Teaching research skills to undergraduates: Designing and implementing original research projects in a senior capstone course in animal physiology.

Abstract

Engaging students in research during their undergraduate experience is critical to encourage and train students to enter graduate programs in the sciences. In our capstone course in animal physiology, students design and implement original research projects, employ novel techniques, utilize appropriate statistical analyses, and present the project and results. Projects are reviewed by our animal care committee and students are challenged in their methodology. Our ten‐week quarter system requires that students rapidly initiate necessary methodology and design projects which can be implemented and analyzed successfully in a short amount of time. While the short duration is challenging from both a student and instructor perspective, results worthy of further investigation are often discovered and an example of a successful project measuring the effect of dietary capsaicin and exercise on body fat accumulation in young Sprague‐Dawley rats will be presented. Analysis using two‐way ANOVA revealed a significant decrease in fat accumulation with the addition of capsaicin over a five week period. Moderate swimming exercise reduced fat accumulation, though not statistically (P=0.051). While high levels of faculty and staff support must be employed to implement this course design, immersive experiences such as this provide the student with a real world perspective of the difficulties and rewards of research.