This project will create a network of people and programs that are creating course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) in biology as a means of helping students understand core concepts in biology, develop core scientific competencies, and become active, contributing members of the scientific community. The network will create a catalogue of CURE projects and resources. The network will also provide opportunities for participants to discuss issues such as how to document student outcomes such as learning, changes in attitudes toward and interest in science, and changes in engagement in the scientific community, as well as mechanisms for broadening participation in course-based research activities and ethical issues such as who has access to and ownership of CURE-generated data.
Intellectual Merit: The project will assemble individuals with diverse expertise (instructors, researchers, information technology specialists, faculty development / curriculum specialists, education researchers) who represent diverse institutions and varied CURE projects in terms of data type (genomic, phenotypic, ecological). These individuals will address the questions noted above through meetings of the entire group and subnetwork teams as well as through the use of social networking tools. Mechanisms will be built into the network activities to seek input from undergraduates and scientific societies.
Broader Impacts: The project will produce a clearinghouse website, which will be a single "go-to" location for finding and publicizing CURE information. It will also spawn new collaborations aimed at improving CUREs and expanding their implementation, and will help publicize existing CURE resources so that other faculty across the country can understand the potential of designing such approaches in their own laboratory courses but can avoid some of the pitfalls in doing so.
