students present formally and informally throughout the course. This heuristic laboratory course has been designed to provide the undergraduate biochemistry students a high impact research experience, while emphasizing soft skills. Our course‐based undergraduate research approach could be adapted to any number of systems.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.