Designing Advanced Seminar Research Courses in Science

Advanced seminar research courses in sciences provide students with valuable capstone experiences. They impart opportunities to develop practical skills required for entry into scientific careers. While course objectives and learning outcomes may vary across disciplines, educational programs, departments, and institutions, seminar courses encourage students to hone professional competencies for research investigations, scientific literacy, communication, and critical thinking. Students demonstrate these skills via collaborative discussions, peer evaluation, and formulation of integrative reports. Designing and assessing the effectiveness of such courses involves the feedback from students, faculty, and administration. In this session, presenters will discuss two models which are implemented in different academic settings to reveal strategies for the design, delivery, and evaluation of research seminar courses. The presenters will elaborate upon their respective seminar courses. Course outlines (syllabi), lesson planning, student activities, formative and summative assessments, rubrics, and administrative logistics will be discussed

Enriching learning between & beyond courses – Science inspiring good thoughts, good words, & good deeds

Students desire learning opportunities that develop essential skills needed to succeed within university and beyond. This presentation will describe a new undergraduate science course, which uses a mega disciplinary approach to develop skills related to academics, research, professional development, and citizenship. The course is centred on a “good thoughts, good words, and good deeds” theme. Course components are designed to strengthen analytical problem solving, facilitate research literacy, develop communication fluencies in a variety of creative genres, encourage networking, engage self-directed reflection and improvement. Undergraduates enrolled in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th academic years, discover, design, and disseminate knowledge while serving in community-engaged outreach initiatives. Opportunities to mentor, cultivate professional skills, and experience different leadership roles are hallmark characteristics of the course. This course bridges a flexible learning progression, whereby students can select their level of experience ranging from serving as volunteers in outreach initiatives progressing to active scholars enrolled in an integrated course taken for academic credit. Assignments include proposal reports, giving and receiving constructive feedback, presentations, reflective journals, creating online learning tools, interviewing experts, alumni mentors, and community research partners. Students extend their collaborative connections beyond the course into their professional domains. Attendees will participate in facilitated discussions to identify activities that teach essential skills and nurture the characteristics most needed for learning, careers, and citizenship. Attendees will also have access to the teaching resources and exemplars of coursework. It is hoped that attendees will be inspired to incorporate the presented components into their own science initiatives