Undergraduate Course: Plant Science Research Project (PLSC10026)
Course Outline
| School | School of Biological Sciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 60 |
ECTS Credits | 30 |
| Summary | This course aims to allow students to experience day to day research at a high level. Taught courses in the first semester prepare students for work in the lab by teaching the principles of basic techniques (solution making, DNA preps, PCR) and data analysis. The students will write a grant application for their own projects ensuring they have detailed plans and have considered all the potential pitfalls before they start in the lab.
Programme level learning 33 hours, project supervision 300 hours, directed learning and independent learning hours, 100 hours |
| Course description |
Taught component for e-assessment exam Dec diet.
The course will involve 11 seminar classes on Tuesdays and 11 2 hour teaching sessions on Wednesdays. Students will also be expected to be familiar with the material in C. Starr and R. Taggart Plant Structure and Function (Wadsworth, 2010).
The course will be taught by members of the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences.
1 Over view of lab facilities, tour of labs, greenhouses, general safety issues (Haupt)
2 Minerals and Culture media . Molar calculations for solution making (Fry)
3 DNA extractions, PCR, DNA gels (Doerner)
4 RNA extractions, q-RT-PCR (Goodrich)
5 An introduction to phytochemistry (Fry)
6 Protein work (Spoel)
7 Database mining (Kidner)
8 Data presentation and statistics software (Hudson)
9 Visit to JHI (Kidner)
10 Microscopy facilities ¿ confocal, SEM, light microscopy (Oparka)
11 Sequencing techniques ¿ Sanger and Next Gen. (Loake)
These classes will be assessed by a MCQ test in December.
Seminars in Plant Science ¿ Semester 1 Tuesday mornings
Each lecturer on the course will put forward 3 recent papers in their line of research. For each class three students will prepare a 15 minute presentation focusing on critical analysis of the papers listed by one lecturer. The lecturer will guide discussion of the papers and provide feedback to the students on their presentation skills and their analysis of the paper. This will increase the students¿ knowledge of current research topics in the department, provide practice in presentations and enhance their ability to critically appraise papers. Data analysis skills acquired in these classes will be assessed by a class test in December (10 points)
Project proposal talk ¿ late November
This is a 15 minute talk introducing the project to the rest of the class and the supervisor. It is unmarked but the supervisor will give feedback. It will ensure that students have engaged with their projects and provide an opportunity for the supervisors to determine whether changes need to be made. This does not contribute to a final mark.
Project grant proposal ¿ due 8 January
This is a short grant proposal with the following structure:
Introduction (1000 words)
Justification (500 words)
Methods (1000 words)
Potential problems and solutions (500 words)
Costs
Timeline (as Gantt chart, week by week)
The proposal will be assessed by the supervisor and moderated by the course organiser (5 points).
Project performance
The project will start part time in the lab in the beginning of semester 2, becoming full time as the electives finish. Students will be expected to arrange with their supervisors when they will be in the lab. Some projects will require set-up in semester 1, but overall time in the lab should be the same for all students.
The student¿s performance in the lab will be assessed by their supervisor at the end of the project on the following equal criteria:
¿ understanding of the project and its aims
¿ technical ability (e.g. accuracy, reliability, problem-solving ability, aptitude for learning new techniques)
¿ ability to work independently but to seek advice when required
¿ commitment to the project (e.g. time-keeping, persistence in the face of difficulty)
¿ originality ¿ ability to suggest new, and preferably feasible, directions within the project.
(5 points)
Project talk ¿ end of May
15 minute talk at after submission of the project write up. Presentation of the results of the project to the class, lab members and the external examiner.
Is assessed by the staff members present on the following criteria:
¿ Clear objectives
¿ Clarity and organisation of presentation
¿ Audible, enthusiastic, good projection, good timing
¿ Clear summary
¿ Good slides
¿ Confident handling of questions
(5 points)
Project report ¿ mid May
A write-up of the project work in the format: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion. No limit on length, but typically about 5,000 words. Assessed by the project supervisor and one other member of staff on the following criteria:
¿ quality of presentation (grammar; layout of text, with suitable headings; an appropriate and consistent style of citing of references; quality of images, graphs, tables; pages numbered; etc.)
¿ title and abstract. Title should be concise and informative. The Abstract must be «200 words and should state results and conclusions as well as outlining the experiments
¿ clear and logical description of the project and the results obtained
¿ quality of the analysis and interpretation of data
¿ quality of discussion (e.g. appreciation of significance of results and relation to the work of others, ideas for future work)
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
600
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
588 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
33 %,
Coursework
59 %,
Practical Exam
8 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
e-assessment on basics of plant biology and lab techniques and safety 10 points (16.67%)
Data analysis problems 10 points (16.7%)
Grant proposal 5 points (8.33%)
Project performance 5 points (8.33%)
Project talk 5 points (8.33%)
Project write-up 25 points (41.67%)
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Plant Science Project Skills | 2:00 | | | Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Plant Science Project - Data Analysis | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
Practical skills in plant molecular biology
Critical assessment of research papers
Oral presentation of data
Project planning and grant writing
Synthesis and discussion of results
Written presentation of a research project
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Catherine Kidner
Tel: (0131 6)51 3316
Email: Catherine.Kidner@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Vicky Higginson
Tel: (0131 6)50 5988
Email: Vicky.Higginson@ed.ac.uk |
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