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Group discussion in class
You will spend considerable time in class in small groups figuring out
how to do problems or perform an experiment. This will work best if you
look over the problems and experiments beforehand. This will
allow you to bring something to the group. You needn't be an expert at all
aspects of the problems, but come as an expert in something.
If you do, the group will become stronger than any individual. If you don't,
people may not want to play with you.
Group discussion outside of class
There are two major ways of making a scientific area more interesting:
- Read deeply on the topic
- Talk with others who share your interest
You'll have an opportunity to read deeply (described
elsewhere). Here I'll talk about the second
route. I encourage you to address the problem sets
in groups, either continuing an interaction that started in class or forming a new
group. In the end, however, the responses you turn in should reflect processes of
your own mind, expressed in your own words. There's no point in my looking at a
group effort, since my goal in responding to work handed in is to figure out
what your individual thought processes are and to help you find more effective ones. A good
strategy would be to work with a group as much as you like, and then put aside
what the group accomplished and redo the problems from the beginning, alone,
according to your own understanding.
Critiques
An important part of scientific collaboration is service as a critic. You do a kindness
to your collaborator if you read a summary or proposal and point out what the author may be
too close to see. You will have opportunity to perform such a service, offering critiques of
your colleagues summaries and research proposals.
You may object that you don't know enough to critique another's work regarding
molecular biology. There's some truth in this, but only a little. You have two great
resources to draw upon: your naivete and your honesty. Together, they allow you to
serve your colleagues in a valuable way that I cannot, since it is difficult for me to put aside
what I already know. You can say, "I don't understand what you mean when you say X."
Since you and others like you are the primary audience for the summaries and proposals,
confessing that you do not understand something points out a deficiency in the
communication, one that might not be apparent to the author.
How to find and communicate with others
- To find each other, try the
who's who page
(with the id and password that you'll be sent)
from which you can e-mail specific people or the entire class.
- You can also blog asynchronously with your
colleagues about matters of interest, using forums set up on the course Blackboard site (possibly the only way in which
we will be using Blackboard).
- Or you can meet with them in real time, Using one of the virtual BioBIKE rooms
in Wimba reserved for us, allowing you to text, talk, and share
screens. To learn how to do this, see the instructions on the
Links page.
- I suppose you could also meet face-to-face, but for that you're on your own.
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