From: web-form@Oswego.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 9:37 AM
To: ucc@oswego.edu
Subject: Web Form: Course_Submission

Department_Chair: Dr. Richard Back
Department_Chair_Email: back@oswego.edu
Additional_Contact: Dr. James MacKenzie (Curriculum Committee Chair)
Additional_Contact_Email: jmackenz@oswego.edu

Course_Number: Bio 296
Course_Type: New Course
Course_Title: Directed Research

Catalog_Description: A laboratory- or field-based undergraduate directed research project.  Students must find a faculty sponsor who will direct their project.

Prerequisites: Soph. standing, Bio 120, and permission of instructor.
Fl_irregular basis: Yes
Semester_Hours: 1-3

Justification: It is imperative that all science majors have an undergraduate research experience to prepare them for graduate school or entering the workforce. While we ensure that biology and zoology majors have this experience in our upper-level research course, it can be beneficial for a student to have an active experience working one-on-one with a faculty mentor. Currently, students only have the option to obtain credit for this through an Independent Study, but only juniors and seniors are eligible for this.  This direct research experience is meant to encourage sophomores to begin investigating the world of scientific method in a more structured way than an independent study. This experience will help hone the student’s skills and enable them to get more out of their upper-level research experiences. This course is restricted to sophomores who have completed Bio 120 because they are a special population that does not have the course-work to develop a meaningful independent

Course_Objectives: 
Students will increase their ability to identify a problem, perform literature searches to find relevant information, form hypotheses or develop problems, develop methodologies, perform observations, and analyze data. Unlike an independent study experience, these activities generally require a lot more help and guidance from the faculty mentor.

Course_Description: 
The Biological Sciences Faculty are committed to offering meaningful research experiences for our students.  Students who are unsure whether they want to pursue an independent study research experience may elect to take a Directed Research (Bio 296) course. This course can be used as a free elective in the major, but may not be used toward the core or area requirements.  It can be taken only once.
Due to the various faculty who sponsor undergraduate research projects and the variety of research topics covered, it is difficult to have a rigid set of rules for all.  The student conducts laboratory or field research under the direction of a departmental faculty member.

Resources: No new resources are required.

Bibliography: 
McMillan, V.E. (2006) “Writing papers in the Biological Sciences, Fourth Ed.” Bedford/St. Martin.
Gauch, H.G. (2003) “Scientific method in practice.” Cambridge University Press.
Moorman, T. (2002) “How to Make Your Science Project Scientific.” Wiley. 
Ford, E.D. (2000) “Scientific method for ecological research.” Cambridge University Press.
Gower, B. (1997) “Scientific method: an historical and philosophical introduction.” Routledge.

Other_Comments: 
IP_Adress: 129.3.26.123