No two persons can observe the same object in the same manner. However, this is an increasingly necessary skill in the field of science: to be able to replicate someone’s experiment and obtain the same results. The purpose of the Methods Project was to give students a little taste of the scientific process when it comes to peer-reviewing another scientist’s work. All students were instructed to take at least three pictures of a spiderweb and construct a multi-panel figure. Then, they were paired up randomly with another student in the class, and had to reconstruct each other’s figures using just the written methods section (without actually seeing the figure). The goals of the project were to teach students how to write a detailed and accurate methods section and what variables must be controlled when replicating one’s results.
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