scholarly journals Emphasizing iterative practices for a sequential course-based undergraduate research experience in microbial biofilms

2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin J Light ◽  
Megan Fegley ◽  
Nancy Stamp
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Microbial Biofilms ◽  
Research Track ◽  
Student Cohorts

ABSTRACT Iteration is a fundamental area of course design in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Iteration includes development of many skills necessary for laboratory work, experimental design, data analysis, communication and teamwork. With a focus on the microbial biofilm research track of the First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program, the perceptions of four student cohorts were examined at the end of the three-term CURE sequence, relative to exposure to iterative tasks, learning gains and benefits from the research experience. Based on results from the first two cohorts, substantial changes were made in the CURE sequence to increase iterative tasks and discussion with students about the iterative nature of research. In turn, the results for the latter cohorts reached FRI program targets. In sum, novice researchers benefit from a deliberate step-wise approach for developing skills to meet the requirements and understand the complex role of iteration in real research.

Role of Research Educator in sequential course-based undergraduate research experience program

2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Light ◽  
Megan Fegley ◽  
Nancy Stamp
Keyword(s):  
Research Training ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Work Load ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Microbial Biofilms ◽  
Research Track ◽  
Teaching Responsibilities

ABSTRACT In our First-Year Research Immersion (FRI) program, students take a sequence of three CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences). Each Research Educator (Research Assistant Professor, aka RE) oversees the day-to-day work of about 30 first-year and 25 second-year students in a dedicated research-training lab. Instead of the typical work-load division for faculty between their teaching responsibilities (typically lecture) and research programs, REs combine these two responsibilities into one endeavour that better engages and teaches beginning students intending to major in science or engineering. Although more challenging for REs, their work in FRI expands their professional development substantially. Examples from the microbiology research track (specifically, Microbial Biofilms in Human Health) illustrate both the challenges and rewards for the REs.

scholarly journals Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes: Meeting Modern Challenges in Undergraduate Summer Research

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Butler ◽  
Cheng Dong ◽  
Alan J. Snyder ◽  
A. Daniel Jones ◽  
Erin D. Sheets
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Surface Characterization ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Penn State

Summer undergraduate research programs in science and engineering facilitate research progress for faculty and provide a close-ended research experience for students, which can prepare them for careers in industry, medicine, and academia. However, ensuring these outcomes is a challenge when the students arrive ill-prepared for substantive research or if projects are ill-defined or impractical for a typical 10-wk summer. We describe how the new Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes (BBSI), developed in response to a call for proposals by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), provide an impetus for the enhancement of traditional undergraduate research experiences with intense didactic training in particular skills and technologies. Such didactic components provide highly focused and qualified students for summer research with the goal of ensuring increased student satisfaction with research and mentor satisfaction with student productivity. As an example, we focus on our experiences with the Penn State Biomaterials and Bionanotechnology Summer Institute (PSU-BBSI), which trains undergraduates in core technologies in surface characterization, computational modeling, cell biology, and fabrication to prepare them for student-centered research projects in the role of materials in guiding cell biology.

scholarly journals Scaling Up: Adapting a Phage-Hunting Course to Increase Participation of First-Year Students in Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. ar13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy L. Staub ◽  
Marianne Poxleitner ◽  
Amanda Braley ◽  
Helen Smith-Flores ◽  
Christine M. Pribbenow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Faculty Time ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The One

Authentic research experiences are valuable components of effective undergraduate education. Research experiences during the first years of college are especially critical to increase persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) model provides a high-impact research experience to first-year students but is usually available to a limited number of students, and its implementation is costly in faculty time and laboratory space. To offer a research experience to all students taking introductory biology at Gonzaga University (n = 350/yr), we modified the traditional two-semester SEA-PHAGES course by streamlining the first-semester Phage Discovery lab and integrating the second SEA-PHAGES semester into other courses in the biology curriculum. Because most students in the introductory course are not biology majors, the Phage Discovery semester may be their only encounter with research. To discover whether students benefit from the first semester alone, we assessed the effects of the one-semester Phage Discovery course on students’ understanding of course content. Specifically, students showed improvement in knowledge of bacteriophages, lab math skills, and understanding experimental design and interpretation. They also reported learning gains and benefits comparable with other course-based research experiences. Responses to open-ended questions suggest that students experienced this course as a true undergraduate research experience.

