Abstract:

The acquisition of various skills and competences by students is one of the goals pursued after the implementation of the European Higher Education Area. In the case of the Biotechnology degree some of these skills include the development of critical and analytical thinking, the ability to communicate knowledge effectively in both expert and non-expert environments, the capacity to collaborate with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, and the promotion of entrepreneurship. To achieve these goals, a group work teaching activity has been designed, in which students are required to analyze the content of a scientific article and then undertake the following tasks

- Present the scientific results through of a public exposition.
- Act as reviewers and evaluators (referees) of their peers' work.
- Create a Twitter thread as a scientific dissemination activity.
- Present a biotech business idea based on the content of the article.

The group activity is a component of the “Industrial Microbiology” course in the 2nd year of the Biotechnology degree at Universidad Miguel Hernández. The activity enables students to develop skills in handling scientific literature and encourages entrepreneurship and teamwork. It was first introduced in the 2011-12 academic year as a sort of representation of a scientific congress where students presented scientific communications to their peers. In addition, the public presentations were designed to mirror their future presentations for their final year Bachelor's thesis.

Over the years, the content and development of the activity has been refined and improved based on feedback collected from student surveys. These surveys were conducted at two specific moments in the students’ academic journey. The first survey took place after they completed the 'Industrial Microbiology' course. The second survey was conducted two years later, when the students were in their 4th year of the degree program. This approach allows for a more accurate assessment of whether the activity is perceived by the students as useful for their integral training as biotechnologists.

Keywords:

Biotechnology, Entrepreneurship, Group Work, Science Diffusion.