CUREing biochemistry lab monotony.

The drive to broaden equitable access to undergraduate research experiences has catalyzed the development and implementation of course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Biology education has prioritized embedding CUREs in introductory labs, which are frequently taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Thus, a CURE GTA is expected not only to teach but also to support novice student researchers. We know little about how GTAs perform as research mentors in a CURE, or how the quality of their mentorship and support impacts undergraduate students. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a phenomenological study of an introductory biology CURE, interviewing 25 undergraduate students taught by nine different GTAs at a single institution. We used self‐determination theory to guide our exploration of how students' autonomous motivation to engage in a CURE is impacted by perceptions of GTA support. We found that highly motivated students were more likely to experience factors hypothesized to optimize motivation in the CURE, and to perceive that their GTA was highly supportive of these elements. Students with lower motivation were less likely to report engaging in fundamental elements of research offered in a CURE. Our findings suggest that GTAs directly impact students' motivation, which can, in turn, influence whether students perceive receiving the full research experience as intended in a CURE. We contend that practitioners who coordinate CUREs led by GTAs should therefore offer curated training that emphasizes supporting students' autonomous motivation in the course and engagement in the research. Our work suggests that GTAs may differ in their capacity to provide students with the support they need to receive and benefit from certain pedagogical practices. Future work assessing innovative approaches in undergraduate biology laboratory courses should continue to investigate potenital differential outcomes for students taught by GTAs.

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been well developed in the hard sciences, but math CUREs are all but absent from the literature. Like biology and chemistry, math programs suffer from a lack of research experiences and many students are not able to participate in programs like REUs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates). CUREs are a great alternative, but the current definition of CURE (see [1]) has potential barriers when applied to mathematics (e.g. time, novelty of project). Our solution to these barriers was to develop a math CURE pathway in which students complete "Math CUREs" in targeted courses. After finishing the pathway (or part of the pathway), students complete a research project in at least one of the following areas: Lie theory, representation theory, or combinatorics. The focus of this paper is the math CURE implemented in a discrete mathematics course for math and computer science majors. We share our experiences with the development and implementation of this CURE over several iterations as well as the impact of the CURE on students experiences through participant survey data obtained from this CURE.

As educators strive to incorporate more active learning and inquiry-driven exercises into STEM curricula, Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are becoming more common in undergraduate laboratory courses. Here we detail a CURE developed in an upper-level undergraduate genetics course at Yeshiva University, centered on the Drosophila melanogaster ortholog of the human neurodegeneration locus PLA2G6/PARK14. Drosophila PLA2G6 mutants exhibit symptoms of neurodegeneration, such as attenuated lifespan and decreased climbing ability with age, which can be replicated by neuron-specific knockdown of PLA2G6. To ask whether the neurodegeneration phenotype could be caused by loss of PLA2G6 in specific neuronal subtypes, students used GAL4-UAS to perform RNAi knockdown of PLA2G6 in subsets of neurons in the Drosophila central nervous system and measured age-dependent climbing ability. We organized our learning objectives for the CURE into three broad goals of having students think, communicate, and perform like scientists. To assess how well students achieved these goals, we developed a detailed rubric to analyze written lab reports, administered pre- and post-course surveys, and solicited written feedback. We observed striking gains related to all three learning goals, and students reported a high degree of satisfaction. We also observed significantly improved understanding of the scientific method by students in the CURE as compared to the prior year’s non-CURE genetics lab students. Thus, this CURE can serve as a template to successfully engage students in novel research, improve understanding of the scientific process, and expose students to the use of Drosophila as a model for human neurodegenerative disease.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have grown in popularity, particularly within introductory biology courses, to provide more students with authentic research experiences. CUREs have been shown to have many of the same positive effects as conventional research experiences; however, most assessments of CUREs lack an appropriate comparison group to evaluate their effectiveness. Here, we introduced a CURE into an introductory biology lab at a regional public university but maintained a traditional, "cookie-cutter" lab in half the lab sections over a 3-year period. We compared changes in test scores and survey responses, final lab and lecture scores, and D, F, withdrawal, and incomplete (DFWI) and retention rates between non-honors biology students in each group. While both groups showed significant improvement in test scores, only transfer students had significantly greater improvement in the CURE vs traditional lab. Students in both groups showed significant increases in self-confidence in some lab-related tasks, but differences in these changes were generally not significant between groups. There were no significant differences in final lecture score, lab score, DFWI rate, or retention rate. Factors affecting the lack of measured CURE success may include the type of CURE chosen, student career interests, and COVID-19; other positive impacts of the CURE may not have been captured by our measurements. This study demonstrates the importance of carefully choosing a CURE to match the student population, as well as assessing the CURE's impact against a comparison group.

