REU Schedule of Learning Activities
Wk 1/Monday:
Students will be introduced to the program as a whole, to the elements of a
research project, and to project planning.
They will be introduced to their mentors and projects. They will be taught the importance of keeping
a detailed laboratory notebook and provided with tips on how to do so. They will be asked to complete a pre-program
questionnaire relating to attitudes toward research and understanding of
related concepts.
Wk 1/Wednesday:
Each student will summarize his/her own research project, as they understand
it, to the other students. They will
also relate the specifics of the project to the elements learned in the Monday
session.
Wk 2/Monday: Students will be taught how to keep accurate
records for report writing and proof of “ownership” for intellectual
property. They will be given a list of information
that should go into a laboratory notebook (download
doc). They will be asked to have their mentor fill
out a project description
(download doc)
for them. They will then be taught how
to plan a research schedule, including a week-by-week plan (download doc) and a one-week plan (download doc).
Wk 2/Wednesday:
Students will be asked to critique one another’s notebooks in terms of what has
been left out, and what could be more completely stated. Students will also be asked to provide the
broader context of their research project, including a brief history of the
laboratory in which they are working and how their project relates to those of
other students in that laboratory. In
preparation for the following week’s topic of library research, students will
be asked to write down 20 questions that they need to answer relating to their
work.
Wk 3/Monday:
Students will be introduced to local resources for library research
(download doc)
and to strategies for finding important information, including journal searches
and patent searches.
Wk 3/Wednesday:
Students will first be asked to critique one another’s 20 questions. Students will perform on-line research in
which they identify resources that are likely to provide them with the answers
to their 20 questions. They will also be
asked to identify resources that do not necessarily relate to those specific
questions but may be important to their work.
Wk 4/Monday:
Students will be introduced to the elements of professional report writing,
including format for a research
proposal (download doc),
format of
a professional report (download
doc), writing
tips (download doc) (download Powerpoint presentation),
patent structure, and word processing software. They will be provided with a complicated document (download doc), along with the elements
of that document (download instructions,
download
document text, download Excel
file), and asked to duplicate it with the word processing
software. They will also be provided a checklist (download doc) that
can be used to check for common errors in their writing.
Wk 4/Wednesday:
Group discussion of writing issues.
Students will be given an example of a “Notice of Invention” and asked
to generate one based on their project.
Students will supply samples of their own writing to be critiqued by one
another. Students will be provided the
web site for the
Wk 5/Monday:
Students will be introduced to the features that make up a good
research question and provided examples which will be discussed in
terms of these features. Students will
be introduced to the elements of a successful business plan.
Wk 5/Wednesday:
Students will be asked to evaluate the project they are working on based on
these features and then asked to devise a research question of their own. These questions will be critiqued by the
students. Students will be asked to
outline a business plan based on the project that they are working on.
Wk 6/Monday:
Dr. Andrew Marino will lecture on Medical Ethics, and Dr. William Jordan will
lecture engineering ethics.
Wk 6/Wednesday: Students
will discuss the next phase of each research project and the potential for
commercialism. They will be asked to
outline the next logical phase of their research project, based on anticipated
results to be achieved at the end of the 10 week REU. Students will hold a discussion on ethical
issues related to their research.
Wk 7/Monday:
Students will be introduced to research
presentations and the effective use of Powerpoint software. This will include both the specifics of how
to use the software and the importance of the use of photographs, graphs and
sketches. An example
presentation will be used to illustrate basic techniques. They will also
be taught how to focus their presentations with a succinct point so that the
audience receives a clear message from the presentation.
Wk 7/Wednesday:
Students will be shown how to use animations in the Powerpoint software,
including tricks
and hints for animation (download
doc), and shown how these can be used in specific presentations (Example
Slide.ppt, Presentation
BZ.ppt). Students will apply these
techniques to animating a presentation
on the Scientific Method. Students
will be asked to prepare and present a brief (5 minute) Powerpoint presentation
related to their projects, following the specified Presentation
Format (download
doc). Students will be asked to
turn in a critique of one of these presentations. More information will be provided on the use
of Powerpoint. The following exercise
files will be use:
Wk 8/Monday:
Students will be introduced to data presentation and the Excel software. They will be taught to use the spreadsheet
package for basic data manipulation and to use the graphic capabilities of the
software to generate plots
that are suitable for publication (download
doc). Students will download an Excel data file,
generate a default plot and then modify it to look professional.
Wk 8/Wednesday:
Students will be provided exercises in the spreadsheet software, including data
manipulation and the conversion of a raw (default format) plot to a
professional quality plot. Students will
identify the manipulation that must be preformed on the data they collect, and
the specific plots that they will provide in their final reports. They will discuss these matters among
themselves and critique one another’s presentation concept.
Wk 9/Monday:
Students will be introduced to the elements of statistical
analysis (download doc), including hypothesis testing.
Wk 9/Wednesday: Students will be asked to identify the
central hypothesis of their work and the appropriate statistical testing for
this hypothesis. They will be given additional
exercises in statistical analysis in MS Excel.
Wk 10/Monday:
Students will be introduced to basic concepts of product liability.
Wk 10/Wednesday: Students will submit a final
report and proposal for further
research and discuss the next phase of each project. Students will critique one another on the
feasibility and importance of the next phase.
Students will fill out a written exit interview to provide feedback
regarding the REU program.
Wk 10/Friday:
Students will present their research findings at the IfM projects day. Research awards will be presented at an
honors dinner that evening to which all REU undergraduates, graduate mentors,
and co-investigators will be invited.
Research Experiences for
Undergraduates
Steven A. Jones