scholarly journals Preferences for Developing Undergraduate Research in Pakistani Universities: Student Teachers’ Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayyaz Ahmed Faizi ◽  
Muhammad Athar Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Research Involvement ◽  
Proper Consideration ◽  
Analyze Data

Undergraduate Research (UGR) is an important component in the curriculum of good ranking universities at present. It encompasses a continuous process of research engagements during undergraduate studies. Involving undergraduate students in research helps in linking theory to practice, understanding research processes and determining career choices. However, promoting UGR in universities in Pakistan requires proper consideration and planning. This study was aimed at identifying research preferences of undergraduate students and improving UGR in Pakistani universities. As students are the most important stakeholder in UGR, the data were collected from 2168 undergraduate students randomly selected from four large universities in Rawalpindi-Islamabad. The research instrument used was a questionnaire developed, pilot tested and validated before its use in this study. The data were converted into percentages and crosstabs using SPSS to analyze data. We found that undergraduate students expressed strong preference for research involvement and were willing to work any part of the week for gaining research experience. The students preferred field research as compared to research in lab or desk work. The students’ views and preferences on crosstabs helped in devising strategies for improving UGR in universities in Pakistan.

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.

Expanding Toolkits for Heritage Perpetuation

2016 ◽  
pp. 1841-1858
Author(s):  
Karl A. Hoerig ◽  
John R. Welch ◽  
T. J. Ferguson ◽  
Gabriella Soto
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Community Based Participatory Research ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
School Students ◽  
Western Apache ◽  
Field School ◽  
Resource Managers

From 2010 to 2013, the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the University of Arizona, with funding from the National Science Foundation, hosted the Western Apache Ethnography and Geographic Information Science Research Experience for Undergraduates. Designed to foster practical skills and scholarly capacities for future resource managers and anthropologists, this field school introduced Apache and non-native undergraduate students to ethnographic field research and GIS tools. Building upon the extensive arrays of geographical, cultural, and historical data that are available for Western Apache territory, field school students engaged in community-based participatory research with Western Apache elders and tribal natural and heritage resource personnel to contribute to the Western Apache tribes' efforts to document their cultural histories, traditional ecological knowledge, local understanding of geography, and issues of historic and contemporary resource management. This essay reviews the program and traces how student alumni have incorporated skills and perspectives gained into their subsequent academic and professional work.

Comparing Mentor and Mentee Perspectives in a Research-Based Undergraduate Mentoring Program

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Y. Tsai ◽  
Daria Kotys-Schwartz ◽  
Beverly Louie ◽  
Virginia Ferguson ◽  
Alyssa Berg
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Mentoring Relationships ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
Reflective Questions ◽  
Undergraduate Mentoring

At the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), a research-based undergraduate mentoring program is now in its second year of implementation. The program, Your Own Undergraduate Research Experience (YOU’RE@CU) has three main goals: improve the retention rate of diverse groups in undergraduate engineering, build undergraduate interest in engineering research, and prepare graduate students to take on leadership roles in either academia or industry-based research careers. In YOU’RE@CU, undergraduate students are paired with a graduate mentor and work in the graduate student’s lab several hours a week. Undergraduate mentees enroll in a one-credit seminar course focusing on research and graduate school opportunities, and are assessed via pre- and post-surveys to gauge their excitement and interest in engineering. The undergraduates also respond to biweekly qualitative reflective questions while participating in the program. Graduate mentors complete several reflective questions about their experiences and are required to complete pre- and post-assessments. Adopting a person-centered, case study approach, this paper focuses on two telling examples of research-based mentoring relationships in the YOU’RE@CU program. Given identical mentor training through YOU’RE@CU, two graduate students start the Spring 2012 semester by meeting with their mentees to launch a research project. By examining application, pre-survey, reflective questions, and post-survey responses from these four participants, the differences in the trajectory of the two paired mentoring relationships can be clearly seen over the course of one semester. This close examination of two disparate mentoring relationships is instructive in understanding the subtle details that create either a positive learning environment or an uncomfortable lab situation for young engineers, and assists program administrators in making improvements in subsequent years.

