Conclusions
A written report including an abstract, review of literature, objectives, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusions were required of all students in the course. The written report required interpretation of the data obtained by the entire class. Assessments of the written reports were based on the student‘s ability to demonstrate an understanding of the technique and root transformation process through their writing. All of the papers were well written and indicated that students gained valuable insights from the project. Students were further asked to evaluate this experiment by completing the following survey and commenting on the value of the exercise. Responses were strong for all of the questions (Table 1). One student commented that this lab exercise was ―the most interesting lab exercise that I have done‖. Another student suggested that this experiment ―made us feel like real scientists and was both a fascinating and highly rewarding experiment‖. Other students in the course stated that the contaminated plates and slow callus growth in the first trial were actually a plus demonstrating some of the realities of conducting laboratory research.