scholarly journals Assessment of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Corwin Auchincloss ◽  
Sandra L. Laursen ◽  
Janet L. Branchaw ◽  
Kevin Eagan ◽  
Mark Graham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Meeting Report ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Foundation Program ◽  
Definition Of

The Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Network (CUREnet) was initiated in 2012 with funding from the National Science Foundation program for Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education. CUREnet aims to address topics, problems, and opportunities inherent to integrating research experiences into undergraduate courses. During CUREnet meetings and discussions, it became apparent that there is need for a clear definition of what constitutes a CURE and systematic exploration of what makes CUREs meaningful in terms of student learning. Thus, we assembled a small working group of people with expertise in CURE instruction and assessment to: 1) draft an operational definition of a CURE, with the aim of defining what makes a laboratory course or project a “research experience”; 2) summarize research on CUREs, as well as findings from studies of undergraduate research internships that would be useful for thinking about how students are influenced by participating in CUREs; and 3) identify areas of greatest need with respect to CURE assessment, and directions for future research on and evaluation of CUREs. This report summarizes the outcomes and recommendations of this meeting.

scholarly journals Early year undergraduate researchers’ reflections on the values and perceived costs of their research experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaye D. Ceyhan ◽  
John W. Tillotson
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Expectancy Value ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Background Prior research reported that motivational beliefs that individuals attach to specific tasks predict continuing interest and persistence in the task. A motivational approach may be particularly useful for understanding undergraduate students’ engagement with research in their first and second years in college. The current study utilizes the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation to qualitatively explore how much and in what ways early year undergraduate researchers value their research experience and what kinds of costs they associate with it. Results The results revealed that intrinsic value had the highest expression in participants’ motivation to engage in research. The second most expressed value type was the utility value of undergraduate research with regards to obtaining the desired outcomes, and attainment value played the least important role in participants’ motivation to engage in research. Findings also indicated that some of the participants associated a cost(s) to their research experience. The highest mentioned perceived cost was opportunity cost, where participants commented on losing other valued alternatives when engaging in research. Participants commented on the time, effort, or amount of work needed to engage in research, and a few participants commented on the emotional cost associated with their research experience in terms of the fear of failure. Conclusion As perceived cost is the least studied in the expectancy-value framework, this study contributes to cost values within college students, particularly about early year undergraduate researchers. The findings of this study can form the basis for future work on exploring ways to increase the values and decrease the costs students experience in their undergraduate research experiences.

scholarly journals Student music stimuli composition in a scaffolded course-based undergraduate research experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Abbey L. Dvorak ◽  
Eugenia Hernandez-Ruiz ◽  
Halle Nick ◽  
Ruowen Qi ◽  
Celeste Alderete ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Teaching Model ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Graduate Assistants ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) allow students opportunities to develop research skills. In a scaffolded CURE, music therapy and music education students composed, evaluated, and selected the music stimuli used in a music and mindfulness study with non-musicians at Site 1 and musicians at Site 2. The purposes of this paper are to (a) describe the process of student music stimuli composition and evaluation for use in a course-based undergraduate research experience and (b) identify benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from the viewpoints of students, graduate assistants, and faculty who participated in the multi-site study. Eight students, two graduate assistants, and two faculty provide an overview of the CURE teaching model and assignments, and share first-person accounts of their experiences participating in this CURE.  

scholarly journals A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience on the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance and its Molecular Basis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Dickinson ◽  
Joya Mukerji ◽  
Stuart Graham ◽  
Liz Warfield ◽  
Ben Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Drug Effects ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Cellular Machinery ◽  
Transformative Approach ◽  
Introductory Classes ◽  
The University

