The whole excercise must form part of a coherent course. Assessing the students' work and using that mark as part of the overall course mark is can provide an incentive for the students to carry out the investigation, which has proven important. The students must be properly prepared before they begin their investigation. They need to have a grasp of the underlying theoretical principles sufficient to enable them to make intelligent decisions about experimental strategy. They must have a clear idea of their strategy before they commence.
Some students also require some guidance in using the computer and the program.
Our strategy for achieving these has been to hand out documentation to the students about a week before a pre-work briefing seminar. At the seminar, we discuss the questions, using the students' answers as a starting point. This allows for a saving of staff time, and allows the students the flexibility to timetable their work as they wish. Using the program Obviously, the programs must be straightforward to use and be backed with sufficient help, should the students feel they need it. Also, if the students are to work unsupervised, the program must provide some formative evaluation of their work.