Table 5:

Selection of typical student comments on their learning gains

Students were asked to elaborate in two or three sentences on what they really learned in the course. For the purpose of this table, the responses are categorized according to the course objectives as described in Table 1.
1. Develop a critical attitude
• In this course, I really learned how to think critically, and see flaws in our own work or that of other groups.
• I also learned not to trust information in published papers and there is no such a thing as “accepted truth,” because results from a research should be defined with the cell types, methods used, etc.
• Getting a grasp on critical, scientific thinking that is essential for a future in research/clinical problem-solving strategies.
2. Increase student understanding of the scientific discovery process and how to think scientifically
• This course was helpful to learn the academic process of writing such a project much more than learning the biological details.
• Overall, I think I have contributed to an interesting research proposal and could experience first-hand what is involved in such a process.
• It covers a different concept: it is valuable in gaining experience regarding the planning and coming-up with research. Valuable skills that are not really taught in other courses.
3. Understand the state of the art in the chosen field of interest in cell biology
• By reading papers, you still increase factual knowledge, e.g., cell types, techniques, etc.
• Overall my knowledge and interest in cell biology has greatly increased.
• I also learned that “knowledge” is vital for further research.
• The originality and the fact that we were able to apply what we learned in the previous courses.
4. Develop the ability to identify research opportunities and formulate research questions and hypotheses that are based on recent primary literature
• To define an idea and then research the current knowledge from current publications. I found this a really good aspect of this course in developing this crucial skill.
• I really learned to be creative in hypothesis formulation.
• Find the gaps in this picture and formulate a hypothesis.
5. Understand techniques used in contemporary cell biology research
• I learned a lot about methods for all sorts of fields in molecular and cell biology.
• I really learned application of techniques in your own research.
• By reading so many papers you become more acquainted with methods and experiments in the field of cell biology.
6. Increase the ability to collaborate with peers and integrate individual talents
• I learned how to properly collaborate with other group members in such a way that we learn from and use each others strengths and complement each others weaknesses.
• Better understanding of group/cooperation dynamics.
• Cooperation, group work, accepting comments/critique.
7. Increase the ability to communicate science effectively both orally and in written form (communication skills)
• The importance of arguing, supporting your decisions with arguments.
• Experiencing how research proposals actually are written, the whole process. My writing skills have definitely improved from this.
• How to best present scientific information to both my own group and the entire class (and the jury).