so you have a summer underling?
How many people do you know groan about having an undergrad assigned to them? I mean, it can be hard not to see them as just another obstacle standing between you and your experiments or another chore your PI decided to dump on you. Mentoring and teaching are also skills you're probably new to - or at least, they were for me, because when you're starting your PhD in your early to mid twenties you've probably been a student more often than someone's boss.
It's summer, which means there's summer research programs for undergrads in full swing, and you might have a super green student eagerly (or not) showing up to lab every day looking for directions. I ended up mentoring 2 or 3 undergrad students during my PhD and was lucky enough to have good experiences with all of them! So here's a few tips and insights I have to hopefully raise your chances of success with your new charge.
1) Teaching your undergrad is a two way street.
I believe that the absolute most important factor in success is a willingness to learn. Yeah, some students probably want another line on their resume for med school applications, and only a few might care about the actual research. But no matter what, if they come to lab with an open mind and are willing to be along for any ride, it's WAY easier to get them to absorb all the new things you're teaching them. This goes doubly though: you have to give your undergrad the respect they deserve. They might be new to labs, but every student has the potential to help you with any aspect of your work, and you gotta treat them with that in mind. If I were an undergrad and my grad student mentor seemed unwilling to teach me, I think I'd feel pretty unwanted and uninspired to continue working or even trying to join a research lab!
2) Meet them where they're at, even if you have to teach them how to pipette.
In my lab, the first thing we taught undergrads was how to run genotyping PCRs for our mouse colonies. But even before that, they might not have even touched a pipette before - and if I'm in charge, that means they're entertaining themselves with pipetting water for an hour. (You'd be surprised how far that can go, especially if you also need to teach them sterile technique.) You might even have to explain how PCR works (DNA is double stranded > matched base pairs > polymerase). So be really patient, don't expect them to have answers, and be prepared to have explanations for nearly everything. If teaching them the physical motions of the job is already overwhelming for them, maybe you'll have to remind them the of the logic of the technique or the purpose of the experiment the next time you do it.
3) See one, do one, teach one.
When it comes to learning lab techniques, I go by the rule that people apparently use in med school. My own PI used this rule on me when he was teaching me how to inject mice for the first time (very scary by the way), and I did go on to teach more people mouse work. You just have to accept you'll have to do some handholding at the beginning. Let me take doing genotyping PCRs as an example. First, I will set up the same reactions side by side with my student, so they can see me do it right before they do it. If the PCRs work, I then have them set up more PCRs by themselves while I watch. Then if those gels look good, I give them more PCRs and we scale up from there. Pretty simple, and if things go well, it should help build your confidence in your student and eventually help them become independent.
4) Be the reinforcement your student needs.
One big thing I try to do for my students is to offer them positive reinforcement - especially if they seem unsure or are very aware of their own inabilities. For every single win, no matter how small, I make sure to say good job! Even if the results aren't exactly what you expected, at the very least, your student probably got some experience going through the motions. You have to help them build confidence! I also thank them for the work they do, especially since undergrads are often given the grunt work and are the butt of every lab joke.
5) Be approachable.
The last cornerstone of my teaching approach is that I try to be approachable. Your students are likely to be very deferential to you, since you're in charge, and you don't want a student to mess up and then try to hide those mistakes from you. From day one, I encourage them to ask me anything, even if they think the questions sound stupid. When they mess up, I try to find common ground with them - we've all messed up experiments before, and it's okay! You might also find that you have some mutual values, hobbies, or interests, and I like to use that to make small talk. I see it as another way of helping my students feel more comfortable around me so that they aren't afraid to come to me for help.
Not every student is the same, so of course your mileage is going to vary. But honestly, my bottom line is this: we all remember what it was like to be new to lab, right? So give your undergrad the learning experience you wish you had when you were new.
I hope these tips help! Learning to teach is a whole skill in itself, and I'd say I'm still trying to figure it out. Do you have any suggestions for how to best teach your undergrads in the lab?