Why Are Students Doing Research? Examining The Motivation Of Students Involved In Undergraduate Research Programs

The Importance of Scientific Publishing: Teaching an Undergraduate How to Swim the Entire Length of the Pool

Learning experiences are widely recognized as crucial in developing students’ attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Vocationally-oriented polytechnics and universities provide distinct learning experiences that may significantly influence students’ STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest. The study explores how the unique learning experiences shape students' STEM attitudes among 487 students during their fourth semester at vocationally-oriented polytechnic and university. The S-STEM survey was adopted as the measurement instrument. The result showed that university students displayed a more favorable overall STEM attitude compared to students enrolled in vocational-oriented polytechnic. University students demonstrated greater STEM self-efficacy than polytechnic students, but no significant difference in STEM expectancy-value was detected between the two groups. From the perspective of inter-group comparison, university education consistently fostered students a heightened sense of STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest in science, whereas vocationally-oriented polytechnic education boasted its unique strengths in cultivating robust attitudes and career interests towards science and engineering/technology. However, students in both institutions exhibited a relatively less positive attitude towards learning mathematics. The findings highlight the importance of learning experiences in shaping students' STEM attitudes and career interests. Keywords: career interest, expectancy-value, learning experiences, self-efficacy, STEM attitude

Students taking part in a 10-week summer research experience for undergraduates (REU) program in the department of mechanical engineering at Oakland University receive three levels of mentorship: from faculty, graduate students and researchers/engineers from industry. Industrial mentors, all of whom volunteer to take part in the experience, play a variety of roles as part of the program and are viewed by the authors as an often untapped resource in undergraduate research programs. This paper focuses on the experience gained from involving industrial mentors in the REU program and on the lessons learned: what worked, what didn’t work and what improvements can be made in the following years.

Undergraduate research involves experiential learning methods that helps animal science students gain critical thinking skills. There is high demand for these opportunities. For example, 77.9% of incoming freshmen in the Department of Animal Sciences & Industry at Kansas State University in Fall 2017 and Fall 2018 planned to conduct research sometime during their undergraduate career (422 of 542 students). Conventional, one-on-one mentoring methods in the department were only serving 1.7% of the undergraduate population (21 of 1,212 students). This creates a unique challenge of increasing the number of undergraduate research opportunities, while maintaining the impact of individualized experiential learning. One method to address this challenge is the incorporation of a course-based research program. In this model, research projects are conducted during a conventional semester during scheduled classroom hours, with project components divided into 3 sections: (1) research preparation, including compliance requirements, hypothesis testing, experimental design, and protocol development; (2) data collection; and (3) data interpretation and dissemination. Students collect data as a team, but individually develop their own research abstract and poster to maintain a high level of experiential learning. By teaching multiple sections of this course per semester and incorporating the concepts into existing laboratories, 13.5% of students in the department completed undergraduate research in the 2018–2019 academic year (162 of 1,197 students). To monitor the quality of these experiences, student critical thinking ability was assessed using the online Critical Thinking Basic Concepts & Understanding Test (Foundation for Critical Thinking, Tomales, CA). Undergraduate research experiences increased (P = 0.028) the growth in student critical thinking score, but the type of research experience did not influence assessed skills (P > 0.281). Thus, course-based undergraduate research experiences may be an option for growing the quantity and quality of undergraduate research experience in animal science.

PurposeUsers' knowledge sharing provides valuable resources for brand community participants and is, therefore, critical for the viability of virtual brand communities. Drawing from both self-determination theory (SDT) and psychological ownership theory, the paper aims to investigate the impact of fulfillment of three basic psychological needs on brand users' knowledge-sharing behavior and examines psychological ownership as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data consisting of 316 valid responses were collected from users of Huawei Pollen Club Community. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the reliability and validity of measures, and hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping were used to test all hypotheses.FindingsFulfillment of the need for autonomy, relatedness and competence in a virtual brand community boosts users' psychological ownership and has a positive influence on their knowledge-sharing behavior. Furthermore, psychological ownership partially mediates the relationships between the fulfillment of psychological needs and knowledge-sharing behavior. In addition, the authors found that when users participate in more offline brand activities, the positive impact of the fulfillment of the need for relatedness on psychological ownership is strengthened, while the positive impact of the fulfillment of the need for autonomy on psychological ownership is weakened.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationships between fulfilling users' three basic psychological needs and their knowledge-sharing behavior through the mediating role of psychological ownership. The authors also provide insight into how offline brand activities interact with the fulfillment of psychological needs in virtual brand communities.

