Undergraduate science research projects and students - School of ...

Undergraduate Learning in Science Project Working Paper 5In this case the suggestion is that lines of scientific enquiry follow from thetheoretical interests of the discipline (code Bb).The student goes on to describe the role of experimental data:To verify whether their theory was correct (...) to prove ordisprove (3A34)Here the student is explicitly stating that empirical data can be used to proveor disprove a theory (code Abi).Student A went on to discuss the role of explanation in science withreference to her project work:I mean for example the complex behaviour that I’ve found- all that was said about it, oh it’s due to self-heating andsort of you know exothermic reaction and then havingsecondary reactions. But that’s not really (...) amechanistic explanation, you know, in terms of the greatlaws and things. (3A41)Here the student is suggesting that data analysis should attempt to account fordata in terms of theoretical models - preferably those already accepted andestablished (‘the great laws’). This contrasts with her earlier description ofdata analysis (in the first interview) as ‘putting the data into rate equations’.Our discussion above shows that student A was far more explicit about therole of theory and its relation to empirical data towards the end of her project.Earlier we suggested that her focus on data at the start of project work may berelated to the nature of her project work in the first few weeks, and to herexperiences of the second year laboratory course. In a similar way it is alsopossible to identify some features of her later project experience which mayhave helped her move towards a more explicit discussion of the importanceof theory in scientific enquiry.As stated in section 6.1.1, during the final few weeks of project work studentA used a theoretical model to try to explain her experimental findings. Thisinvolved her working alongside another undergraduate student who had spenthis entire project modeling reactions in this way. This period of work mayhave encouraged student A to see the theoretical issues underpinning herproject. In addition occasional group meetings involving the whole of theresearch group may also have helped student A to appreciate that her workwas part of a broader research programme into the theory of reaction kinetics(e.g. quote 3A32 above).In the final interview student A was asked whether or not she felt that herproject experiences had influenced her ideas about science. Her initialresponse was that her views had probably not changed that much. However,on probing by the interviewer the student stated that she had learnt:61