Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities

Science ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 347 (6222) ◽  
pp. 1261757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia C. Linn ◽  
Erin Palmer ◽  
Anne Baranger ◽  
Elizabeth Gerard ◽  
Elisa Stone
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Multiple Indicators ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Indicators Of Success

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.

A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience in Biofluid Mechanics

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisa Morss Clyne ◽  
Adrian C. Shieh ◽  
Jennifer S. Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Biofluid Mechanics ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
In Vivo Experiments

Abstract Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) are a valuable tool to increase research exposure for larger undergraduate cohorts. We implemented a CURE within a senior-level biofluid mechanics course that was primarily taught using a flipped classroom approach. Due to the large class size, the students analyzed data that was publicly available and produced by one of our laboratories. Student teams then developed hypotheses based on the data analysis and designed a set of in vitro and in vivo experiments to test those hypotheses. The hypotheses and experiments that were most highly rated by the class were then tested in our laboratory. At the end of the class, student gains were assessed by self-report and compared to those self-reported by students engaging in a traditional freshman undergraduate summer research experience. While the students in the CURE reported moderate gains in self-assessment of research-based skills, their self-reported gains were statistically significantly lower than those reported by students who participated in the traditional research experience. We believe that the CURE could be improved through implementation in a lower level class, enabling students to observe laboratory experiments, and providing additional feedback throughout the hypothesis development and experimental design process. Overall, the CURE is an innovative way to expand research experiences, in particular for engineering students who often do not participate in hypothesis-driven research during their undergraduate education.

scholarly journals “Where’s My Mentor?!” Characterizing Negative Mentoring Experiences in Undergraduate Life Science Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. ar61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa B. Limeri ◽  
Muhammad Zaka Asif ◽  
Benjamin H. T. Bridges ◽  
David Esparza ◽  
Trevor T. Tuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Science ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Career Support ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
And Mathematics

Undergraduate research experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields are championed for promoting students’ personal and professional development. Mentorship is an integral part of undergraduate research, as effective mentorship maximizes the benefits undergraduates realize from participating in research. Yet almost no research examines instances in which mentoring is less effective or even problematic, even though prior research on mentoring in workplace settings suggests negative mentoring experiences are common. Here, we report the results of a qualitative study to define and characterize negative mentoring experiences of undergraduate life science researchers. Undergraduate researchers in our study reported seven major ways they experienced negative mentoring: absenteeism, abuse of power, interpersonal mismatch, lack of career support, lack of psychosocial support, misaligned expectations, and unequal treatment. They described some of these experiences as the result of absence of positive mentoring behavior and others as actively harmful behavior, both of which they perceive as detrimental to their psychosocial and career development. Our results are useful to mentors for reflecting on ways their behaviors might be perceived as harmful or unhelpful. These findings can also serve as a foundation for future research aimed at examining the prevalence and impact of negative mentoring experiences in undergraduate research.

scholarly journals Modeling Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: An Agenda for Future Research and Evaluation

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. es1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Corwin ◽  
Mark J. Graham ◽  
Erin L. Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Systems Approach ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Pathway Models ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are being championed as scalable ways of involving undergraduates in science research. Studies of CUREs have shown that participating students achieve many of the same outcomes as students who complete research internships. However, CUREs vary widely in their design and implementation, and aspects of CUREs that are necessary and sufficient to achieve desired student outcomes have not been elucidated. To guide future research aimed at understanding the causal mechanisms underlying CURE efficacy, we used a systems approach to generate pathway models representing hypotheses of how CURE outcomes are achieved. We started by reviewing studies of CUREs and research internships to generate a comprehensive set of outcomes of research experiences, determining the level of evidence supporting each outcome. We then used this body of research and drew from learning theory to hypothesize connections between what students do during CUREs and the outcomes that have the best empirical support. We offer these models as hypotheses for the CURE community to test, revise, elaborate, or refute. We also cite instruments that are ready to use in CURE assessment and note gaps for which instruments need to be developed.

scholarly journals Models and Impacts of Science Research Experiences: A Review of the Literature of CUREs, UREs, and TREs

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. ar65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica S. Krim ◽  
Laleh E. Coté ◽  
Renée S. Schwartz ◽  
Elisa M. Stone ◽  
Jessica J. Cleeves ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Practices ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
K 12

In efforts to increase scientific literacy and enhance the preparation of learners to pursue careers in science, there are growing opportunities for students and teachers to engage in scientific research experiences, including course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), undergraduate research experiences (UREs), and teacher research experiences (TREs). Prior literature reviews detail a variety of models, benefits, and challenges and call for the continued examination of program elements and associated impacts. This paper reports a comprehensive review of 307 papers published between 2007 and 2017 that include CURE, URE, and TRE programs, with a special focus on research experiences for K–12 teachers. A research-supported conceptual model of science research experiences was used to develop a coding scheme, including participant demographics, theoretical frameworks, methodology, and reported outcomes. We summarize recent reports on program impacts and identify gaps or misalignments between goals and measured outcomes. The field of biology was the predominant scientific disciplinary focus. Findings suggest a lack of studies explicitly targeting 1) participation and outcomes related to learners from underrepresented populations, 2) a theoretical framework that guides program design and analysis, and, for TREs, 3) methods for translation of research experiences into K–12 instructional practices, and 4) measurement of impact on K–12 instructional practices.

