Description

Students participate in hands-on learning experiences based on their academic interest, career goals, faculty mentor, and available resources. Students may opt to conduct hands-on research experiences stemming from either the proposal written in AVS 401 Capstone in Animal Science I, conduct a different research project, develop a business plan, or conduct a non-research project based on their interest in AVS (could be an internship experience). In this course, students create a poster presentation to summarize their work, what they learned, and how they solved problems or improved processes along the way. AVS 401 and AVS 402 collectively serve as the Capstone experience for Animal and Veterinary Sciences students.

Course Goals

The student will conduct a research/problem solving project, which can be performed under the supervision of a faculty member, as a group, or independently. In AVS 402, students will create a poster that will explain the project objectives and the context behind the proposal, the methods, and results/outcomes. Students completing the general education area of Capstone experience will be able to:

1. Synthesize knowledge, skills, and dispositions gained throughout the student’s major of study.
2. Demonstrate competence within the discipline through professional conduct and, as appropriate, critical reasoning, analytical ability, and creativity.
3. Demonstrate effective communication skills.

Student Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will have the skills to perform the following tasks, with specific course objectives for each learning outcome.

1. How to find and assess the quality of scientific information.  In assembling background information about their topic, students will learn how to search scientific databases, how to read scientific literature, and how to assess information for validity and generalizability.
2. How to create a research/project poster presentation. Students will learn how to explain their process and controls to ensure the project is rigorously designed, how to present information in a logical and scientific manner. Students will learn how to build a citation database and use it to create relevant in-line citations and a reference list.
3. How to conduct research or manage a project. Through their participation in research/project activities under the guidance of the instructor or another faculty mentor, students will learn broadly about scientific research, including ethical standards and institutional approval, identifying research questions and hypotheses to test, designing robust experiments which incorporate experimental controls to test the hypotheses, data collection and curation, data analysis and evaluation, statistical validity, and interpretation of results.

Taught annually in the Spring.

Syllabus

** Syllabus is subject to change.

Press

Animal and veterinary sciences seniors: Capstone stories