Welcome Fall, 2012

Welcome to the Scientific Process web site! Scientific Process is a unique, interdisciplinary course about the philosophy, history, ethics, and practice of science.  As an integral part of the curricula of the College of Arts & Sciences programs in Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, and Marine Science, this course prepares students for a future as practicing scientists.

Drawing on the world's leading philosophers of science, we build gradually into critical evaluation of science across disciplines and ultimately introduce the student to the reality of becoming a scientist.  Good science is never an accident, and only through careful planning are the vast majority of scientific advances made.  Consequently, this course focuses on allowing students to conceive of and design their own research proposal as a major component of the course.

The Scientific Process Web Site:

The web site for this course provided most of the critical information needed to navigate the course from start to finish.  For ease of navigation, the title bar above includes buttons to commonly used resources.  More recently the course has navigated to ANGEL, the course management system at FGCU.  While this site is still a valuable resource, you should access ANGEL for the most recent information about your section, assignments and grading criteria.

Course Design:

Scientific Process was designed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists from FGCU in order to draw on the experiences of scientists in a variety of fields.  The course was first taught in the opening semester of FGCU, Fall 1997, by the developing team, Nora E. Demers, Mason B. Meers, and Michael B. Savarese.  From that point, it has and will continue to evolve.  Still, this course has been highly successful from its inception, having resulted in presentations at professional meetings of scientists, publication of student research proposals in the College of Arts & Sciences' journal, Ampersand, and even the selection of a student presentation by an international publisher of science books as a leading example of student research preparation in college.

Ethics and Research Integrity Resources:

1. AAAS-National Academies Compilation of Resources on Scientific Misconduct and Research Integrity*
2. Literal and Intelligent Plagiarism: Students Beware! (Kumar Blog 2012)