Hot Topics in Ecology & Evolution: Presenting and Discussing

Each year, teachers will suggest a number of topics from which students will choose (the list will be neither mandatory nor exhaustive: any topic related to evolution is fair game). Working in groups of two or three, the students will be responsible for presenting the topic they have chosen. Each person in a group should participate equally in these presentations. Each group will be given a small selection of recent papers to help them begin exploring the topic, or the groups may propose relevant papers themselves. From among these, the group will assign (one week before the class session) one or two papers that everyone should read before class. The group will be responsible for presenting the topic to the rest of the class and leading a discussion on it. The group presentation should explain why the topic is interesting and present the current state of the field, outlining points of controversy and identifying major open questions. The presentation format will be determined by the group, keeping in mind that it should encourage discussion. For the final session(s) at the end of the course, students will give short individual presentations summarizing certain aspects of another group’s topic. In addition to the main presentations on hot topics, there will be a brief “writing summaries” exercise at the beginning of the course, as well as regular “news & views” briefings on recent articles selected by the students from journals of their choice.

Understanding and presenting scientific work.

Terminal Control