Learning gains in lab practices: teachscience doing science

Introducing research in undergraduate biology studies may contribute to creating research vocations and generatethe idea that science may influence all aspects of common life. However, laboratory practices are too oftendisconnected from current investigations and rarely address real-life questions that are really interesting for students.Teachers may help to solve that problem by designing educational lab practices connected with realproblems in order to stimulate learning gains and passion for science. We present here a lab practice on cellularbiology based on the analysis of micronuclei in buccal cells as a measure of DNA damage. Methodologicallyeasy and cheap, it may be an excellent opportunity to practice scientific methodology and to initiate students inthe process of empirical research while they integrate fundamental knowledge