One of my spies has reported back from a Biochem/Mol Biol Education Meeting held Dahn Sauf (in Melbourne. Poor chap).
Some interesting results from a survey of Honours Students. Apparently, 'going in' they wanted to get
more knowledge of XXX
or
experience with techniques in XXX
but what they actually learned was
writing skills, public speaking, time management, critical thinking, etc.
I think that's actually a 'win' for the educators. Techniques and knowledge of facts are good to have; but if you're a half-way decent scientist you'll know where to find the facts, and how to learn the techniques, which is much more valuable (in my opinion) than the dry knowledge.
I'm particularly impressed that students came away thinking that they'd learned how to think critically. That's possibly the most worthwhile thing about the Honours courses we offer, and it is gratifying to be able to watch a naive student develop this faculty as she progresses through the year.
On which note, a shout out to my very young apprentice for his first class Honours, and a big shout out to the very young apprentice of Dr Choo, who scored a University Medal[1]. Mad props and best wishes to them both.
1. I edited her thesis, so I'm grabbing some of the credit, m'kay?
Comments
You can teach it to honours students? Jeez, talk about a difference in calibre... we have trouble getting 2nd yr grads to think critically :(
Posted by: tideliar | December 14, 2007 09:17 AM
I challenge you to teach my Honours Student to think critically. She still can't manage to evacuate a pipetman properly. And don't you dare suggest that has anything to do with my teaching skills! Last week I taught a year 10 student to do minipreps, and she thought about it more critically than my honours student...and our PI is encouraging her to go on to a PhD. Ack! Not everyone should have a PhD!!!
Oh, and normally, I would write 'honors'...
Posted by: SanDiablo | December 14, 2007 10:35 AM
Are you saying I'm naive?
Posted by: beta gal | December 14, 2007 07:36 PM
Oooh. It's not all about you you know :)
Posted by: bk | December 14, 2007 08:34 PM