Studying at York
Becoming a Bioscientist: Experimental Design & Communication - BIO00065I
- Department: Biology
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
- See module specification for other years: 2024-25
Module summary
This module will build on skills developed in the earlier “Becoming a Bioscientist” modules, focusing on key skills in investigation and communication in the biosciences. It provides opportunities for students to design and undertake experiments in discipline specific contexts, and will build related/applicable data handling skills allowing for evaluation of their findings. This module will enable students to build their experience of working in teams and communicating science creatively/appropriately to a variety of audiences.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2023-24 |
Module aims
The aim of the module is to gain experience in experimental design, focusing on how to develop a testable hypothesis and an appropriate research programme to investigate the question, informed by examining/examination of relevant scientific literature. Students will evaluate and interpret their findings by building on data handling skills and statistical approaches from earlier “Becoming a Bioscientist” modules. This module will equip students with the skills and confidence to complete independent research projects in Stage 3 and 4. Working in teams, students will also learn how to communicate science in a variety of ways to a variety/range of audiences, and in doing so will continue to build on their personal development and graduate employability skills.
Module learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this module will be able to:
Work with others to design and conduct short research project to investigate a biological problem with testable hypotheses
Use relevant techniques to address a research question.
Select statistical models and use R to develop and run reproducible analyses on data in a variety of formats, and present the results graphically
Design and use appropriate media to communicate research to a range of audiences
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 60 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
| Groupwork | 20 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 60 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
| Groupwork | 20 |
Module feedback
Marks for all summative assessments will be made available to you and your supervisor via e:vision. Feedback will be either individual or cohort-level, depending on the assessment format. You should take the opportunity to discuss your marks and feedback with your supervisor.
For exam-style summative assessment, model answers will be provided for all questions along with cohort-level feedback indicating how students answered questions in general. Marks achieved per question will be added to your script.
For coursework assessments (eg. reports or essays) you will receive individual feedback on your work. This will usually be in the form of a feedback sheet that will include suggestions for further improvement.
During the teaching of the module you will receive formative feedback that may be at a whole class or individual level. Such feedback may include: model answers and discussion of workshop questions, summaries of performance in practicals, VLE-based quizzes, individual spoken comments during workshops, individual written comments on formative work.
Indicative reading
These are available through the VLE module site.