Measuring integrated understanding of undergraduate chemistry research experiences: Assessing oral and written research artifacts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max R Helix ◽  
Laleh E Cote ◽  
Christiane N Stachl ◽  
Marcia C. Linn ◽  
Elisa M Stone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Undergraduate Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Research ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
The Impact

Understanding the impact of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is crucial as universities debate the value of allocating scarce resources to these activities. We report...

Evaluating the development of chemistry undergraduate researchers’ scientific thinking skills using performance-data: first findings from the performance assessment of undergraduate research (PURE) instrument

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Harsh ◽  
John J. Esteb ◽  
Adam V. Maltese
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Performance Data ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Primary Literature ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Self Report Data

National calls in science, technology, engineering, and technology education reform efforts have advanced the wide-scale engagement of students in undergraduate research for the preparation of a workforce and citizenry able to attend to the challenges of the 21st century. Awareness of the potential benefits and costs of these experiences has led to an emerging literature base outlining gains in participants’ cognitive, affective, and conative domains to support the impact of undergraduate research for students of all backgrounds; however, the majority of this work has relied on self-report data limiting inferences to the causal effects on student learning. As part of a larger project on apprentice-like undergraduate research experiences (UREs) in the physical sciences, the present exploratory study complemented indirect self-report data with direct performance data to assess the development of chemistry students’ scientific thinking skills over a research experience. Performance data were collected using the Performance assessment of Undergraduate Research Experiences (PURE) instrument, a validated tool designed to assess changes in chemistry students’ analytical and data driven decision-making skills through open-response tasks situated in real-world problems from primary literature. Twenty-four summer research students in chemistry (46% women; 50% 1st/2nd year students; 42% first time URE participant) from seven colleges and universities provided baseline and post-intervention performance data. Differences in pre/post-response task correctness provided a direct measure of individual changes in student competencies. Early study findings indicate the positive contributions of UREs to student's competencies in the areas of problem-solving, experimental design and the use of research techniques, data analysis and the interpretation of results, and the evaluation of primary literature. Survey data were also collected on students’ self-skill ratings to allow comparisons between perceived and demonstrated competencies, which were found to be weakly correlated. This work begins to offer direct evidence to the effect of UREs on student learning progressions as well as the potential use of performance test data in evaluating the success of research training interventions designed to improve scientific thinking skills.

scholarly journals Virtually the same? Evaluating the effectiveness of remote undergraduate research experiences

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riley A Hess ◽  
Olivia A Erickson ◽  
Rebecca B Cole ◽  
Jared M Isaacs ◽  
Silvia Alvarez-Clare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Low Costs ◽  
Scientific Identity ◽  
Scientific Integration

In-person undergraduate research experiences (UREs) promote students' integration into careers in life science research. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted institutions hosting summer URE programs to offer them remotely, raising questions about whether undergraduates who participate in remote research can experience scientific integration. To address this, we investigated indicators of scientific integration for students who participated in remote life science URE programs in summer 2020. We found that these students experienced gains in their scientific self-efficacy and scientific identity similar to results reported for in-person UREs. We also found that these students perceived high benefits and low costs of doing research at the outset of their programs, and their perceptions did not change despite the remote circumstances. Yet, their perceptions differed by program, indicating that programs differentially affected students' perceptions of the costs of doing research. Finally, we observed that students with prior research experience made greater gains in self-efficacy and identity, as well as in their perceptions of the alignment of their values with those of the scientific community, in comparison to students with no prior research experience. This finding suggests that additional programming may be needed for undergraduates with no prior experience to benefit from remote research.

Designing performance-based measures to assess the scientific thinking skills of chemistry undergraduate researchers

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 808-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Harsh
Keyword(s):  
Research Training ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Good Reliability ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Chemistry Students

Undergraduate research (UR) is a vetted educational tool that is commonly perceived to prepare students for entering graduate school and careers in STEM fields; however, scholarly attention to date has largely relied on self-report data, which may limit inferences about the causal effects on student outcomes. In light of this, recent calls have been made for innovative and rigorous assessment strategies to better understand the efficacy and impact of UR on key disciplinary skills, both in classroom and internship UR models, that can help inform decisions about educational refinement. To more accurately measure the effect of UR on students, well-designed performance-based assessments can be used to provide direct evidence to the development of targeted skills during their research experience. Given the limited availability of tested, adaptable (and freely available) performance measures for assessing undergraduate chemistry students' scientific thinking skills, this article outlines a five-step process drawn from the literature about how reliable tasks and rubrics can be developed by faculty interested in assessing the effect of research training in the lab and classroom. For this purpose, as an applied example, the manuscript describes the development, testing, and validation of the Performance assessment of Undergraduate Research Experiences (PURE) instrument, which was designed to directly characterize the effects of research experiences on chemistry students' analytical and data-driven decision-making through open-response tasks situated in real-world scientific problems. Initial results reveal that the PURE instrument has high face validity and good reliability in measuring the scientific thinking skills of chemistry student researchers, and documents differences in UR students' answer quality over time supporting the effect of UR on research skill growth and the viability of performance data to assess these changes.

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