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1. Bridging Trade-Offs between Traditional and Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences by Building Student Communication Skills, Identity, and Interest

   https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00156-21  

   Burmeister, Alita R.; Dickinson, Katie; Graham, Mark J. (September 2021, Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education)

   null (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT Undergraduate research plays an important role in the development of science students. The two most common forms of undergraduate research are those in traditional settings (such as internships and research-for-credit in academic research labs) and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Both of these settings offer many benefits to students, yet they have unique strengths and weaknesses that lead to trade-offs. Traditional undergraduate research experiences (UREs) offer the benefits of personalized mentorship and experience in a professional setting, which help build students’ professional communication skills, interest, and scientific identity. However, UREs can reach only a limited number of students. On the other end of the trade-off, CUREs offer research authenticity in a many-to-one classroom research environment that reaches more students. CUREs provide real research experience in a collaborative context, but CUREs are not yet necessarily equipping students with all of the experiences needed to transition into a research lab environment outside the classroom. We propose that CURE instructors can bridge trade-offs between UREs and CUREs by deliberately including learning goals and activities in CUREs that recreate the benefits of UREs, specifically in the areas of professional communication, scientific identify, and student interest. To help instructors implement this approach, we provide experience- and evidence-based guidance for student-centered, collaborative learning opportunities. 

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2. Bringing exploratory learning online: Problem-solving before instruction improves remote undergraduate physics learning

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1215975  

   DeCaro, Marci S; Isaacs, Raina A; Bego, Campbell R; Chastain, Raymond J (August 2023, Frontiers in Education)

   STEM undergraduate instructors teaching remote courses often use traditional lecture-based instruction, despite evidence that active learning methods improve student engagement and learning outcomes. One simple way to use active learning online is to incorporate exploratory learning. In exploratory learning, students explore a novel activity (e.g., problem solving) before a lecture on the underlying concepts and procedures. This method has been shown to improve learning outcomes during in-person courses, without requiring the entire course to be restructured. The current study examined whether the benefits of exploratory learning extend to a remote undergraduate physics lesson, taught synchronously online. Undergraduate physics students (N = 78) completed a physics problem-solving activity either before instruction (explore-first condition) or after (instruct-first condition). Students then completed a learning assessment of the problem-solving procedures and underlying concepts. Despite lower accuracy on the learning activity, students in the explore-first condition demonstrated better understanding on the assessment, compared to students in the instruct-first condition. This finding suggests that exploratory learning can serve as productive failure in online courses, challenging students but improving learning, compared to the more widely-used lecture-then-practice method. 

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3. Integrating cancer biology into course-based undergraduate research: A structured four-year curriculum for STEM students

   Flowers, L (July 2025, International journal of science and research)

   Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are a proven pedagogical approach to enhance undergraduate science process skills, knowledge, and competency outcomes by implementing a course-based faculty-mentored undergraduate research plan. CUREs are budget-friendly teaching and training practices that address the shortage of apprenticeship-style laboratory opportunities resulting from resource constraints. Effective CUREs implementations enable every science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major in the course, department, unit, or school to engage in real-world research activities, as CUREs integrate seamlessly into required lecture and laboratory courses within the curriculum. All CUREs encompass opportunities for undergraduates to participate in discovery-based, collaborative, iterative research projects that are important to the scientific community and society. A greater understanding of cancer development and cancer progression remains a significant challenge for society, given the number of cancer-related deaths worldwide each year. Additionally, given the diverse types of cancers that affect men and women, as well as the potential anti-tumor proliferation strategies yet to be discovered, an exploration in cancer biology presents a unique opportunity for undergraduates to produce novel findings that may lead to publications contributing to the field. This article outlines a technique for faculty to facilitate the execution of a cancer biology CUREs project that involves all student classifications. The extent to which participation in CUREs enhances undergraduate career readiness factors warrants further investigation. 

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4. Training doctoral students in critical thinking and experimental design using problem-based learning

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04569-7  

   Schaller, Michael D.; Gencheva, Marieta; Gunther, Michael R.; Weed, Scott A. (December 2023, BMC Medical Education)

   Abstract Background Traditionally, doctoral student education in the biomedical sciences relies on didactic coursework to build a foundation of scientific knowledge and an apprenticeship model of training in the laboratory of an established investigator. Recent recommendations for revision of graduate training include the utilization of graduate student competencies to assess progress and the introduction of novel curricula focused on development of skills, rather than accumulation of facts. Evidence demonstrates that active learning approaches are effective. Several facets of active learning are components of problem-based learning (PBL), which is a teaching modality where student learning is self-directed toward solving problems in a relevant context. These concepts were combined and incorporated in creating a new introductory graduate course designed to develop scientific skills (student competencies) in matriculating doctoral students using a PBL format. Methods Evaluation of course effectiveness was measured using the principals of the Kirkpatrick Four Level Model of Evaluation. At the end of each course offering, students completed evaluation surveys on the course and instructors to assess their perceptions of training effectiveness. Pre- and post-tests assessing students’ proficiency in experimental design were used to measure student learning. Results The analysis of the outcomes of the course suggests the training is effective in improving experimental design. The course was well received by the students as measured by student evaluations (Kirkpatrick Model Level 1). Improved scores on post-tests indicate that the students learned from the experience (Kirkpatrick Model Level 2). A template is provided for the implementation of similar courses at other institutions. Conclusions This problem-based learning course appears effective in training newly matriculated graduate students in the required skills for designing experiments to test specific hypotheses, enhancing student preparation prior to initiation of their dissertation research. 

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5. Analysis of Attitudinal Student Learning Benefits from a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Adapted for Online Format

   Kapil, Ambika; Gonzalez Isoba, Luis C.; Pathak, Niraj; Sikora, Arthur; and De, Santanu (April 2023, FDLA journal)

   Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are an increasingly utilized model for exposing students to research. The lack of robust assessments is a major hurdle to wider adoption of CUREs. The Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated a drastic shift of in-person courses to the online format. Using the Participant Perception Indicator (PPI) survey, we measured students’ self-reported changes in learning from such a biochemistry course at a large university in south Florida based on the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL) model. By doing this, we were able to better understand the student-benefits of CUREs and how these benefits are affected by changes in learning modalities between two relevant semesters, i.e., winter and summer of 2020. Anticipated learning outcomes (ALOs) help partially fill the gap left by the loss of physical interaction in experimental procedures. Our analysis indicated that students learned more through bioinformatic experiments compared to their wet-lab counterparts. Using pre- and post- surveys, students reported that their experience and confidence gains lagged behind their knowledge gain of technique-based skills. Students are not as confident in their understanding of techniques when unable to perform those in the physical laboratory. Thus, despite extensive pursuit of the purpose and protocols of the experiments and techniques, neither their experience nor their confidence was on par with their knowledge. This study is one of the first examples demonstrating a quantitative student-learning assessment of a CURE in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The novel assessment strategies targeted to identify gaps in learning mastery could facilitate the adoption of CUREs, fostering opportunities for all undergraduate students to vital laboratory research experiences in STEM. 

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