Longitudinal Investigation of the Decision Process in Adoption of Course-based Undergraduate Research

在NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源（IUSE：EHR）的支持下，该项目旨在通过调查影响教师在本科课程中采用和实施研究的动机和障碍来服务于国家利益。大学生早期参与研究的机会的价值得到了广泛的认可。事实上，国家报告建议用基于发现的研究课程取代标准的实验室课程，作为一种包容性的方式，让学生参与引人注目的实验。基于课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）特别有价值，因为它们可以接触到那些课外研究有限或不可用的机构的学生（例如，高等招生机构;社区学院）。然而，一个成功的CURE的发展需要时间的初始投资和愿意在课堂上承担风险。许多教师没有自主权、时间或资源来开发自己的CURE。 因此，在全国范围内传播的“网络CURE”是一个成功的替代办法。 在网络CURE中，不同机构的学生使用相同的方法并行工作，但在不同的背景下。虽然网络治愈扩大了研究经验的可及性，但由于非研究活动仍然占据了大多数本科实验室的大部分，因此还有很多工作要做。如果要将CURE广泛传播到所有机构类型，本科STEM教育社区需要更好地了解教师在实施CURE时面临的机构和环境挑战。本项目旨在调查代表大学生群体多样性的教师的“大学生研究心态”。本研究旨在确定CURE方案的特点，影响教师的决定，实施和坚持实施它们，以及这些特点是否不同，取决于机构的情况。本研究将以罗杰斯的创新扩散理论为指导，采用定性和定量的方法来评估两个概念上相关但结构上不同的网络CURE的方案特征对教师决定实施，然后坚持实施或退出每个方案的影响。在研究的第一阶段，将通过对准备实施这两个CURE之一的教师进行访谈来进行纵向跟踪。在第二阶段，纵向跟踪的结果将用于创建和管理一项全国调查，以便从更广泛的教员群体获得类似的信息。这种理解可以指导未来的CURE开发人员瞄准目前在CURE网络中代表性不足的机构环境。此外，它可以提供一个框架，帮助未来的CURE开发人员创建可能在不同机构类型中成功实施的研究经验。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。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划将支持努力改造和改善高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 investigating the motivators and barriers that influence instructors' adoption and implementation of research in undergraduate courses. The value of early opportunities for undergraduates to engage in research is widely recognized. In fact, national reports have recommended replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses as an inclusive way to engage students in compelling experiments. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are particularly valuable because they can reach students at institutions in which out-of-classroom research is limited or unavailable (e.g., high enrollment institutions; community colleges). However, development of a successful CURE requires an initial investment of time and the willingness to take a risk in the classroom. Many instructors do not have the autonomy, time, or resources to develop their own CUREs. As a result, nationally disseminated "network CUREs" have been a successful alternative. In network CUREs, students at different institutions work in parallel using the same methods, but in different contexts. Although network CURES have expanded accessibility of research experiences, much work remains since non-research activities still take up the bulk of most undergraduate laboratories. If widespread dissemination of CUREs is to reach all institution types, the undergraduate STEM education community needs a better understanding of the institutional and contextual challenges that instructors face in implementing CURES. This project aims to investigate the "undergraduate research mindset" of instructors representing a diversity of undergraduate populations. The study intends to identify the characteristics of CURE programs that influence instructors' decisions to implement and persist in implementing them, and whether these characteristics differ depending on institutional context. Guided by Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theory, this study will use qualitative and quantitative methods to assess what programmatic characteristics of two conceptually related, but structurally different network CUREs factor into instructors' decisions to implement and then persist in implementing or exit from each program. In the first phase of the study, longitudinal tracking will be employed through interviews of instructors who are ready to implement one of these two CUREs. In the second phase, results from longitudinal tracking will be used to create and administer a national survey to gain similar information from a broader group of instructors. This understanding could guide future CURE developers to target institutional contexts that are currently underrepresented in CURE networks. In addition, it can provide a framework to help future CURE developers create research experiences that are likely to be successfully implemented at diverse institution types. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program will support efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.