This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing evidence-based teaching practices across four laboratory courses: chemistry, biology, food science, and animal science. National reports have endorsed replacing standard laboratory courses with inquiry-based research experiences that engage students in doing authentic scientific work. Such opportunities are known to improve student retention in STEM. For example, the value of early opportunities for undergraduates to engage in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is widely recognized. This project will support development and implementation of specific CURE modules in introductory courses across the four disciplines. Six faculty members will create interdisciplinary CURE modules that will involve students in authentic research experiences and help them develop quantitative skills needed to work with large data sets. Students will pursue a primary research project and rotate between instructors and labs for short modules, thus deepening their experiences within the broader interdisciplinary CURE project. The innovative design of linking courses from different disciplines through CUREs has the potential to help students develop broader scientific perspectives about research.
This project will develop, integrate, and test CURE modules that include interdisciplinary collaborations and unique field-based research on plant cultivation, purification of molecules from the plants, and examination of the molecules’ effects in laboratory studies. These CUREs will serve more than 200 diverse students, with the potential to have significant positive impact on their success and retention in STEM. The instructors will conduct educational research to investigate the impact of the CUREs on student participants, outcomes of students in CURE-enriched courses versus those in the control sections with traditional labs, and the elements of the experience that had the most impact on student outcomes. Four research questions will be used to measure the effectiveness of CUREs on student academic outcomes and persistence in STEM: 1) To what extent does participation in an interdisciplinary CURE affect academic achievement and retention in STEM? 2) Do students who participate in a CURE have greater improvements in scientific literacy and scientific reasoning skills compared to students in traditional courses? 3) To what extent does participation in an interdisciplinary CURE affect students’ science identity, science motivation and attitudes, and understanding of scientific community values? and 4) How do students’ perceptions of laboratory course design relate to their overall performance? Answers to these questions will contribute to the body of knowledge about the value of research experiences in undergraduate education, and specifically about a CURE model that involves a research project that spans disciplinary boundaries. The project intends to increase the students’ academic success and graduation rates and serve as a model for interdisciplinary approaches to active learning and course-based research. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
