Guiding Education through Novel Investigation (GENI): Facilitating Authentic Research in the Teaching Lab
Jenny Tenlen & Kimberly Murphy
Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2016, Volume 37
Abstract
Student participation in authentic, original research has been demonstrated to enhance their engagement in
biology courses, and to improve their processing and critical thinking skills. The GENI-ACT program
(http://www.geni-science.org/) facilitates learning in undergraduate science classrooms through shared
authentic research projects focused on molecular, cellular and developmental biology, genetics, genomics
and biochemistry. The results generated in this program are intended for publication in peer reviewed
literature or scientific databases. The program has two components. First, the Guided Education through
Novel Investigation (GENI) tool supports collaborative research projects by providing objectives,
protocols, data collection, and physical resources. Users may join existing projects, or create a new project.
Second, the Annotation Collaboration Tool (ACT) provides bioinformatics tools and access to hundreds of
bacterial genomes to facilitate diverse computational investigations. In this session, we will introduce the
GENI-ACT program and provide examples of research projects that are applicable to diverse levels of
students and disciplines. We will share our assessment results that show significant gains in student
learning, engagement, scientific literacy, scientific process and broad-based problem solving across
multiple institutions. During the session, participants will discuss the benefits and challenges of adding
authentic research to the classroom, and methods of assessing the value.
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