Lab Skills: Protocol Design
Full course description
This is a skills training that aims to generate scientific curiosity in the student. It focuses on the development of experimental protocols in laboratory settings with the aim to equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge to design, implement, and analyze experiments in various disciplines within the sciences.
This skills training creates an environment that gives the opportunity to formulate your research questions regarding a specific problem to develop a protocol that makes use of different abilities and skills to handle laboratory equipment in a safe and precise manner. Accuracy, focus, and constant questioning will be part of this course to finally obtain solutions to different practical challenges presented during the different sessions.
Course objectives
At the end of this course students are able to:
- Analyse a problem, formulate research questions, and generate a hypothesis for a lab experiment.
- Design an experiment to test the hypothesis, select appropriate control groups, write a protocol, and plan the activities to be executed in the lab.
- Incorporate safety protocols, biohazard handling, and ethical considerations in laboratory research.
- Conduct laboratory experiments with precision, accuracy and professionalism demonstrated through use and execution of advanced laboratory techniques.
- Assess and conclude over experiment’s results to answer a given research question and outline the conclusion in a scientific report.
Prerequisites
Recommendations:
- VSC1401 Introduction to Chemistry
- VSK2015 Lab Skills: Good Laboratory Practice
Recommended reading
Literature will be provided for each task individually. Besides, you will need to look for your own sources according to the research question.