Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 9 | Page 30

30 | JADE
ARTICLE #2 | 31
L. A. ROBINSON
no matter how difficult a problem appears at first glance, take a step
back and look at what you are being asked to do. Just because an
answer is simple does not mean it is incorrect.
For those who were unable to achieve the correct ‘code’ even when
their solution was right on paper, the basic rules of pipetting are
then reiterated to the group (handling of the pipette, not transferring
solution outside of the pipette tip, changing the tip) but are now
seen as solutions to a problem rather than just technical instructions.
This demonstrates how seemingly ‘minor’ errors accumulate to have
major effects on an experiment (or in this case, detonate a bomb)
and emphasises the importance of accuracy. Showing this vividly
within the exercise makes it more memorable and when students
encounter pipetting in future they can recall the potential ways
of introducing error and avoid them. In addition, those who were
successful but only just within the allowed error rate are given an
example of the volumes they will be working within in future and
that 20µl is still a high rate of error which should be improved upon
through practice. It is hoped that this example means students don’t
become too complacent with the technique and therefore perhaps
take less care in future.
Tri-Hard pipetting has had some excellent feedback both directly
to the tutor and also via module evaluation feedback forms from
students who felt they now truly had a grasp of pipetting technique.
Discussion
Displaying class results on a whiteboard has the surprising effect that
students do not shy away from their results being public knowledge;
they are either proud if they complete the exercise successfully or
if they fail are able to laugh about it and it’s seen as an ‘epic fail’. If
unfamiliar with this term, the top two definitions in urbandictionary.
com state this as being “Complete and total failure when success
should have been reasonably easy to attain” and “A mistake of
such monumental proportions that it requires its own term in order
to successfully point out the unfathomable shortcomings of an
individual or group”. Although having such a negative definition, an
epic fail is something to laugh about and is an expression often used
by gamers. It is a form of ‘Happy Embarrassment’ as discussed by
McGonigal (2011).
This type of behavioural change has been seen previously through
the use of gamification in teaching (Decker & Lawley, 2013) and is a
result of student’s having the freedom to fail. There is very little room
for failure in HE and even where there is allowance for this (such as
summative assessments) it is rarely seen in a light-hearted way by
students. Often failure demotivates and creates a mind-set in the
TRI-HARD PIPETTING:
DEMONSTRATING PIPETTING ACCURACY USING DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
student that they ‘can’t do it’ rather than ‘they need to have another
go’. This mentality does not occur in gaming, you only have to look
at simple smart phone based applications to see this in action; hours
can be spent playing Candy Crush or 99 Bricks without a person
feeling like they have failed, they simply restart and try again to earn
the next achievement. There is no pressure in this form of failure,
the player are not being judged and it has no impact upon their
life; they have chosen to undertake a task and their own motivation
inspires them to beat/complete it. This freedom to fail is seen with
Tri-Hard Pipetting and alongside the more positive reaction to
‘failure’ another benefit is seen; students often ask if they can have
another go. Once the task is completed students don’t sit back and
wait for others, they will go ‘back to the drawing board’ and collect
another set of tubes to be transferred until there are no more left to
be distributed. This willingness to try again is of great importance in
education and is the only way to improve; if a student’s own personal
desire to achieve the result spurs this on it is better for the student
(as it is a personal achievement) and the tutor (as they are not seen
as forcing a possibly negative experience).
Conclusion
Tri-Hard Pipetting has been successfully implemented in a level 4
Genetics modules which contains students from Forensic Science
to Biomedical Science to Zoology. Because the task is not discipline
specific it engages all students and has been shown as a successful
way of demonstrating pipetting accuracy.
References
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rolls, and leaderboards: Gamification of two undergraduate multimedia and
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Balakrishnan, V. S. (2013). The Art of Pipetting. Lab Times, 2, 48.
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Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and
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Decker, A., & Lawley, E. L. (2013, March). Life's a game and the game of life:
how making a game out of it can change student behavior. In Proceeding