The life science education community has responded to the recommendations of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Vision and Change document with several initiatives designed to improve the way in which undergraduates learn science. These initiatives have often taken the form of one‐time workshops that generate awareness of and interest in developing authentic research experiences for undergraduate STEM classrooms. However, they have been less successful with respect to generating the sustainable change necessary to bring real reform to undergraduate science education. To create sustainable change, long‐term faculty development initiatives focused on mentorship are needed so that instructors seasoned in developing and implementing course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can convey their experiences to mentees interested in using these pedagogical techniques as the centerpiece of their own teaching. The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Biology Division and American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Education Committee are creating the Mentorship for Integrating Research Into the Classroom (MIRIC) program to provide a means for members with an interest in developing improved and sustainable active learning techniques to gain experience in this style of teaching through close, long‐term interaction with a veteran teaching mentor. Developed from the former ASCB Mentorship in Active Learning and Teaching (MALT) program, MIRIC focuses on the development of instructors who wish to develop a dynamic CURE. Current and future life science instructors pair themselves up with seasoned veterans of CURE development and work with them and their students over the course of a semester or longer to develop a CURE that will allow the mentee to bring authentic research into his or her classes. In our pilot studies, we collected qualitative and quantitative data based on participant interviews and coding videos of student and instructor actions during classroom activity (Smith et al., 2013), respectively, that suggest that MIRIC/MALT mentorships have made positive gains in promoting sustainable active learning techniques among participants. Going forward, we wish to use instruments like the Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (Corwin et al., 2015) and Experimental Design Ability Test (Sirum and Humburg 2011) to assess the effectiveness of the MIRIC laboratory intervention. MIRIC will undergo its full launch in 2018. At present, please consult http://www.ascb.org/mentoring‐in‐active‐learning‐and‐teaching‐malt/ for more information on becoming involved. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are high-impact educational practices designed to engage students in authentic research while fostering the development of critical skills for persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A key, yet underappreciated, component of successful CUREs is the role of undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs). Despite their significance, there is a notable gap in training and professional development opportunities tailored to these undergraduates, potentially undermining the effectiveness and inclusivity of CUREs. This paper highlights the essential contributions of UTAs in CUREs. Specifically, this paper explores the specialized role of undergraduate peer mentors (UGPM, type of UTA) in a three-semester CURE program at Binghamton University and examines their experiences through four unique student perspectives. These accounts highlight the benefits and impacts of the UGPM role in CUREs and emphasize the need for both formal and informal training approaches to equip UGPMs with technical and interpersonal skills necessary for mentoring and teaching in CUREs. By drawing on UGPM perspectives, we identify some best practices for their professional development and advocate for more structured approaches to UTA or UGPM training. These recommendations aim to ensure that UTAs and UGPMs not only thrive as mentors but also enhance the learning outcomes and research experiences of their peers in CUREs.

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.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) incorporate authentic research into undergraduate curricula, offering significant benefits in student retention, graduation rates, and pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. However, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) rarely receive the specific pedagogical training required for CURE instruction. We share an integrated professional development (PD) model for GTAs and ULAs in a large-enrollment CURE that addresses this need. Our model integrates training for both GTAs and ULAs simultaneously into mandatory instructional meetings, providing just-in-time training for upcoming topics and addressing unique CURE facilitation needs. This PD model has been effective in a CURE with a large instructional team and can be scaled up or down as needed. We present results from a post-pre survey asking instructional team members to reflect on their self-efficacy regarding the nine learning outcomes of the implementation. All learning outcomes show an increase in self-efficacy for GTAs and ULAs. By equipping both GTAs and ULAs to navigate the unique challenges of CURE instruction, this PD model may enhance the overall effectiveness of these valuable undergraduate research experiences.

Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are an effective method of teaching students not only content, but also critical thinking, scientific practice, and other skills beneficial to their education and success. They lower the barrier to participation in undergraduate research, thereby increasing access to entry. Thus, CUREs are especially valuable to under-performing students as they are an effective means of bridging the achievement gap. Due to the value and effectiveness of CUREs in student development, Lynn University has implemented a means by which students are exposed to CUREs and skills necessary to complete a CURE throughout the Environmental Studies major curriculum. This presentation will give a description of the curriculum and how CUREs and CURE-required skills are taught throughout the curriculum culminating in a fully independent capstone research project.

