Psychology - Cognitive (73), Science and Technology Assessments (91)
The personal and professional benefits of completing an undergraduate research project are varied and complex. Students involved in undergraduate research are more likely to complete their undergraduate education and go on to graduate school than students who did not have a research experience; they also self-report intellectual gains. This project is taking the assessment of student learning in undergraduate research to the next level by documenting the intellectual gains experienced by students as a result of participating in mentored research, and by exploring the relative importance of the mentoring relationship and its effect on student intellectual gain. Exactly which components and to what extent do these different components of the research environment bring about intellectual growth--is it the process of answering a unique question or the mentoring that students receive as they undertake their projects?
Using an electronic portfolio tool, ePortfolio, from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), the project is collecting data from students and faculty members at 19 different campuses. Project members are examining student intellectual skills before and after the research experience in three key principles of undergraduate learning: core communication and quantitative skills, critical thinking, and integration and the application of knowledge. Students construct an electronic learning portfolio to document evidence from undergraduate research, connect their evidence to the selected principles, and collaborate with faculty mentors to assess and understand their own intellectual growth as a result of participation in research. Students also complete on-line questionnaires about the mentoring environment, and demographic information. The final result of this project will be the creation of an assessment platform to document student learning as a result of a mentored undergraduate research program that will be widely available to the academic community across the nation.
