Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Eva M. Ingvadóttir, Sean M. Scully
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: University of Akureyri, Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences
Kynnir / Presenter: Eva M. Ingvadóttir
Microbial biotechnology is a third year undergraduate course in the biotechnology line at the University of Akureyri. The laboratory section of the course centers heavily around the research process with emphasis on students taking ownership of experimental design and subsequently working towards writing a manuscript for publishing in a peer-reviewed, undergraduate journal. The role of the instructor is no longer to „lead and feed (information)“ but rather provide support and structure on a need-to basis. The aim is to activate higher-order cognitive skills (see Bloom‘s Taxonomy) while gaining valuable, hands-on experience within the laboratory setting and the students' zone of proximal development (ZPD). This work reflects on the opportunities and challenges of said course, its pedagogical approaches and discusses future directions which could be applied in similar courses across the biological sciences.