Since 2009, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) has hosted a new Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site entitled Back to the Future. The focus of the REU site is metallurgical engineering research with an emphasis in art and history. This latter aspect is embedded within the site as there is significant evidence that a richer learning environment can be created in engineering by establishing a context within the liberal arts, as described in the recent National Academy of Engineering's Educating the Engineer of 2020 report. In addition to being involved in research projects to develop specific technical skills in engineering, students in this program are engaged in unique supplemental activities that support learning the societal context and potential impact of their research. Specific program activities for a “holistic” approach to an engineering REU experience are described in the paper. A combination of professional development activities, societal context and diversity activities, and library activities are performed to investigate the broader impacts of student research. These activities lead to substantial opportunities for student self-reflection. Finally, assessment activities and results are also described in the paper with a focus on the development of students with different learning-styles and implications for recruiting from underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines.

Despite a growing interest in collective and distributed forms of leadership to meet the current challenges in healthcare organisations, little empirical research has focused on the manager role in studies with a collectivistic leadership ontology. To address this gap, we applied the concept of relatedness from Self-Determination Theory to analyse the work of managers across various organisational levels in a high-performing Swedish healthcare region. The analysis showed how the managers performed three types of work (contribution-, unconditionality-, and connection-work) that enabled autonomous motivation by supporting the basic psychological need for relatedness and, in turn, experienced that others were supporting their basic psychological need for relatedness. Thus, the study highlights the recursive nature of relatedness and the mutuality between organisational members. In addition, it reintroduces the role of managers into the collective leadership discourse by showing how they actively coordinate leadership towards the purpose of the organisation. The combination of Self-determination theory and collective leadership contributes to an alteration of the crucial question that managers should ask themselves, according to the Self-determination theory. Rather than asking, how can I, as a manager, create a work environment in which individuals motivate themselves, we propose the question of importance to be: How can we, as managers and employees, in this organisation, together create a work environment in which we can motivate ourselves?.

Research experiences for undergraduates have increased in availability at universities and government laboratories throughout the nation. Government agencies, universities and private donors support these activities with a variety of expectations, including providing a more skilled workforce, creating a greater emphasis on graduate education and increased retention of students in highly technical fields. While the value of these programs has been well-established, there is a paucity of empirically-based research on the various models and practices of these experiences that have the greatest impact on the students. The focus of this study was a National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program at a 4-year college in the Midwest funded for over 7 years. In a previous study we found that REU students interacted more frequently with graduate students than their faculty advisor while in the program. In this study we examined more closely the role of the graduate student mentors and how it directly influenced the REU student experience. Two data sources analyzed in this study were preand post-program surveys and semi-structured interviews, both administered to the REU students. Three main themes emerged from the data, including: 1) Academics and Careers, 2) Teaching and Learning, and 3) Building Relationships. When examining the nature of these interactions, 75% of REU students reported having influential experience with their graduate student mentors related to Academic Programs and Careers and 100% reported influential experiences related to Teaching and Learning and Building Relationships. In exploring Academic Programs and Careers further, many of the experiences were related directly to the undergraduates’ academic and career paths and exposure to graduate school and laboratory careers. In Teaching and Learning, REU students described various methods and strategies (i.e., demonstration, questioning, and discussion) the graduate students used to teach them about their research project. In regards to Building Relationships, the graduate students were described as mentors, collaborators, and supervisors. In summary, this research provides insight into role of the graduate student mentors in an REU program and how they directly influence undergraduate students experiences with engineering research, graduate school and careers while in the program.

Cyberbullying has become a worldwide phenomenon. Although the topic has drawn decent academic attention and many studies have been conducted on Chinese samples, variable interests in these studies have not captured the thinking and behavioral characteristics of Chinese people. Based on the dual filial piety model and self-determination theory, this study examined the effect of filial piety belief on cyberbullying perpetration and tested the mediation of relatedness need satisfaction. A total of 856 university students completed the questionnaires, including dual filial piety scale, relatedness need satisfaction scale and cyberbullying perpetration scale. The regression results found that reciprocal filial piety negatively predicted and authoritarian filial piety positively predicted cyberbullying perpetration. The SEM results showed that reciprocal filial piety and authoritarian filial piety impacted cyberbullying perpetration through the mediating effect of relatedness need satisfaction. Reciprocal filial piety was positively while authoritarian filial piety negatively correlated with relatedness need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction was negatively correlated with cyberbullying perpetration. The results provide a new position to understand the effect of family factors on cyberbullying perpetration by placing the topic within traditional Chinese family value.

