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ABSTRACT We previously developed and assessed “The Art of Microbiology,” a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) which uses agar art to spur student experimentation, where we found student outcomes related to science persistence. However, these outcomes were not correlated with specific activities and gains were not reported from more than one class. In this study, we explored which of the three major activities in this CURE—agar art, experimental design, or poster presentations—affected student engagement and outcomes associated with improved understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The Art of Microbiology was studied in three microbiology teaching laboratories: at a research university with either the CURE developer (18 students) or a CURE implementer (39 students) and at a community college with a CURE implementer (25 students). Our quasi-experimental mixed methods study used pre/post-NOS surveys and semi-structured class-wide interviews. Community college students had lower baseline NOS responses but had gains in NOS similar to research university students post-CURE. We surveyed research university students following each major activity using the Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT) survey but did not find a correlation between NOS and activity engagement. Of the three activities, we found the highest engagement with agar art, especially in the CURE developer class. Interviewed students in all classes described agar art as a fun, relevant, and low-stakes assignment. This work contributes to the evidence supporting agar art as a curricular tool, especially in ways that can add research to classrooms in and beyond the research university.
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Exploring engineering students’ reflections of their childhood experiences: The intersection of structure and curiosity
Explorations into students’ narratives of their pre-college making pathways inform our understanding of the nature of early making experiences prior to entry into undergraduate engineering programs. Through our student interviews, four pathways were identified based on the nature of how the activities were structured and the outcomes of the activities. Each of the two constructs identified were further differentiated into two poles identified as structured activities versus unstructured activities and specific curiosity versus diversive curiosity. Self-directed, unstructured activities are ones where individuals identified that their own independent work was performed with a great deal of autonomy in both how and what was explored. With structured activities, the individuals did not self-impose or seek out the activity, but rather, the activities were laid out by a mentor or expert. Specific curiosity is where a clear path in the form of a certain activity is started to gain a particular knowledge or skill. With curiosity of the unknown, however, an activity was undertaken for the pure exploration or interest with no identified outcome or specific knowledge gained. Using these definitions, the four pathways that emerged were structured-specific, unstructured-diversive, and unstructured-specific and structured-diversive. From the interviews collected and analyzed in this research from self-identified makers, three out of the four pathways are identified: structured-specific, unstructured-diversive, and unstructured-specific. Structured-diversive is absent in our dataset. We propose that the absence of structured-unknown activities is a result of the population interviewed rather than its absence among pre-college individuals.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1733678
- PAR ID:
- 10356951
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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