There were four break-out groups each of which were asked
to select questions for consideration from this list:
In many universities there is a strong push for the incorporation of generic skills into the science curriculum.
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How can we be clever about doing this so that students don't feel they are getting the same message over and over, and thus `turning off' to the message?
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How readily do the generic skills gained in one course transfer to other courses/situations?
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Should generic skills be taught within the context of specific disciplines, or should they be taught in a “general” course or embedded within the curriculum? What are the implementation consequences of these routes.
In using group/collaborative work to help develop generic skills:
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How does one increase the possibility that the group task involves collaborative learning?
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How does one go about preventing/resolving group conflicts?
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How much structured support should one give groups?
Many first year science curricula are looking towards the inclusion of research opportunities for students (research-led teaching being one of the drivers for this). But this takes time:
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Why should research projects be encouraged? What value do they add to a program of study?
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Should they be in faculty based general courses or discipline based courses? What are the strengths and weakness of discipline based research projects and faculty based courses on research skills?
Assessing these skills is a difficult task. Some are easier to assess than others, eg writing skills.
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How do we know students have developed these generic skills?
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Should we be assessing them?
Reports
