A Course-Based Research Experience: How Benefits Change with Increased Investment in Instructional Time

Shaffer, C.; Alvarez, Consuelo J.; Bednarski, April E.; Dunbar, David; Goodman, Anya; Reinke, Catherine; Rosenwald, Anne G.; Wolyniak, Michael J.; Bailey, Cheryl; Barnard, Daron C.; Bazinet, Christopher; Beach, Dale L.; Bedard, James E. J.; Bhalla, Satish C.; Braverman, John M.; Burg, Martin G.; Chandrasekaran, Vidya; Chung, Huimin; Clase, Kari; DeJong, Randall J.; DiAngelo, Justin R.; Du, Chunguang; Eckdahl, Todd T.; Eisler, Heather L.; Emerson, Julia A.; Frary, Amy; Frohlich, D. R.; Gosser, Yuying; Govind, Shubha; Haberman, Adam; Hark, Amy T.; Hauser, Charles R.; Hoogewerf, Arlene J.; Hoopes, Laura L. Mays; Howell, Carina E.; Johnson, Diana; Jones, Christopher J.; Kadlec, Lisa; Kaehler, Marian; Key, State; Kleinschmit, Adam J.; Kokan, Nighat P.; Kopp, Olga R.; Kuleck, Gary A.; Leatherman, Judith L.; Lopilato, Jane; MacKinnon, Christy; Martínez‐Cruzado, Juan Carlos; McNeil, Gerard P.; Mel, Stephanie F.; Mistry, Hemlata; Nagengast, Alexis; Overvoorde, Paul J.; Paetkau, Don; Parrish, Susan; Peterson, Celeste; Preuss, Mary L.; Reed, Laura K.; Revie, Dennis; Robic, Srebrenka; Roecklein‐Canfield, Jennifer; Rubin, Michael R.; Saville, Kenneth J.; Schroeder, Stephanie; Sharif, Karim A.; Shaw, Mary; Skuse, Gary R.; Smith, Christopher; Smith, Mary Ann; Smith, Sheryl T.; Spana, Eric P.; Spratt, Mary; Sreenivasan, Aparna; Stamm, Joyce; Szauter, Paul; Thompson, Jeffrey S.; Wawersik, Matthew; Youngblom, James; Zhou, Leming; Mardis, Elaine R.; Buhler, Jeremy; Leung, Wilson; Lopatto, David; Elgin, Sarah C. R.

doi:10.1187/cbe-13-08-0152

Cited by 152 publications

(186 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Studies report that UREs often engage undergraduates in following experimental protocols rather than interpreting results. CUREs use lectures and readings to impart conceptual understanding about an important research question, consistent with instructional strategies in other courses (30,50,51,55). While introducing new images of science, research experiences may also reinforce incomplete or inaccurate images.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…CUREs offer opportunities to develop conceptual understanding by integrating lectures and readings with investigations of an important research question (50,51). Thus, CUREs build on learning strategies that students have used in other courses.…”

Section: Expanding Science Conceptual Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Promising assessments ask students to analyze new examples of primary literature, but are rarely used, probably due to the challenges of developing scoring rubrics (8,50).…”

Section: Expanding Science Conceptual Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities

Linn

Palmer

Baranger

et al. 2015

Science

604

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Most undergraduates give high ratings to research experiences. Studies report that these experiences improve participation and persistence, often by strengthening students' views of themselves as scientists. Yet, the evidence for these claims is weak. More than half the 60 studies reviewed rely on self-report surveys or interviews. Rather than introducing new images of science, research experiences may reinforce flawed images especially of research practices and conceptual understanding. The most convincing studies show benefits for mentoring and for communicating the nature of science, but the ideas that students learn are often isolated or fragmented rather than integrated and coherent. Rigorous research is needed to identify ways to design research experiences so that they promote integrated understanding. These studies need powerful and generalizable assessments that can document student progress, help distinguish effective and ineffective aspects of the experiences, and illustrate how students interpret the research experiences they encounter. To create research experiences that meet the needs of interested students and make effective use of scarce resources, we encourage systematic, iterative studies with multiple indicators of success.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Expanding Science Conceptual Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities

Linn

Palmer

Baranger

et al. 2015

Science

604

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show abstract

“…As the study of undergraduate research experiences matured, research efforts branched both vertically, diving into specific features of student characteristics or outcomes of instructional activities (e.g., Hoskins et al 2011), and horizontally, extending the research program to course-embedded research activities in disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses (Lopatto 2010). Along the way, there have been efforts to tie together various research methodologies to triangulate student learning outcomes (e.g., Shaffer et al 2014) and calls for a road map of best practices. Fueling some of the research was an attitude, natural to many scientists turned science educators, that the methodology of science would yield significant information about the effects of undergraduate research program features on learning outcomes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, some educators mistrust student self-report. One useful response to the mistrust of self-report is to implement as assessment plan incorporating a multiple-operational approach that demonstrates agreement in the conclusions drawn from more than one measure (Shaffer et al 2014). A more significant point is that "direct" measures of learning gains in disciplinary content or method do not show us the attitudes and motives of the student who may be navigating toward a science career.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting to Change: Studying Undergraduate Research in the Current Education Environment

Lopatto¹

2017

SPUR

Self Cite

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Given that science and science education are undergoing a climate change, the author suggests a re-envisioning of undergraduate research assessment. He argues that continuation of research into the processes and benefits of undergraduate research opportunities for undergraduates will need to decrease focus on student dispositions and increase attention to the external validity of programs. Common dispositional terms such as persistence and identity should give way to the study of student decision making, judgment, and communication. Student adaptability to diverse academic and personal pressures will aid in the understanding of student success.

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Expression, purification, and characterization of a carbohydrate‐active enzyme: A research‐inspired methods optimization experiment for the biochemistry laboratory

Willbur

Vail

Mitchell

et al. 2015

Biochem Molecular Bio Educ

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The development and implementation of research-inspired, discovery-based experiences into science laboratory curricula is a proven strategy for increasing student engagement and ownership of experiments. In the novel laboratory module described herein, students learn to express, purify, and characterize a carbohydrate-active enzyme using modern techniques and instrumentation commonly found in a research laboratory. Unlike in a traditional cookbook-style experiment, students generate their own hypotheses regarding expression conditions and quantify the amount of protein isolated using their selected variables. Over the course of three 3-hour laboratory periods, students learn to use sterile technique to express a protein using recombinant DNA in E. coli, purify the resulting enzyme via affinity chromatography and dialysis, analyze the success of their purification scheme via SDS-PAGE, assess the activity of the enzyme via an HPLC-based assay, and quantify the amount of protein isolated via a Bradford assay. Following the completion of this experiment, students were asked to evaluate their experience via an optional survey. All students strongly agreed that this laboratory module was more interesting to them than traditional experiments because of its lack of a pre-determined outcome and desired additional opportunities to participate in the experimental design process. This experiment serves as an example of how research-inspired, discovery-based experiences can benefit both the students and instructor; students learned important skills necessary for real-world biochemistry research and a more concrete understanding of the research process, while generating new knowledge to enhance the scholarly endeavors of the instructor.

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A Course-Based Research Experience: How Benefits Change with Increased Investment in Instructional Time

Cited by 152 publications

References 36 publications

Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities

Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities

Adapting to Change: Studying Undergraduate Research in the Current Education Environment

Expression, purification, and characterization of a carbohydrate‐active enzyme: A research‐inspired methods optimization experiment for the biochemistry laboratory

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