Evaluating the Impact of CURE Course Design Characteristics on Student Interest, Engagement, and Persistence

在美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源（IUSE: EHR）的支持下，该项目旨在通过研究学生如何从基于课程的本科研究经验（CUREs）中受益，为国家利益服务。有证据表明，早期的、真实的研究经历比传统的学习环境对大学生的STEM学习、动机和学术计划有更积极的影响。不幸的是，本科生研究的机会相对较少。虽然传统的本科实验课程可以支持大量的学生，但它们通常不让学生参与发现和迭代，而这是真正的研究的特征。为更多学生提供更多获得“真实”研究经验的解决方案是CURE。CUREs将教师研究实验室的许多真实特征与课程环境的更大容量相结合。这种可扩展性和真实性导致了CURE项目的增长和在高校的扩展。然而，随着CURE产品的传播，对它们的热情并没有与一致的评估方法或教育理论基础相匹配。因此，需要进行研究，以帮助教师了解治愈如何起作用，何时治愈最有效，以及谁会受益。通过提供证据和工具来提高课程设置中经历的研究机会的质量，解决文献中的这一差距将有助于改善美国的本科STEM教育。反过来，获得这些改进的研究机会可以增加潜在的STEM专业学生的保留率，这些学生很容易在学术生涯的早期退出专业，包括那些来自STEM领域代表性不足的群体的学生。虽然对一些治疗前/治疗后的学生结果进行了评估，但尚未记录学生对各种治疗课程设计特征的体验和反应，例如迭代实验和处理定义不清的复杂任务。此外，在长达一个学期的经历中，学生对CURES的反应尚不清楚。最后，尚不清楚在整个学期中，CURE课程的不同特征的实例和重点如何与学生兴趣相互作用，以增加（或减少）学生坚持学习课程的动机。本项目将通过以下方式解决这些文献空白：1)建立一个“真实研究”特征的分类法，以便跨部门和机构对cure进行系统分类；2)测量学生兴趣（基于动机理论）在给定的CURE课程中如何因这些课程特征而变化；3)探索课程特点、学生兴趣、STEM长期坚持和职业目标之间的相互作用。该项目旨在通过研究三所大学本科CURE课程的课程设计和学生成果来完成这些任务：一所以研究为重点的私立大学、一所以研究为重点的公立大学和一所以本科生为重点的公立大学。数据收集将包括定量（教学大纲分析和学生兴趣调查）和定性（学生访谈）研究方法的结合。这项研究的结果将扩大实践者对基于课程的STEM参与方法的认识。它还将为那些对研究CUREs感兴趣的STEM教育研究界人士提供新的研究问题以供探索。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by examining how students benefit from Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Evidence suggests that early, authentic research experiences have a more positive affect than traditional learning contexts on college students' STEM learning, motivation, and academic plans. Unfortunately, opportunities for undergraduate research are available to relatively few students. Although traditional undergraduate laboratory classes can support a large number of students, they do not typically engage students in discovery and iteration, which are characteristics of authentic research. A solution that provides more students with greater access to an "authentic" research experience is the CURE. CUREs combine many of the authentic features of a faculty member's research lab with the larger capacity of a course environment. This scalability and authenticity have led to growth of CURE programs and expansion across colleges and universities. As CURE offerings spread, however, the enthusiasm for them has not been matched by a consistent approach to evaluation or educational theory grounding. Therefore, research is needed to assist instructors in understanding how CUREs work, when CUREs are most effective, and who CUREs benefit. Addressing this gap in the literature will contribute to improving undergraduate STEM education in the United States by providing evidence and tools to improve the quality of research opportunities experienced in course settings. In turn, access to these improved research opportunities can increase the retention of potential STEM majors who are vulnerable to exiting the major early in their academic careers, including those from groups underrepresented in STEM fields.Although assessment of some pre-/post-CURE student outcomes has been conducted, it is not yet documented how students experience and react to various CURE course design features, such as iterative experimentation and dealing with ill-defined, complex tasks. In addition, it remains unknown how students react to CURES over a semester-long experience. Finally, it is not known how the instance and emphasis of different features of CURE courses throughout a semester interact with student interest to increase (or decrease) students' motivation to persist in a course of study. This project will address these gaps in the literature by: 1) Developing a taxonomy of "authentic research" characteristics for systematic classification of CUREs across departments and institutions; 2) Measuring how student interest (based on motivation theory) varies over the course of a given CURE as a result of these course characteristics; and 3) Exploring interactions between course characteristics, student interest, and longer-term STEM persistence and career goals. The project aims to complete these tasks by studying course design and student outcomes in a natural sample of undergraduate CURE courses at three universities: a research-focused private, a research-focused public, and an undergraduate-focused public. Data collection will include a combination of quantitative (syllabus analysis and student interest surveys) and qualitative (student interviews) research methods. The results of this study will expand practitioners' knowledge of course-based approaches to STEM engagement. It will also inform those in the STEM education research community who are interested in studying CUREs with new research questions to explore. 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.