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in high-enrollment, introductory classes are a 37 potentially transformative approach to retaining more students in STEM majors. We developed and piloted a CURE 38 in the introductory biology courses at the University of Washington. This CURE focuses on analyzing experimental 39 evolution of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli and generates data on two topics relevant to clinical practice: 40 compensatory mutations and cross-drug effects. By studying mutations in central cellular machinery that confer drug 41 resistance, students not only gain insight into fundamental cellular phenomena, but also recognize the molecular 42 basis of a medically important form of evolutionary change, connecting genetics, microbiology, and evolution.

scholarly journals Designing for Students: Creating a Robust Interdisciplinary First Year Course

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah E. Bordelon ◽  
Colleen M Sexton ◽  
Ann M Vendrely
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
Full Time ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
General Education Curriculum

Building a general education program from scratch for a population of first generation and underserved students provided both a challenge and opportunity. Faculty who had limited previous experience teaching and assessing first year students engaged in study of the best practices and research. Faculty designed a four-year general education curriculum that began with a robust First Year Seminar (FYS) course, the focus of this study. This required three-credit hour interdisciplinary humanities course (FYS) was designed to embrace the understanding of what it means to be human, including understanding oneself in relation to the natural world and to others. Full time faculty from all disciplines were selected through a competitive process to teach the FYS course with embedded High Impact Practices (HIPs). Four years of teaching FYS has provided qualitative and quantitative data on the effectiveness of the design, the role of faculty, and application of HIPs. Through the course assessment process and data analysis, faculty have expanded their repertoire of pedagogical strategies to engage the first year student, and as a result, positively influenced teaching in their other courses. This report offers insights on strategies for course design, the role of faculty, and the power of selected HIPs that may be replicated at other institutions.

Learning to LOLIPOP

2010 ◽  
pp. 176-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bruen ◽  
Juliette Péchenart ◽  
Veronica Crosbie
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Electronic Version ◽  
First Year ◽  
European Language ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Intercultural Studies

The focus of this chapter is twofold: firstly, on the development of an electronic version of a European Language Portfolio, known as the LOLIPOP ELP,1 and, secondly, on its integration into a study and research skills module for first-year students on the BA in Applied Language and Intercultural Studies at Dublin City University. The chapter begins with an introduction to the concept of a European Language Portfolio (ELP) in the context of current trends in foreign language learning and teaching. It then describes the development and key features of the LOLIPOP ELP. It explains how it was integrated into a first-year, undergraduate research and study skills module focusing on elements of course design and assessment. Finally, the chapter concludes by analysing the output from the participants in this study which indicates that they appreciated the opportunity to engage with the LOLIPOP ELP and found it beneficial to their language learning although issues remain around its design and integration into an academic programme.

Engaging Paleontology Undergraduates in Collaborative Research Experiences

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 221-230
Author(s):  
Michael Savarese ◽  
Diane Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Senior Year ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
Scientific Meetings ◽  
Faculty Time ◽  
Do So

Undergraduate research is rightfully viewed as a valuable educational endeavor, yet few students have the time or incentive to avail themselves of the opportunity. Those students who do obtain research experience typically do so during their senior year, at a time too late to best benefit from the experience. Finally, requiring students to conduct independent research can be unsustainable, drawing on limited resources and faculty time. We have developed a collaborative undergraduate research model that unites students as a research team in their standard courses. The method is applicable to all course levels, from introductory science courses to upper-division, discipline-specific courses. At the introductory level, students work on longer-term research problems that require regular monitoring, with each successive class adding to an iterative database. Students in upper-division classes design group projects that are completed in the course of the semester. The benefits of the model are numerous. Students develop a sense of ownership and stewardship; they obtain a thorough experience practicing science while their curriculum is applied to real problems; and students learn to work cooperatively. Results from many of these experiences are of a high enough quality to be presented at scientific meetings and eventually published. Projects often help students focus their discipline-based interests and spawn senior theses, and faculty members have a vehicle to vicariously increase their research productivity. Examples from an upper division paleobiology course are presented. Overall, this model has been highly successful, especially when employed at the upper-division levels.

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