Abstract:

There is a strong link between Life-Sciences research and teaching, with a lot of evidence that students are both motivated and rate their studies highly when they are carried out in a research-rich environment.
The present work describes how we try to combine teaching and research, in the Laboratory of Ecophysiology and Biotechnology. The work-group consists of undergraduate students, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and professors in the Jaume I University. The availability of foreign students is thus exploited. In our opinion, the campus environment is enriched by the interaction among people with different backgrounds. This creates a rich environment were everyone learns from the rest, and allows us to establish interactions with other Universities. We learn science and at the same time we grow as individuals. In this context, the traditional definition of teaching, where students have a passive role has no place.
The proposed aim is that the students learn through research activity. Each student prepares brief articles and acts as a reviewer of the manuscripts prepared by other students. Since poster displays are ideal vehicles to develop communication skills, students have to create scientific-posters. The members of the work-group meet periodically, to present posters and discuss the students work.

Keywords:

teaching, research.