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1. Students’ Emotions, Perceived Coping, and Outcomes in Response to Research-Based Challenges and Failures in Two Sequential CUREs

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-05-0131  

   Corwin, Lisa A.; Ramsey, Michael E.; Vance, Eric A.; Woolner, Elizabeth; Maiden, Stevie; Gustafson, Nina; Harsh, Joseph A. (June 2022, CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   Shortlidge, Erin (Ed.)

   The ability to navigate scientific obstacles is widely recognized as a hallmark of a scientific disposition and is one predictor of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics persistence for early-career scientists. However, the development of this competency in undergraduate research has been largely underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining introductory students’ emotional and behavioral responses to research-related challenges and failures that occur in two sequential research-based courses. We describe commonly reported emotions, coping responses, and perceived outcomes and examine relationships between these themes, student demographics, and course enrollment. Students commonly experience frustration, confusion, and disappointment when coping with challenges and failures. Yet the predominance of students report coping responses likely to be adaptive in academic contexts despite experiencing negative emotions. Being enrolled in the second course of a research-based course sequence was related to several shifts in response to challenges during data collection, including less reporting of confusion and fewer reports of learning to be cautious from students. Overall, students in both the first and second courses reported many positive outcomes indicating improvements in their ability to cope with challenge and failure. We assert that educators can improve research-based educational courses by scaffolding students’ research trials, failures, and iterations to support students’ perseverance. 

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2. Length of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) impacts student learning and attitudinal outcomes: A study of the Malate dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC)

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282170  

   DeChenne-Peters, Sue Ellen; Rakus, John F.; Parente, Amy D.; Mans, Tamara L.; Eddy, Rebecca; Galport, Nicole; Koletar, Courtney; Provost, Joseph J.; Bell, J. Ellis; Bell, Jessica K. (March 2023, PLOS ONE)

   Rumain, Barbara T. (Ed.)

   Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are laboratory courses that integrate broadly relevant problems, discovery, use of the scientific process, collaboration, and iteration to provide more students with research experiences than is possible in individually mentored faculty laboratories. Members of the national Malate dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC) investigated the differences in student impacts between traditional laboratory courses (control), a short module CURE within traditional laboratory courses (mCURE), and CUREs lasting the entire course (cCURE). The sample included approximately 1,500 students taught by 22 faculty at 19 institutions. We investigated course structures for elements of a CURE and student outcomes including student knowledge, student learning, student attitudes, interest in future research, overall experience, future GPA, and retention in STEM. We also disaggregated the data to investigate whether underrepresented minority (URM) outcomes were different from White and Asian students. We found that the less time students spent in the CURE the less the course was reported to contain experiences indicative of a CURE. The cCURE imparted the largest impacts for experimental design, career interests, and plans to conduct future research, while the remaining outcomes were similar between the three conditions. The mCURE student outcomes were similar to control courses for most outcomes measured in this study. However, for experimental design, the mCURE was not significantly different than either the control or cCURE. Comparing URM and White/Asian student outcomes indicated no difference for condition, except for interest in future research. Notably, the URM students in the mCURE condition had significantly higher interest in conducting research in the future than White/Asian students. 

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3. Online citizen science in higher education courses

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70352  

   Cotey, Stacy R; Dunbar‐Wallis, Amy K; Golumbic, Yaela N; Mehrotra, Pankaj; Beamer, David A; Vance‐Chalcraft, Heather D (July 2025, Ecosphere)

   Climate change and biodiversity loss require us to engage the next generation of scientists in addressing global ecological issues. Introducing undergraduate students to citizen science allows them to learn scientific processes and content while contributing to real‐world applications. We conducted a systematic review of literature to (1) identify what types of undergraduate courses and institutions use citizen science, (2) list the projects and platforms that have been implemented in online courses in undergraduate education, (3) examine how students participated in the projects through online courses, and (4) summarize learning objectives and reported benefits of student participation. In all, 44 studies about the use of citizen science in undergraduate online courses were found in 25 papers in the published literature. The most common projects consisted of classification of species or natural history (e.g., iNaturalist), which could be done mainly online but with data collection completed at a location available to the student. Citizen science projects were incorporated into multiple course formats (e.g., lecture, lab) and class sizes, and students were most frequently asked to collect and submit data. The most frequently reported learning outcomes included increased student interest/engagement, improved appreciation for the relevance of science to the “real world,” and practice using the scientific process, but rigorous assessment data were lacking in papers. The use of citizen science in online courses and institutions appears to be increasing, and we encourage faculty using these approaches with students to publish on their efforts, providing details about their implementation, assessment, and course context. 