Undergraduate Research at a Liberal Arts College during a Time of Disruption

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-78
Author(s):  
Christopher Fuse ◽  
◽  
Ashley Cannaday ◽  
Whitney Coyle ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Computational Studies ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Practices ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Usual Research

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors, who have expertise in acoustics, optics, and astrophysics, decided to pivot from the experimental components of their research and focus instead on computational studies. Many of their usual research practices were adapted, creating new techniques to optimize the remote research experience for their undergraduate students.

scholarly journals MUREs - a new member of the URE-CURE family of research opportunities for undergrads

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly E. Bates ◽  
Shanna Lowes ◽  
Sarah L. West
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Research Opportunities ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Stem Students ◽  
Experiential Research

Undergraduate research experiences are important for the development of scientific identity, appreciation of authentic research, and to improve persistence towards science careers. We identified a gap in experiential research opportunities for undergraduate Biology students who were seeking a formal yet small-scale research experience that was unique to their own interests and career aspirations. These opportunities may be especially worthwhile for STEM students aspiring to non-research scientific careers (i.e., medicine, dentistry, forensics, communication) and underrepresented STEM students. Here, we reflect on the use of small-scale, individualized undergraduate research experiences that are based on established methods (MURE). These experiences have helped to fill this gap and create problem-centred learning opportunities for undergraduate students that are as unique as the students themselves.

scholarly journals A Composite Textual Phenomenological Approach to CUREs versus Traditional Laboratory Experiences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amie Sommers ◽  
Dana Richter-Egger ◽  
Christine Cutucache
Keyword(s):  
Student Retention ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Effective Models ◽  
Laboratory Experiences

Here we present unique perspectives from undergraduate students (n=3) in STEM who have taken both a traditional laboratory iteration and a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) iteration of the same introductory chemistry course. CUREs can be effective models for integrating research in courses and fostering student learning gains. Via phenomenological interviews, we asked students to describe the differences in their perspectives, feelings, and experiences between a traditional lab guided by a lab manual and a CURE. We found that (i.) critical thinking/problem solving, (ii.) group work/collaboration, (iii.) student-led research questions and activities, and (iv.) time management are the top four emergent themes associated with the CURE course. Students also indicated that they learned more disciplinary content in the CURE, and, importantly, that they prefer it over the traditional lab. These findings add another dimension of success to CUREs in STEM education, particularly surrounding student retention.

scholarly journals Vısualısatıon of Undergraduate Archıtectural Research Actıvıtıes through MYDISSERTPLANNER

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (SI5) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Kartina Alauddin ◽  
Yuhainis Abdul Talib ◽  
Kharizam Ismail ◽  
Nor Aini Salleh
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
Architectural Research ◽  
Quality Of Research

This research is a continuous process that requires virtuous planning and monitoring of the activities. A formal planning application is inadequate to assists them in managing all research activities to ensure the task will complete within the time frame given. The aim is to visualise the undergraduate research activities through the use of mobile applications, namely MYDISSERTPLANNER. The result shows that most students have problems completing the research within the timeframe. Therefore, the development of MYDISSERTPLANNER through smartphone apps is seen to give benefit and bring innovative features to students and academicians in ensuring the quality of research accomplished. Keywords: Undergraduate students, Mobile Application, MYDISSERTPLANNER, Research Activities eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI5.2929

scholarly journals A model for training undergraduate students in collaborative science

FACETS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 818-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora J. Casson ◽  
Colin J. Whitfield ◽  
Helen M. Baulch ◽  
Sheryl Mills ◽  
Rebecca L. North ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Faculty Advisors ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Collaborative Skills

