Teaching Research Skills to Forensic Science Students by Drinking Coffee

This case study will describe an active, student-led method of teaching research skills to forensic science students.

Students taking the MSc in Forensic Toxicology at the University of Glasgow are required to complete a 20-credit module known as Research & Laboratory Management, which aims to prepare them for their summer projects and for future forensic science research.

The aim of this educational research project was to re-design this module in response to feedback from both students and staff, and to evaluate its effectiveness. The newly designed module has moved away from memorization of content towards more active engagement. The key component of this is a hands-on, student-led experiment called the Coffee Project, where the effect of certain variables on the perceived taste of coffee is investigated by the students.

Over the course of 10 weeks, the students cover relevant research concepts (e.g. project management, method validation, health & safety, ethics etc.) and apply these to the planning of each element of the coffee experiment as a group. At the end of the course they carry out the experiment they have designed together, and use the results as the basis for an individually assessed journal article.

The implementation of this new module will be described, along with the results of the reflection of 15 students on their confidence and development of key research skills during the course. This work has implications for the teaching of research skills to forensic science students, particularly those undertaking taught programmes.

Dr Hilary Hamnett is a Forensic Toxicologist and Lecturer in the department of Forensic Medicine & Science at the University of Glasgow. After completing an MChem and DPhil at the University of Oxford she moved into forensic science via an MSc at the University of Strathclyde. She started her career as a Forensic Toxicologist specialising in drug driving offences with the Forensic Science Service in London, and took its demise as an opportunity to go overseas. During her three-and-a-half years working for ESR in New Zealand, she expanded her casework experience to include drink driving, post-mortem, and sexual assault cases.

Hilary returned to the UK in July 2015 and currently teaches both undergraduates and postgraduates forensic science, specialising in forensic toxicology. She also runs a course for PhD students and early-career staff on getting published in science. Her areas of research interest include driving under the influence of drugs, teaching forensic science, and contextual bias in forensic toxicology. She is proud to be one of the RSC’s 175 Faces of Chemistry.

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