One of the great challenges students majoring in diverse fields of ecology - for example organismal and plant biology, wildlife conservation and management, natural sciences, functional and molecular ecology - face when competing for internships, graduate and employment opportunities is the increasing expectation and demand for hands-on experience in research and a strong background in applied science.
One of the strengths and core mission of undergraduate-education focused Missouri Western State University (MWSU) is the ability to involve undergraduates in Applied Learning experiences, in- and outside of the classroom.
The current work presents and analyses the educational aspects of a specific, novel independent research project designed for the physiological ecology block of a Plant Physiology class offered in the Fall of 2015 at MWSU, focusing on the impact of plant adaptation to local microclimate on stress responses.
Results/Conclusions
The project was designed to actively engage students in plant physiological ecology research, from planning to experimentation, data analysis and presentation of the results. In the first half of the semester students learned a variety of cutting edge specialized research techniques generally applied in plant physiological ecology research, including measuring photosynthetic activity, detecting and quantifying volatiles emitted from plants, biochemical techniques assessing plant antioxidant capacities, detecting stress markers, such as lipid peroxidation or reactive species accumulation, etc. In the second half of the semester students conducted an extensive primary literature search, and designed a research project, that they completed. The class worked as a team, planning and performing the experiments and analyzing data. The students presented their work as a poster at the Multidisciplinary Research Days, a student research showcase at MWSU.
Class survey data demonstrate that participating in an actual research project significantly increased students’ appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of life sciences, their desire to continue their studies in a graduate setting and their confidence in being able to meet the increasing demand for applied experiences when competing for graduate or employment opportunities.