Engagement of undergraduate students in research has been demonstrated to correlate with improved academic performance and retention. Research experience confers many benefits on participants, particularly foundational skills necessary for graduate school and careers in scientific disciplines. Undergraduate curricula often do not adequately develop collaborative skills that are becoming increasingly useful in many workplaces and research settings. Here, we describe a pilot program that engages undergraduates in research and incorporates learning objectives designed to develop and enhance collaborative techniques and skills in team science that are not typical outcomes of the undergraduate research experience. We conducted a collaborative science project that engaged faculty advisors and upper year undergraduates at four institutions and conducted a review to assess the program’s efficacy. Students developed a broad suite of competencies related to collaborative science, above and beyond the experience of completing individual projects. This model also affords distinct advantages to faculty advisors, including the capacity of the network to collect and synthesize data from different regions. The model for training students to conduct collaborative science at an early stage of their career is scalable and adaptable to a wide range of fields. We provide recommendations for refining and implementing this model in other contexts.

scholarly journals Exploring factors associated with research involvement of undergraduate students at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Mugabo ◽  
Lotta Velin ◽  
Richard Nduwayezu
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Research Involvement ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Background Early involvement of students in research processes is an important step in professional development and can increase the academic output of the university. Previous studies indicate low research involvement amongst undergraduate students, however limited research has been done in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to describe the level of research involvement amongst undergraduate students at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS) at University of Rwanda (UR) and to assess factors associated with research involvement. Methods This cross-sectional study covered the three CMHS campuses. A survey was shared in class WhatsApp groups from July to September 2020. Data were analyzed using Stata IC 16.0 with descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact test. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results In total, 324 students participated with the mean age being 23.3 (standard deviation 2.27). Males constituted 65.1% of respondents vs. 33.3% females. The largest portion of respondents were from the School of Medicine and Pharmacy (46.6%), and Medicine was the most frequent department (33.3%). On a Likert scale from 1 to 10, 60.0% of the respondents thought that research was 10/10 important for undergraduate students, with the mean value being 8.8. Rating their interest in taking part in research during undergraduate studies, 48.2% scored it 10/10, with the mean value being 8.57. 80.3% of respondents had attended a research module, course, or workshop; however, only 48.8% had participated in a research project and 72.0% of them had been involved in data collection. Inadequate knowledge about research processes and lack of mentors were the main barriers to research participation in 48.0 and 40.2% of respondents respectively. Establishment of a UR-Undergraduate research support center (77.2%), and involving students in ongoing UR projects (69.4%) were the most frequent suggestions to improve students’ research participation. Conclusion Undergraduate students at the CMHS in the UR have a large research interest, yet their involvement is currently low. Limited knowledge about research processes and shortage of mentors remains potent barriers to participation. Inviting undergraduate students to partake in ongoing projects and establishing a UR undergraduate research support center are recommended to strengthen undergraduate research experience at the UR-CMHS.

scholarly journals A functional genomics screen identifying blood cell development genes in Drosophila by undergraduates participating in a course-based research experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Cory J Evans ◽  
John M Olson ◽  
Bama Charan Mondal ◽  
Pratyush Kandimalla ◽  
Ariano Abbasi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Cell ◽  
Functional Genomics ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Bioinformatic Analysis ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Fluorescent Reporter ◽  
Stem Retention

Abstract Undergraduate students participating in the UCLA Undergraduate Research Consortium for Functional Genomics (URCFG) have conducted a two-phased screen using RNA interference (RNAi) in combination with fluorescent reporter proteins to identify genes important for hematopoiesis in Drosophila. This screen disrupted the function of approximately 3500 genes and identified 137 candidate genes for which loss of function leads to observable changes in the hematopoietic development. Targeting RNAi to maturing, progenitor, and regulatory cell types identified key subsets that either limit or promote blood cell maturation. Bioinformatic analysis reveals gene enrichment in several previously uncharacterized areas, including RNA processing and export and vesicular trafficking. Lastly, the participation of students in this course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) correlated with increased learning gains across several areas, as well as increased STEM retention, indicating that authentic, student-driven research in the form of a CURE represents an impactful and enriching pedagogical approach.

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