Teaching Replication

Replication is held as the gold standard for ensuring the reliability of published scientific literature. But conducting direct replications is expensive, time-consuming, and unrewarded under current publication practices. So who will do them? Our answer is that students in laboratory classes should replicate recent findings as part of their training in experimental methods. In our own courses, we have found that replicating cutting-edge results is exciting and fun, it gives students the opportunity to make real scientific contributions (provided supervision is appropriate), and it provides object lessons about the scientific process, the importance of reporting standards, and the value of openness.

复现实验被视为确保已发表科学文献可靠性的黄金标准。然而，在当前的发表实践中，直接进行复现实验不仅成本高昂、耗时费力，而且无任何回报。那么，又有谁愿意承担这一任务呢？我们的答案是，实验室课程中的学生们应当将复现近期的研究成果作为其实验方法训练的一部分。在我们自身的课程中，我们发现复现前沿研究的结果既激动人心又充满乐趣，它为学生提供了做出真实科学贡献的机会（前提是适当的指导），并且提供了关于科学过程、报告标准的重要性以及开放性的价值的教育案例。