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4. Mastery Learning in Undergraduate Engineering Courses: A Systematic Review

   Perez Leon, C.; Verdin, D. (August 2022, Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education)

   This theory paper focuses on understanding how mastery learning has been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses through a systematic review. Academic environments that promote learning, mastery, and continuous improvement rather than inherent ability can promote performance and persistence. Scholarship has argued that students could achieve mastery of the course material when the time available to master concepts and the quality of instruction was made appropriate to each learner. Increasing time to demonstrate mastery involves a course structure that allows for repeated attempts on learning assessments (i.e., homework, quizzes, projects, exams). Students are not penalized for failed attempts but are rewarded for achieving eventual mastery. The mastery learning approach recognizes that mastery is not always achieved on first attempts and learning from mistakes and persisting is fundamental to how we learn. This singular concept has potentially the greatest impact on students’ mindset in terms of their belief they can be successful in learning the course material. A significant amount of attention has been given to mastery learning courses in secondary education and mastery learning has shown an exceptionally positive effect on student achievement. However, implementing mastery learning in an undergraduate course can be a cumbersome process as it requires instructors to significantly restructure their assignments and exams, evaluation process, and grading practices. In light of these challenges, it is unclear the extent to which mastery learning has been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses or if similar positive effects can be found. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to elucidate, how in the U.S., (1) has mastery learning been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses from 1990 to the present time and (2) the student outcomes that have been reported for these implementations. Using the systematic process outlined by Borrego et al. (2014), we surveyed seven databases and a total of 584 articles consisting of engineering and non-engineering courses were identified. We focused our review on studies that were centered on applying the mastery learning pedagogical method in undergraduate engineering courses. All peer-reviewed and practitioner articles and conference proceedings that were within our scope were included in the synthetization phase of the review. Most articles were excluded based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twelve studies focused on applying mastery learning to undergraduate engineering courses. The mastery learning method was mainly applied on midterm exams, few studies used the method on homework assignments, and no study applied the method to the final exam. Students reported an increase in learning as a result of applying mastery learning. Several studies reported that students’ grades in a traditional final exam were not affected by mastery learning. Students’ self-reported evaluation of the course suggests that students prefer the mastery learning approach over traditional methods. Although a clear consensus on the effect of the mastery learning approach could not be achieved as each article applied different survey instruments to capture students’ perspectives. Responses to open-ended questions have mixed results. Two studies report more positive student comments on opened-ended questions, while one study report receiving more negative comments regarding the implementation of the mastery learning method. In the full paper we more thoroughly describe the ways in which mastery learning was implemented along with clear examples of common and divergent student outcomes across the twelve studies. 

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5. What should students be able to do? Helping students recognize professional skills in our courses

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad035  

   Yahnke, Christopher_J; Lanier, Hayley; Flaherty, Elizabeth_A; Varner, Johanna; Munroe, Karen; Duggan, Jennifer_M; Erb, Liesl; Dizney, Laurie; Connors, Patrice_K; Powell, ed., Roger (April 2023, Journal of Mammalogy)

   Abstract While the traditional goals of undergraduate courses are often content-based, the development of career-readiness and professional skills, such as those listed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, are increasingly recognized as important learning outcomes. As Mammalogy courses embrace more hands-on learning activities, they provide the opportunity to embed these professional skills, which are directly relevant to many careers in science. For example, many Mammalogy courses may include projects that incorporate experimental design and data analysis that focus on quantitative literacy, in addition to technical skills including small mammal trapping and handling, or preparing voucher specimens, that focus on problem-solving and attention to detail. Here, we review the professional skills that can be developed through a Mammalogy course and evaluate evidence-based approaches to build those skills into our courses. One approach, using Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), provides opportunities for both student skill development and instructor research program development. Because they invite students to participate in authentic scientific inquiry—from study design and data collection, to analysis and reporting of results—students participating in CUREs reported significant gains in their comfort with several important professional skills, including conducting field procedures, formulating and analyzing data, normalizing failure, and attempting new procedures on their own. Finally, we review the literature to demonstrate how active learning approaches inherent in CUREs can help students to build familiarity with technologies and techniques for collecting and assessing data from wild mammal populations, as well as to build important professional skills such as teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and written and oral communication. 

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