By Jacqueline McLaughlin
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), by definition, are learning experiences in which whole classes of students address a research question or problem with unknown outcomes or solutions that are of interest to external stakeholders (Dolan 2016). They were devised to address a major goal of national reform efforts in life science education to expand research involving undergraduate students (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] 2011; National Research Council 2003).
Numerous studies have shown the benefits of CUREs to students: enhanced self-confidence in scientific thinking and the development of scientific process skills (Szteinberg and Weaver 2013; Brownell et al. 2015), increased inclusivity in science for unrepresented populations (Bangera and Brownell 2014), and improved persistence in science and medicine (Hanauer et al. 2012). CUREs also benefit faculty with several studies demonstrating closer integration of teaching and research, positive influence on promotion and tenure, publication of research in both science and education journals, and greater impact of research programs. Additionally, faculty benefited by identifying, recruiting, and training students to join their research labs, and by enhanced fulfillment in teaching itself (Fukami 2013; Kowalski, Hoops, and Johnson 2016; Shortlidge, Bangera, and Brownell 2016).
To date, CUREs have primarily been utilized in undergraduate laboratory courses. There is now a growing consensus about what constitutes a CURE in the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, math, earth, and planetary science) laboratory. Such CUREs have five defining characteristics: 1) There is an element of discovery, so that students are working with novel data. 2) Iteration is built into the lab. 3) Students engage in a high level of collaboration. 4) Students learn scientific practices. 5) The topic is broadly relevant so that it could potentially be published and/or of interest to a group outside the class (Auchincloss et al. 2014).
While there is much diversity in the research laboratory topics explored in CUREs, two distinct CURE models have emerged, both revealing student and faculty benefits: (1) a local model where faculty members develop and teach a CURE stemming from their own research interests (e.g. Brownell et al. 2012; Ward et al. 2014) and (2) a national model where a CURE is developed by an individual faculty member and then is expanded and taught by a network of faculty (e.g., Lopatto et al. 2008; Jordan et al. 2014).
A great way to develop a local CURE is for faculty, instructors, and/or advanced graduate students to identify a way to scale up their own research interests and embed this into a lab course. A proven framework that orients and guides an instructor through the process of designing and implementing a CURE that possesses the above listed five elements is presented in Figure 1 and example transformations using this model in Table 1. Per this framework, students work in small groups to learn research techniques; ask novel questions grounded in the scientific literature; design their own experiments; test their hypotheses using the scientific method and the reflective process of progressive problem solving; interpret their data; and disseminate their work in a professional scientific manner by means of poster presentations, oral academic talks, or scientific papers. To achieve this, students receive individualized mentorship which is essential to knowledge integration (Linn et al. 2015).
Figure 1: The “Four-step CURE Pedagogical Framework” used to develop and implement CURES in CHANCE field courses.
| Level | Lab | Topic | Location | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshmen Sophomore | Introductory Cell Biology for Majors | Growth Kinetics of Yeast | 4-year college | Goudsouzian, McLaughlin, and Slee 2017 |
| Freshmen Sophomore | Introductory Cell Biology for Majors | Cancer Cell Transformation | 4-year college | McLaughlin and Coyle 2016 |
| Honors | Introductory biology for nonmajors | Microalgae as a Source of Biofuel | 2-year college | Goedhart and McLaughlin 2016 |
| Sophomore | Developmental biology for majors | Drug Induced Arrthymias in the Developing Vertebrate Heart | 4-year college | McLaughlin and Patel 2017 |
Faculty looking to carry out pedagogical research on the effectiveness of a local CURE that they develop and implement should work to fill the present gaps Faculty looking to carry out pedagogical research on the effectiveness of a local CURE that they develop and implement should work to fill the present gaps in the literature. To date, there are few studies that make use of valid and reliable measures of student outcomes (beyond Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) surveys) or that include study designs and methods that control for student-level differences. Additional research is needed that makes use of theory and methods from the social sciences to more fully understand how CUREs operate; how students and faculty benefit from this unique learning environment; and how challenges to adopting, implementing, and sustaining CUREs can be overcome (Dolan 2016).
References
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Auchincloss, Lisa Corwin, Sandra L. Laursen, Janet L. Branchaw, Kevin Eagan, Mark Graham, David I. Hanauer, Gwendolyn Lawrie, et al. 2014. “Assessment of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report.” CBE—Life Sciences Education 13 (1): 29–40. http://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-01-0004
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Fukami, Tadashi. 2013. “Integrating Inquiry-Based Teaching with Faculty Research.” Science 339(6127): 1536–37. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229850
Goedhart, Christine M., and Jacqueline S. McLaughlin. 2016. “Student Scientists: Transforming the Undergraduate Biology Lab into a Research Experience.” The American Biology Teacher 78(6): 502–8. http://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2016.78.6.502
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Mclaughlin, Jacqueline S., Mit Patel, and Joshua B. Slee. 2020. “A CURE Using Cell Culture-Based Research Enhances Career Ready Skills in Undergraduates in Preparation to Enter the American Workforce.” Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (Spur) (under review).
McLaughlin, Jacqueline S., and Mit Patel. 2017. "An authentic research experience for undergraduates in the developmental biology and physiology laboratory using the chick embryonic heart." The American Biology Teacher 79(8): 645-653. http://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2017.79.8.645
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