There has been much criticism about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education not focusing enough on problem solving, especially in authentic realworld contexts which are most often associated to ill-structured domains. To improve education, it is essential that curricula promote high levels of cognitive development by exposing students to authentic problems. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a studentcentered pedagogy that offers a strong framework upon which to build a curriculum to teach students essential problem solving skills. An authentic problem-solving experience, which is highly valued and promoted outside of the classroom yet almost nonexistent in the classroom, is undergraduate research (UR). Herein, the goal was to understand the nature of UR problems as a means of developing recommendations for translating UR problems and experiences into the classroom using PBL methodologies. Using survey design, data were collected from sixty students participating in summer undergraduate research experiences. Our findings revealed that moderately structured and fairly complex UR problems are well-suited for PBL implementation in the classroom because they trigger the use of multiple cognitive operations in the context of a continuously changing, dynamic, and interdisciplinary team environment.

Given worldwide prevalence of low-stakes testing for monitoring educational quality and students' progress through school (e.g., Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Program for International Student Assessment), interpretability of resulting test scores is of global concern. The nonconsequential nature of low-stakes tests can undermine students' test-taking motivation, artificially deflating performance and thus jeopardizing validity of test-based inferences, whether they pertain to programs, institutions, or nations (Eklöf, 2007(Eklöf, , 2010Stanat & Lüdtke, 2013;Wise & DeMars, 2005). Moreover, students in countries such as the United States, where academic progress over the course of K-12 (kindergarten through Grade 12) is systematically assessed, are likely to develop antagonistic attitudes toward lowstakes testing by the time they enter college. The relationship between such attitudes, test-taking motivation, and performance on a low-stakes university accountability test was modeled via path analysis. Results indicated the effects of attitudes were indirect (via test-taking motivation) and minimal, suggesting the influence of attitudes on test performance is negligible, further supporting the validity of inferences made from such low-stakes tests. Implications for international assessment are discussed.

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