Undergraduate research experiences are a "high impact" educational practice that confer benefits to students. However, little attention has been paid to understanding faculty motivation to mentor undergraduate students through research training programs, even as the number of programs has grown, requiring increasing numbers of faculty mentors. To address this, we introduce a conceptual model for understanding faculty motivation to mentor and test it by using empirical data to identify factors that enable and constrain faculty engagement in an undergraduate research program. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2013, we employed generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 536 faculty across 13 research institutions to examine how expected costs/benefits, dispositional factors, situational factors, previous experience, and demographic factors predicted faculty motivation to mentor. Results show that faculty who placed greater value on the opportunity to increase diversity in the academy through mentorship of underrepresented minorities were more likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Faculty who agreed more strongly that mentoring undergraduate students was time consuming and their institution's reward structures were at odds with mentoring, or who had more constrained access to undergraduate students were less likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Mid-career faculty were more likely than late-career faculty to be interested in serving as mentors. Findings have implications for improving undergraduate research experiences, since the success of training programs hinges on engaging highly motivated faculty members as mentors.

This study investigated the mechanisms through which daily work mode (i.e., working from home [WFH] vs. working at the office [WATO]) influences daily fulfillment of psychological needs. Drawing from self-determination theory (SDT), we hypothesized that employees experience higher fulfillment of the needs for autonomy and competence, and lower fulfillment of the need for relatedness, on days when they are in the WFH mode than on days when they are in the WATO mode. We further hypothesized that perceived monitoring, interruptions, and social interactions are mechanisms through which these daily effects occur. WATO prevalence (the percentage of co-workers at the office) was explored as a potential moderator. Participants (N = 136) completed an end-of-day diary for one workweek (620 observations). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that employees experienced higher daily fulfillment of the need for autonomy, and lower daily fulfillment of the need for relatedness, when working from home vs. when working at the office, and that these relations were partially mediated by perceived monitoring and positive social interactions, respectively. Daily work mode was not related to daily fulfillment of the need for competence, but was related to daily interruptions (i.e., intrusions, distractions, and breaks). WATO prevalence strengthened the relation between daily work mode and daily fulfillment of the need for relatedness. This research advances the application of SDT to hybrid work, contributing to the literature on need fulfillment. Organizations can enhance employee motivation by offering hybrid work arrangements and minimizing surveillance practices, thereby fostering autonomy and relatedness.

: The Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean/Marine Science program supports active participation by underrepresented undergraduate students in remote sensing and Ocean/Marine Science research training activities. The program is based on a model for undergraduate research programs supported by the National Science Foundation. The URE project features mentors, research projects, and professional development opportunities. It is the long-term goal of the URE in Ocean/Marine Science to provide an active research experience as an effective way to attract talented undergraduates and retain them in careers in ocean and marine science. In addition, this program supports the involvement of students from the African Countries of Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. Funds were leveraged with the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant # ANT-0944255 [2].

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) is a new National Science Foundation (NSF) program designed to attract talented undergraduates into research careers in science, engineering, and mathematics. The program is intended to provide active research experience to students while they are still in their undergraduate years. There are two categories of support under this program: REU Sites and REU Supplements. The supplement, as the name implies, is to supplement existing NSF grants to permit an investigator to hire an undergraduate assistant. Here, I will report o n the REU site award made to the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska for summer 1987.

This study examines how pedagogical strategies function as cultural processes in shaping students’ cultural awareness and social responsibility in higher education. Conceptualizing higher education as a cultural space, the study positions pedagogy as a site of meaning-making through which student development unfolds. A mixed-methods convergent design was employed to capture both the scope of developmental change and the meanings students attribute to their learning experiences. Quantitative data were collected through a survey measuring three interrelated dimensions of student development: values, worldview, and social consciousness. Qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews and students’ reflective journals, allowing analysis of lived learning experiences and student agency. Integrated analysis generated meta-inferences that illuminate the cultural dimensions of pedagogical practice. Quantitative findings indicate that pedagogical strategies supported development across all three dimensions, with more pronounced changes in worldview and social consciousness and more gradual shifts in values. Qualitative findings reveal that these changes emerged through critical reflection, questioning of prior assumptions, and connections between learning experiences and broader social structures. Overall, the findings demonstrate that pedagogical strategies contribute to cultural formation by shaping students’ interpretive frameworks and enhancing their potential for socially responsible and transformative action. The study underscores the role of pedagogical design in advancing cultural analysis and social change within higher education.

Which need satisfaction better explains the relation between parental psychological control and adolescent behavior problems: A parallel multi-mediator model based on general strain theory