Creating Effective Undergraduate Research Programs in Science

Creating Effective Undergraduate Research Programs in Science PDF Author: Roman Taraban
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
This is the first comprehensive, data-based study of the benefits to students who actively participate in authentic science research programs. The book features contributors from a variety of institutions who bring together studies of undergraduate research programs. They focus on identifying the successful elements of each program, and then draw valuable conclusions about the effects those programs have on the students. Providing much-needed information about the organization and administration of programs and the challenges to create and sustain viable research opportunities, this essential resource: Features a variety of perspectives, including those of external evaluators, longtime program directors, participants, and administrators. Identifies the characteristics of effective programs and the kinds of gains that faculty and administrators can expect from them. Examines the barriers to research opportunities, including lack of departmental and institutional resources and inadequate faculty compensation. Can be used as a primer for creating programs and for determining their effectiveness.

Developing and Maintaining a Successful Undergraduate Research Program

Developing and Maintaining a Successful Undergraduate Research Program PDF Author: Timothy W. Chapp
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780841229297
Category : Research
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description


Undergraduate Research for Student Engagement and Learning

Undergraduate Research for Student Engagement and Learning PDF Author: Joseph L. Murray
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317432266
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
There is growing interest in undergraduate research, given its benefits to students, faculty members, and the institution. For higher education scholars, faculty, and administrators, this book logically synthesizes the literature to demonstrate its impact on facilitation of learning and engagement and to chart a course for expanding and improving these opportunities. This book provides a comprehensive overview of undergraduate research as a "high-impact practice" in postsecondary education, from its theoretical underpinnings and research-base, to student participation and faculty incentives. This important resource offers analysis of the current state of undergraduate research, explores challenges and unresolved questions affecting undergraduate research, and provides implications for research and practice.

Undergraduate Research in the Sciences

Undergraduate Research in the Sciences PDF Author: Sandra Laursen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470625635
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Undergraduate research enhances the learning experience of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Undergraduate Research in the Sciences offers a groundbreaking and practical research-based book on the topic. This comprehensive resource addresses how undergraduate research benefits undergraduate participants, including those populations that are underrepresented in the sciences; compares its benefits with other types of educational activities and experiences; and assesses its long-term value to students and faculty as both a scholarly and educational endeavor. In laying out the processes by which these benefits are achieved, this important book can assist faculty and program directors with practical guidance for design and evaluation of both new and existing undergraduate research programs. Praise for Undergraduate Research in the Sciences "This meticulous, definitive study of the effects of working with a faculty member on research as an undergraduate confirms the overall value of the experience by taking us deep into the minds and actions of participants—both faculty and students. As a result we now have many more compelling reasons to get more students involved with research mentors and ways to optimize the benefits for all parties."—George D. Kuh, Chancellor's Professor and director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research "This timely book offers a unique, comprehensive analysis of undergraduate research in the sciences, based on the voices of college students and faculty mentors who have participated in these voyages of discovery. As our nation struggles to train more scientists, this book will be a valuable resource for designing undergraduate research experiences that can build our country's capacity for discovery and innovation."—Arthur B. Ellis, Vice Chancellor for Research, University of California, San Diego "The text is written in a lucid and engaging style and will be a valuable guide to policymakers, academic administrators, and faculty members who want to find ways to engage undergraduates in the 'real work' of investigation."—Judith A. Ramaley, president, Winona State University "This book is a 'must-read' for anyone who directs undergraduates in research. It presents an impressive and rigorous body of work that brings fresh insights into the field of undergraduate research. The next generation of scientists will benefit greatly from the findings and recommendations!"—Jo Handelsman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Yale University

High-Impact Practices in Online Education

High-Impact Practices in Online Education PDF Author: Kathryn E. Linder
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100097698X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
This volume offers the first comprehensive guide to how high-impact practices (HIPs) are being implemented in online environments and how they can be adjusted to meet the needs of online learners. This multi-disciplinary approach will assist faculty and administrators to effectively implement HIPs in distance education courses and online programs.With a chapter devoted to each of the eleven HIPs, this collection offers guidance that takes into account the differences between e-learners and traditional on-campus students.A primary goal of High-Impact Practices Online is to share the ways in which HIPs may need to be amended to meet the needs of online learners. Through specific examples and practical suggestions in each chapter, readers are introduced to concrete strategies for transitioning HIPs to the online environment that can be utilized across a range of disciplines and institution types. Each chapter of High-Impact Practices Online also references the most recent and relevant literature on each HIP so that readers are brought up to date on what makes online HIPs successful.The book provides guidance on how best to implement HIPs to increase retention and completion for online learners.

Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses

Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses PDF Author: Robert C. Hauhart
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118761871
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Enrich your students and the institution with a high-impact practice Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses is a practical, research-backed guide to creating a course that is valuable for both the student and the school. The book covers the design, administration, and teaching of capstone courses throughout the undergraduate curriculum, guiding departments seeking to add a capstone course, and allowing those who have one to compare it to others in the discipline. The ideas presented in the book are supported by regional and national surveys that help the reader understand what's common, what's exceptional, what works, and what doesn't within capstone courses. The authors also provide additional information specific to different departments across the curriculum, including STEM, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, education, and professional programs. Identified as a high-impact practice by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities' LEAP initiative, capstone courses culminate a student's final college years in a project that integrates and applies what they've learned. The project takes the form of a research paper, a performance, a portfolio, or an exhibit, and is intended to showcase the student's very best work as a graduating senior. This book is a guide to creating for your school or department a capstone course that ties together undergraduate learning in a way that enriches the student and adds value to the college experience. Understand what makes capstone courses valuable for graduating students Discover the factors that make a capstone course effective, and compare existing programs, both within academic disciplines and across institutions Learn administrative and pedagogical techniques that increase the course's success Examine discipline-specific considerations for design, administration, and instruction Capstones are generally offered in departmental programs, but are becoming increasingly common in general education as well. Faculty and administrators looking to add a capstone course or revive an existing one need to understand what constitutes an effective program. Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses provides an easily digested summary of existing research, and offers expert guidance on making your capstone course successful.

Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM Students

Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM Students PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452805
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
Undergraduate research has a rich history, and many practicing researchers point to undergraduate research experiences (UREs) as crucial to their own career success. There are many ongoing efforts to improve undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education that focus on increasing the active engagement of students and decreasing traditional lecture-based teaching, and UREs have been proposed as a solution to these efforts and may be a key strategy for broadening participation in STEM. In light of the proposals questions have been asked about what is known about student participation in UREs, best practices in UREs design, and evidence of beneficial outcomes from UREs. Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM Students provides a comprehensive overview of and insights about the current and rapidly evolving types of UREs, in an effort to improve understanding of the complexity of UREs in terms of their content, their surrounding context, the diversity of the student participants, and the opportunities for learning provided by a research experience. This study analyzes UREs by considering them as part of a learning system that is shaped by forces related to national policy, institutional leadership, and departmental culture, as well as by the interactions among faculty, other mentors, and students. The report provides a set of questions to be considered by those implementing UREs as well as an agenda for future research that can help answer questions about how UREs work and which aspects of the experiences are most powerful.

Evaluating The Undergraduate Research Experience

Evaluating The Undergraduate Research Experience PDF Author: Gabriel M. Della-Piana
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623965438
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
The current movement toward more and better research experiences for undergraduates has spread across disciplines in the arts, humanities, science, mathematics, and engineering beyond the “research university” to the full range of post-secondary institutions of higher education. Along with this spread of practice is the need to take stock of the programs and make use of evaluation to inform program improvement and to communicate an understanding of the worth of the program to funders, institutional administrators, faculty/mentors, and students. The main aim of the book is to provide a practical guide for planning an evaluation of an undergraduate experience program. The intent is to enable a program director to plan with a team consisting of an internal evaluator and program staff, a systematic and rigorous study of the program (processes, products, organizational dynamics, etc.) including the gathering and analysis of information that is context-sensitive, and connected to an argument and justification for descriptive, causal, and practice-useful claims. It is useful for a program director to contract with an evaluator. It is specific to the field of undergraduate research experience while being useful for other fields. It places strong emphasis on how to find and specify evaluation questions that yield information that has high leverage for program improvement and demonstrating the effectiveness and worth of the program. A measure of attitude toward evaluation allows you to reflect on your leanings evaluation orientations such as formative/summative, process/product, preordinate goals/emergent goals, and other characteristics of approaches to and confidence in evaluation. The main readership is targeted to directors and developers of undergraduate research experience programs. While the examples are mainly in the undergraduate research experience, it will be found useful for instructors of courses in project evaluation and beginning level evaluators. The usefulness of the book is enhanced by a checklist in the final chapter that integrates the approaches from throughout the book referencing the earlier discussions.

Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum

Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309380898
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
Students who participate in scientific research as undergraduates report gaining many benefits from the experience. However, undergraduate research done independently under a faculty member's guidance or as part of an internship, regardless of its individual benefits, is inherently limited in its overall impact. Faculty members and sponsoring companies have limited time and funding to support undergraduate researchers, and most institutions have available (or have allocated) only enough human and financial resources to involve a small fraction of their undergraduates in such experiences. Many more students can be involved as undergraduate researchers if they do scientific research either collectively or individually as part of a regularly scheduled course. Course-based research experiences have been shown to provide students with many of the same benefits acquired from a mentored summer research experience, assuming that sufficient class time is invested, and several different potential advantages. In order to further explore this issue, the Division on Earth and Life Studies and the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education organized a convocation meant to examine the efficacy of engaging large numbers of undergraduate students who are enrolled in traditional academic year courses in the life and related sciences in original research, civic engagement around scientific issues, and/or intensive study of research methods and scientific publications at both two- and four-year colleges and universities. Participants explored the benefits and costs of offering students such experiences and the ways that such efforts may both influence and be influenced by issues such as institutional governance, available resources, and professional expectations of faculty. Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum summarizes the presentations and discussions from this event.

Discipline-Based Education Research

Discipline-Based Education Research PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309254116
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
The National Science Foundation funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and learning with deep knowledge of discipline-specific science content. It describes the discipline-specific difficulties learners face and the specialized intellectual and instructional resources that can facilitate student understanding. Discipline-Based Education Research is based on a 30-month study built on two workshops held in 2008 to explore evidence on promising practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This book asks questions that are essential to advancing DBER and broadening its impact on undergraduate science teaching and learning. The book provides empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learning in the sciences, explores the extent to which this research currently influences undergraduate instruction, and identifies the intellectual and material resources required to further develop DBER. Discipline-Based Education Research provides guidance for future DBER research. In addition, the findings and recommendations of this report may invite, if not assist, post-secondary institutions to increase interest and research activity in DBER and improve its quality and usefulness across all natural science disciples, as well as guide instruction and assessment across natural science courses to improve student learning. The book brings greater focus to issues of student attrition in the natural sciences that are related to the quality of instruction. Discipline-Based Education Research will be of interest to educators, policy makers, researchers, scholars, decision makers in universities, government agencies, curriculum developers, research sponsors, and education advocacy groups.