At many primarily undergraduate institutions, research opportunities in biology can be difficult for students to obtain. Yet, due to the nature of science and the careers students will seek, research is an important part of their educational experience. The Experimental Design course at PUC is intended to allow undergraduate students to experience research projects from conception to completion within in the context of a semester long course. This course takes advantage of the short reproductive cycle of C. elegans to perform student led experiments focusing on genetic, molecular, and microscopy techniques - but could easily be modified based on the goals, skills, and equipment availability of any institution. The course is broken down into two projects. In the first project each student pair utilizes both forward and reverse genetics to analyze a unique mutant C. elegans. During the course of the genetic analysis additional skills are gained including animal husbandry, light and fluorescence microscopy, generation of recombinant DNAs, use of RNAi, DNA sequencing, and qRT-PCR. In the second project, students research, propose, and carry out experiments to test the effect of environmental factors on a physiological process (for example aging). This exposes students to the process of literature searches and design of well controlled experiments. Unlike, the traditional laboratory course, it is anticipated that students may not complete some portions of the project or may not obtain results. Efforts are then made to help students understand why and to design future experiments to address these issues. Furthermore, the layout of the class is ideal for teaching various forms of scientific communication including grant writing, journal article preparation, and oral/poster presentations. Due to the time limitations of this lab intensive course, digital tools can be integrated using a Learning Management System. For example, some course material is delivered via video tutorials, collaborative tools are used to edit and improve student writing, and discussion boards are utilized to promote student communication of ideas and results, and to encourage students to help each other with experimental difficulties.