JoinFull Application of the Scientific Method in an Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory: A Reality-Based Approach to Experiential Student-Directed Instruction
Classroom experiments are often designed for convenience, ignoring fundamental scientific processes. Even “hands-on” experiences seldom allow the student to define the problem or design the experiment. The example outlined here incorporates the entire scientific method in an undergraduate laboratory. The students were responsible for the entire process of characterizing a bacterium capable of degrading a chemical of environmental significance.