Enhancing scientific identity and persistence through a poultry-focused course-based undergraduate research experience.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are an effective method of engaging large numbers of students in authentic research but are associated with barriers to adoption. Short CURE modules may serve as a low-barrier entryway, but their effectiveness in promoting expansion has not been studied. The Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (PARE) project is a modular CURE designed to be a low-barrier gateway into CURE use. In a series of interviews, we track and characterize use of PARE in 19 PARE-interested instructors throughout the Innovation-Decision Process described by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory. The majority (16/19) implement PARE at least once, and a majority of these implementers (11/16) expanded use by the final interview. Three of four cases of discontinuance were due to a disruption such as moving institutions or a change in course assignment and occurred for community college faculty. Expanders expressed fewer personal challenges than nonexpanders. Overall analysis shows that perception of barriers is nuanced and impacted by the innovation itself, the institutional context, and one’s own experiences. These results suggest that a short duration, low barrier CURE can serve as a catalyst for implementation of a longer duration CURE.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) integrate an authentic research experience for students into a laboratory course. CUREs provide many of the same benefits to students as individual faculty-mentored research experiences. However, faculty experiences in teaching CUREs are not as well understood. There are no studies that compare faculty’s anticipated experiences to actual experiences, and little comparison of the faculty experience by institution. Through interviews with eight biology faculty from four institutions, the faculty experience in implementing a CURE in an introductory biology laboratory was explored using qualitative analysis. Institutions included: a small, minority-serving, women’s, primarily undergraduate university; a small, residential, primarily undergraduate college; a midsized doctoral university; and a large community college. Interviews were conducted at three time points: before professional development (PD), after the initial semester of teaching the CURE, and after teaching the CURE at least twice (1 year later). Faculty described resources, benefits, challenges, and feelings about teaching the CURE. However, anticipated experiences were often not the same as those actually experienced. There were also institutional differences in resources, benefits, challenges, and feelings. Implications for CURE PD include specific content such as strategies for teaching effective research group work, development of student proposals, and student time management.

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are attractive solutions for scaling undergraduate research experiences at primarily undergraduate teaching institutions, where resources for faculty research activities can be limited. The Sustainable Interdisciplinary Research to Inspire Undergraduate Success (SIRIUS) project is a unique program that integrates CUREs, coordinated around a local real-world problem, throughout a biology department’s curricula. The CUREs are scaffolded to provide all biology majors with multiple opportunities to engage in scientific investigations as they advance through introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses. In this mixed methods, cross-sectional study, we explore students’ perceptions of the authenticity of their experiences as they progress through the SIRIUS CUREs. Triangulated data collected from two instruments indicated that students in advanced courses recognized more involvement in research activities and perceived greater authenticity in the science they were performing compared with introductory and intermediate students. Intermediate and advanced students perceived more opportunities for independence; however, experiences with failure and the influence these experiences had on the perceptions of authenticity was primarily observed with advanced students. This study contributes to the growing literature on CUREs with a focus on students from a primarily undergraduate institution with multiple minority-serving designations.

Early research experiences must be made available to all undergraduate students, including those at 2-yr institutions who account for nearly half of America's college students. We report on barriers unique to 2-yr institutions that preclude the success of an early course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). Using a randomized study design, we evaluated a CURE in equivalent introductory biology courses at a 4-yr institution and a 2-yr institution within the same geographic region. We found that these student populations developed dramatically different impressions of the experience. Students at the 4-yr institution enjoyed the CURE significantly more than the traditional labs. However, students at the 2-yr institution enjoyed the traditional labs significantly more, even though the CURE successfully produced targeted learning gains. On the basis of course evaluations, we enhanced instructor, student, and support staff training and reevaluated this CURE at a different campus of the same 2-yr institution. This time, the students reported that they enjoyed the research experience significantly more than the traditional labs. We conclude that early research experiences can succeed at 2-yr institutions, provided that a comprehensive implementation strategy targeting instructor, student, and support staff training is in place.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) can improve student skills, retention, and matriculation to postgraduate study. Traditionally, UREs are available mostly in the natural and biological sciences, which have fewer minority and women majors and thus have disproportionately excluded these groups from such experiences. One effective solution is to diversify and increase course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) within the social sciences. Models are few and research is limited on the impacts of parallel social science research experiences, but both are crucial to the goals of diversifying postgraduate success. Using a survey, we retrospectively assessed, qualitatively and quantitatively, past students’ (n = 87) career and personal learning impacts and outcomes in social science CUREs. These courses led to perceived improvements in understanding research processes and ethics, self-confidence, perseverance, and collaboration. Comparing to data from natural sciences, overall impacts were similar, including the intention to complete postgraduate education among first-generation students.