What does it mean to “do research”? Seasoned researchers will tell you it takes more than reading a few online articles and news items on social and popular media sites.
Research, says Utah State University biologist Lauren Lucas, begins with asking big questions.
“Among the first steps of research is practicing the scientific method, which is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge,” says Lucas, senior lecturer in USU’s Department of Biology. “Subsequent steps include identifying a research topic, developing focused research questions, learning all you can about the topic, developing a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis with experimentation, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions about your hypothesis and sharing your results.”
It’s a daunting process, she admits, but not so intimidating if you approach it in increments. And that’s the intent of Lucas’ Honors Biology II Laboratory class section, BIOL 1625-001, for early undergraduates. With help from her team of graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, the lecturer is seeing promising learning results and enthusiasm from participants in the interactive, hands-on class.
In partnership with biology colleague Zach Gompert, who received a National Science Foundation CAREER grant in 2019 to study the causes and consequences of natural selection on ecological time scales, including selections caused by interactions between mutualistic caterpillars and ants, Lucas has crafted a laboratory class that enables undergraduates to design and carry out their own experiments that tie to Gompert’s project.
“With the NSF CAREER grant, I’m testing the hypothesis that natural selection, caused by aspects of the environment, including climate and mutualistic ants, affects evolutionary dynamics and genomic diversity levels in Lycaeides butterflies” says Gompert, associate professor in biology and the USU Ecology Center. “A big part of the grant is integrating research with teaching and outreach. Students in BIOL 1625-001 are contributing by learning about the basic biology of these caterpillar-ant interactions."
Read the full story here: www.usu.edu/today/story/mutua...
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