Independent Projects for Animal Behavior
General Expectations
Students are expected to work in pairs (or teams of 3) in order to design
a project that will test an interesting hypothesis in one of the areas
of animal behavior that we have covered in class.
Before Fall Break students are expected to have identified
their partners and decided on a topic. These decisions will be comunicated
in the form of a "Statement of Work". This document is a part of the "Project
Management" concept that will be used to organize the next several weeks
of your research. The concept of projet management is designed to reduce
wasted work effort, track progress, and aid in rapid response when deviations
are necessary. It is an essential component of efficient research science
(though often not explicity orchestrated).
Every student is expected to keep their own lab notebook and not relie
on the notebook of a labmate.
Lab notebooks will be evaluated!
General Expectations
for Lab Notebooks
Oct 10&11 - Project Planning
Example
of a "Statement of Work" from one summer project in my own lab (right
click to download)
Template to
use for "Statment of Work"
(right
click to download)
Either hand these in hard copy or post to the courses
server
Oct 24&25 - Project Organizing
Template to use for "gantt" chart
Also due are the 4 control questions see the assignment handout.
Either hand these in hard copy or post to the courses server
Nov 20 - Project Review and Revise
see the assignment handout
Either hand these in hard copy or post to the courses
server
Dec 3 - Abstracts
An abstract (~250 word) with a descriptive (fun) title and the authors
names.
post these to the courses server by noon
Dec 5 - Poster Presentation
Tips for making and Presenting a Poster
template1, template2,
Dec 5 - Assessment
see sull assignement handout for self assessment questions.
hand in a
hard copy or email to me.
Each student will assess 3 posters/presentations with a form that
will be provided at the poster session.
hand these in at the end of
the poster session.
Equipment available includes:
temperature controlled incubators
audio recording equipment
video recording equipment
spotting scope
laptop computers for Jwatcher studies
general molecular biology equipment
anything used during course work
Arrangements can be made for repeated access to the zoo.
Appropriate animals include:
Any wild animals easily acccessible for field observations.
Any animals used during previous labs are available.
Any Drosophila mutant or strain availble at the Bloomington Stock Center
(needs 3-4 weeks advance notice)
House crickets (let us know early, they are often not mature when ordered)
Goldfish, Zebrafish,
Tanganyikan cichlids available in the Renn Lab (Astatotilapia burtioni)
Wild caught sticklebacks from the canyon.
TO BE EVALUATED
Poster Presentation and Participation at Poster Session
Project Management documentation.
Lab Notebooks (one per group is sufficient, though individuals must note
their own contributions clearly)
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