When discussing a classic paper, it must be put in the proper context. This is because the standards of good science change over time, and young scientists need to know what has changed since the article was published.
In the handout available at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zyvSQlaGv-ntx15JOzfbZNVvepl8RVg1/view?usp=sharing, one can see how I have approached such a lesson in the case of the article of Dr. Likens and his coworkers from 1970.
The interested reader will find:
- The place of the article in the work of Dr. Likens,
- What has been done before this article at Hubbard Brook and the place of the article in the series of papers about the experiment done in 1965
- How the concept model of the Hubbard Brook experimental forest changed in time until now
- A few elements about the limits of large-scale experiments
- The article’s impact and a few articles attempting to repeat such an experiment.
Within this context, I analyzed the scientific findings and their potential explanations.
The students also benefited from other information in the conversation. A personal interaction can never be replaced by a handout, a film, or AI, but all these can be valuable tools for the professor to focus on his students in the learning process. To do this, a professor learns all the time.
Virgil Alexandru Iordache 