Effective Implementation of a Classroom Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE): Testing, Optimizing, and Extending a Bioinformatics Project

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A major goal of current efforts to improve life science education is to provide opportunities for students to engage in original research and to strengthen the analytical habits of mind that come with developing scientific questions and seeking evidence to resolve them. The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) was founded to engage undergraduates in a genomics research project. While the technology is new, the basic concept is students learn by doing, and student excitement is generated when learners make novel contributions to the knowledge base. During the past 8 years over 100 faculty have partnered with members of the Biology Department, Computer Science Department, and The Genome Institute at Washington University (WU) to bring a bioinformatics research experience into the curriculum at their schools. This project capitalizes on the diversity of partners and curricular approaches in the GEP and will identify best practices for bioinformatics-based Classroom Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). The project will also develop, test and disseminate a curriculum aimed toward the recruitment and retention of beginning students.The GEP provides undergraduates with an opportunity to participate in a large-scale genomics research project, currently on the structure and function of the dot chromosome of Drosophila. Students engage in sequence improvement and annotation of the dot chromosomes from different species, characterizing the genes and deciphering the evolution of the chromosome. The goals of this project are to (1) identify and test strategies to maximize the effectiveness of a bioinformatics-based CURE, in the process generating a better understanding of how research experiences impact student learning and self-identification as a scientist, and (2) develop a modified version of the CURE curriculum and engagement strategy to make bioinformatics-based genome research more accessible to beginning college/university students. Results will be assessed using a mix of student quizzes, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and measures of persistence coupled with analysis of faculty journals, surveys, interviews, and focused discussions. Lessons learned should contribute to foundational knowledge on how to help our students to acquire the intellectual habits and self-confidence that lead to success in the sciences.