Interest in formation of "Scientific Literacy Club" at UTM 2018/19

Please fill out this form to express your interest in potentially joining the Scientific Literacy Club (this is a working title!) at UTM in the 2018-2019 school year. The information you submit will be compiled in a spreadsheet and submitted to the UTMSU. Note that expressing your interest in this club does not mean that you are obligated to join once the school year begins. Please feel free to circulate this form to anyone who may be interested in joining. Thank you!



Below is a little blurb about the purpose of the club and a bit about how it would be structured:



The purpose of this organization is to provide a forum for undergraduate students to engage in discussions about scientific research with their peers. With scientific literacy becoming an increasingly important skill in today’s society, the goal of this club is to provide students with a better understanding of the process of conducting research, how to read and evaluate research articles as well as how to summarize them and convey their implications to others.



The first few meetings will focus on discussing and becoming better acquainted with commonly used research methods in the sciences, while later meetings may resemble those of a journal club, in which students can critically evaluate recent research articles. The advantages of providing such an environment for students include stimulating debate, developing critical appraisal skills and staying in touch with new literature. The content discussed in each meeting can be tailored to the interests of the members. For example, if most of the members are interested in biology research, this may be the focus. If the members are interested in a wide range of disciplines, the discipline discussed may be alternated weekly.



This club may be particularly useful to students who plan on pursuing research following their undergraduate years, but anyone who is open-minded and interested in science is very welcome to join!



* Erforderlich