Catalyst Project: Incorporating Inclusive Teaching Practices in the Design of a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience in Polymer Chemistry

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Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to work towards establishing research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. Xavier University of Louisiana seeks to broaden participation in STEM through course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Specifically, the project identifies the upper-level Principles of Polymer Chemistry course to enhance the laboratory component through the development of a CURE. In addition, there is an identified need to broaden the availability of CUREs across STEM disciplines and the project aims to develop a community of practice (CoP) to cultivate discussion and effectively implement additional CUREs.Pedagogically, the traditional experience for students in educational laboratories are designed to provide a framework where students reinforce their understanding of concepts covered in traditional lecture periods. By leading students down a linear intellectual pathway towards a single conclusion, such laboratory experiences minimize student intellectual engagement, and bypass the essence of scientific inquiry – asking a question that can be addressed through experimentation. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer students the opportunity to increase their scientific literacy while building essential laboratory skills through instructor-guided, research experiences that occur within the classroom. The overall goal of this project is to broaden participation in STEM through CUREs. Towards this goal, this proposal focuses on the following objectives: (1) develop a CUREs course that focuses on improving student learning outcomes in polymer structure-property relationships and laboratory training using inclusive teaching practices, and (2) implement a local community of practice to work with other faculty at Xavier University of Louisiana towards offering more CUREs courses across STEM disciplines. Offering a CUREs course that focuses on polymer chemistry will expand student involvement in meaningful research experiences in the development of functional materials. Additionally, through a community of practice that is inclusive of faculty representing a variety of STEM disciplines at Xavier University of Louisiana, this project has significant potential to increase the number of research experiences for undergraduate students at a minority-serving institution.This project is jointly funded by Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.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.