Integrating Primary Research into the Teaching Lab: Benefits and Impacts of a One-Semester CURE for Physical Chemistry
Integrating Primary Research into the Teaching Lab: Benefits and Impacts of a One-Semester CURE for Physical Chemistry
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DOI：
10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00855
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发表时间：
2018-06-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Reddish, Michael J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Williams, Leah C.;Reddish, Michael J.
许多化学实验室练习都遵循给定的协议并具有已知的结果。这些传统实验室很少能够准确地向学生展示研究的进行方式、研究中涉及的科学实践以及开发和实施独立项目的所有权。一些实验室改革试图克服这些限制，包括创建基于课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）。 CURE 设计旨在通过让学生进行结果未知的新颖实验来模拟教学实验室中的真实研究。在本文中，我们描述了针对高级物理化学实验室课程的 CURE 实施。我们的学生利用分子动力学模拟、等温滴定量热法和停流动力学进行了新颖的研究，以研究配体与人血清白蛋白的结合。我们通过混合方法研究了 CURE 实验室重新设计的效果。我们使用 Lopatto 及其同事进行的 CURE 调查来记录学生在课程要素和收益方面的感知收获。我们还对学生进行了采访，以深入了解他们在 CURE 实验室的体验。我们的研究结果表明，在高级化学实验室中实施 CURE 会产生与其他 CURE 体验（通常发生在入门级）相似的结果，可以标准化本科生研究培训，并可以提高学生对实验室工作的所有权。我们的结论是，为高级化学课程开发 CURE 课程是加强本科生实验室培训和增加学生研究经验的有效方法。
Many chemistry laboratory exercises follow a given protocol with known results. Such traditional laboratories rarely give students an accurate representation of how research is conducted, the scientific practices involved in research, and the ownership that accompanies developing and carrying out an independent project. Several laboratory reforms have sought to overcome these limitations, including the creation of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). The CURE design is meant to emulate authentic research in the teaching laboratory by having students perform novel experiments with unknown results. In this article, we describe our implementation of a CURE for an upper-level physical chemistry laboratory course. Our students carried out novel research using molecular dynamics simulations, isothermal titration calorimetry, and stopped-flow kinetics to study ligand binding to the protein human serum albumin. We studied the effects of the CURE laboratory redesign via a mixed-methods approach. We use the CURE Survey by Lopatto and colleagues to record students' perceived gains in course elements and benefits. We also conducted student interviews to gain an in-depth view of their experience with the CURE laboratory. Our findings suggest that implementing a CURE in an upper-level chemistry laboratory results in similar outcomes to other CURE experiences (which most often occur at the introductory level), can standardize undergraduate research training, and can increase student ownership of laboratory work. We conclude that developing CURE courses for upper-level chemistry courses is an effective way of enhancing undergraduate laboratory training and increasing student experience with research.