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1. Classroom undergraduate research experiences are a “CURE” that increases engagement by students and teachers

   https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnab036  

   Scott, Kathleen M (March 2021, FEMS Microbiology Letters)

   null (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT It is widely acknowledged that having experience conducting research is invaluable for undergraduate science students. Most undergraduate research is undertaken by students in a mentor's laboratory, but this limits the number of opportunities for students, as each laboratory can only take on a certain number of undergraduate researchers each semester. Additionally, it is also widely acknowledged that it is difficult for teachers to meet research goals while providing the best possible coursework for undergraduate students. Both of these bottlenecks can be circumvented via Classroom Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), which integrate research into the curricula of structured undergraduate classes. Students enrolled in classes that include CUREs conduct research to address open-ended questions as part of their coursework. In this commentary, I describe the many ways in which CUREs are helpful for students and teachers, as well as considerations for designing successful CUREs. I provide several examples of CUREs from Microbial Physiology laboratory classes and Genomics classes that I have taught. Results from these CUREs have been successfully integrated into many peer-reviewed publications in which the students are co-authors, which has been a boon both to students’ post-baccalaureate opportunities, as well as my research agenda. 

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2. Using Inter-institutional Collaboration to Generate Publishable Findings through Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences

   https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2021.83.7.451  

   Smith, Tanner; Broder, E. Dale; Tinghitella, Robin M.; Ingley, Spencer J. (September 2021, The American Biology Teacher)

   Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are high-impact practices that allow students to conduct research during class time. Benefits of a CURE can be maximized when integrated into a faculty member’s ongoing research. However, this can be particularly challenging for field biologists, especially when field sites are not situated near their university. Indeed, few existing CUREs are field based. One solution is to partner with a collaborator near the field site. We describe a semester-long CURE in an animal behavior class that involved collaboration among three institutions: researchers from two “distant” institutions have ongoing research at the “local” institution where the CURE took place. This model uses remote conferencing and strategic collaboration to meet all stakeholders’ needs. Undergraduate students engaged as active participants in collaborative inquiry-based work, learned in a cooperative context, and even participated in the publication process. The local principal investigator and their institution generated a high-impact course that integrated research and teaching. Likewise, the distant principal investigators were able to collect more extensive and longer-term field-based data than otherwise possible, and they gained valuable input from the local researchers that contributed to future projects. Remote collaborations open the door to international collaboration with smaller institutions, promoting greater inclusion in science. 

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3. 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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4. Students’ Experiences with the Science and Engineering Practices in a Workshop-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00035  

   Wierzchowski, Adrian; Wink, Donald (June 2024, Journal of Chemical Education)

   Holme, Thomas A (Ed.)

   This paper presents a phenomenographic investigation on students’ experiences about research and poster presentations in a workshop-based undergraduate research experience with a focus on how the experience connects to the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) of the NRC A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the principles of CUREs. This provides insight into how these structured research experiences reflect particular SEPs and also elements of scientific practice that are not captured in the SEPs as they have been formulated previously. This work showcases the importance of future applications, failure, and creativity as additional science practices necessary for students to engage in authentic science. The SEPs and the additional elements of scientific practice are related to how students experience meaningful learning in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Students highlighted the components of CUREs: importance of contributing relevant discoveries as a motivation for their research, the value of repetition and iteration in ensuring reliable and valid results, and the role of collaboration in seeing new perspectives and solving problems. As a result of presenting their results through a poster, students reported deeper understanding of their research topic, increased ability to articulate scientific concepts, and a better understanding of how to create a visually appealing poster. Students changed the vocabulary they used in their presentations to fit the knowledge level of their audience and highlighted their data in figures and explained other parts of their work in text. Moreover, they saw the poster as an outlet for their creativity. 

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5. A Model for Course-Based Undergraduate Research in First-Year Engineering

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46456  

   Davishahl, Eric (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   The Association of American Colleges and Universities identifies undergraduate research experiences as a high impact practice for increasing student success and retention in STEM majors. Most undergraduate research opportunities for community college engineering students involve partnerships with universities and typically take the form of paid summer experiences. Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) offer an alternative model with potential for significant expansion of research opportunities for students. This approach weaves research into the courses students are already required to complete for their degrees. CUREs are an equitable approach for introducing students to research because they do not demand extracurricular financial and/or time commitments beyond what students must already commit to for their courses. This paper describes an adaptable model for implementing a CURE in an introductory engineering design and computing course that features applications of low-cost microcontrollers. Students work toward course learning outcomes focused on computer programming, engineering design processes, and effective teamwork in the context of multi-term research and development efforts to design, build, and test devices for other CUREs in science lab courses as well as for other applications at the college or with community partners. Students choose from a menu of projects each term, with a typical course offering involving four to six different projects running simultaneously. Each team identifies a focused design and development scope of work within the larger context of the project they are interested in. They give weekly progress reports and gather input from their customers. The work culminates in a prototype and final report to document their work for student teams who will carry it forward in future terms. We assessed the impact of the experience on students’ beliefs about science and engineering, STEM confidence, and career aspirations using a nationally normed survey for CUREs in STEM and report results from five terms of offering this course. We find statistically significant pre-post gains on two-thirds of the survey items relating to students’ understanding of the research process and confidence in their STEM abilities. The pre-post gains are generally comparable to those reported by others who used the same survey to assess the impact of a summer research experience for community college students. These findings indicate that the benefits of student participation in this CURE model are comparable to the benefits students see by participation in summer research programs. 

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