EU Project M1

"The objective of this course is to strengthen students' foundations in ecology and/or evolution by encouraging them to identify a research topic and question(s), formulate well-reasoned and relevant hypotheses, and justify a strategy for collecting and analyzing data to test those hypotheses.

Summary of the learning unit:

- Supervised independent work: identifying a relevant scientific question; conducting a literature review to assess the state of the art and justify scientific hypotheses; proposing and justifying a methodological approach (materials and methods) to test the proposed hypotheses.

Topic types:

Topics may address any issue identified by the students (in groups of 3 or 4) and approved by the teaching staff, and may draw on various approaches to align with the learning objectives of the different programs. For example, students may propose a field sampling or experimental strategy, a meta-analysis of data from the literature, an analysis of sequences retrieved from GenBank, an analysis of occurrence data retrieved from GBIF, etc.

In all cases, projects must include a concrete data collection strategy—identified, justified, and described by the students in the “Materials and Methods” section required for the M1S2 course—along with a projected timeline for the project’s progress and a breakdown of the tasks each student will perform within each group as part of the project’s implementation during the M2S3 course. Projects must also be financially realistic and include a projected budget, and they must be capable of being completed within the time available during the M2S3 semester.

Assessment Procedures:

"The course is based on a problem-based learning approach; students are evaluated on their progress in developing their methodology (40% of the grade), as well as on their ability to present and defend their project during a final oral presentation (60% of the overall grade)."

"- Be able to identify a relevant and current issue in the field of ecology and/or evolution, and formulate the associated scientific hypotheses;

- Be able to apply the skills acquired in Semester 1 in the fields of ecology/evolution and biostatistics to propose and justify a methodological approach for addressing this scientific question;

- Be able to conduct a literature review that supports the research questions and hypotheses, as well as the proposed methodology."

Skills acquired in the EU course on ecology as part of the core curriculum for the M1 BEE program.

Comprehensive ongoing assessment: 100%