Well, it was sad saying goodbye to the first biotech class at WRA but at the same time I was excited about implementing new ideas into the second class. One thing that is new this second semester is the lab notebook which is no longer a binder but rather a bound, green, hardcover book that is exactly like the one we use at the Cleveland Clinic. The students now have to write down all of their experimental procedures, any notes I write on the board, any chemical protocols, and any other information they might deem pertinent. When they walk in to work on their experiment, they are only allowed to use their lab notebooks as reference. Also, in order to encourage proper note taking, I’ve allowed them to use their notebooks on their lab practical. Their practical still consists of timed, one minute questions but they now tend to be a little more detailed.What I am trying to model here is the type of note taking we do at the Cleveland Clinic. When you are learning a new technique, the scientist teaching you is not going to tell you what to write down but instead is just going to ramble away and you will be expected to identify and write down all the pertinent information. If you fail to do so, then you might be stuck the next time you have to perform the procedure. If you go ask the scientist to repeat himself/herself they might be willing to help or they might just tell you to get lost all depending on how busy they are (not that this has happened to me). With this I hope to give our students another edge over other novice scientists.
