Training the Trainers in Pre-Research Coursework to Provide Student Access to Research

该项目正在支持一个讲习班，以在全国范围内传播教育材料和在国家科学基金会资助的早期项目“欧元：加强本科生的研究机会”(1123068奖)期间学到的经验教训。在这个早期的项目中，来自三个大型机构的教员合作开发了课程，为较低级别的本科生STEM学生提供了比传统的实验室方法更便宜的研究经验。EURO应对了以负担得起的方式增加对早期本科生研究的参与这一相当大的挑战。这是通过创建旨在教授一般研究技能的课程和计划来实现的，而不仅仅是让学生参与特定的学科研究活动。通过专注于“研究导向”或“研究技能”体验，更多的学生可以在本科学习的早期从事研究，而不会增加主要的费用。当前项目的目标受众是教师和管理人员，他们对增加学院参与本科生研究的学生数量感兴趣。研讨会的组织者是从欧元团队中抽出的。在过去的四年里，他们都教授了这些课程。讲习班可容纳27名学员，预计他们将成为这一方法的培训者。组织者致力于与参与者进行后续行动，以支持在参与者所在的机构采用这一方法。PI团队正在继续征集和开发模块和信息，以便与本科生研究从业者分享。预计研讨会参与者将对先前开发的研究概念清单问题做出贡献，增加来自广泛机构的内容。通过在牵头机构教授短期课程的同时举办讲习班，PI小组还计划衡量这一传播方法的有效性，并确定它是否比传统方法更有效。如果大多数参与者坚持执行并建立自己的区域培训方案，使用项目小组将提供的材料，该项目的培训员培训方面将产生重大影响，并实现自我维持。

This project is supporting a workshop to nationally disseminate the educational materials and lessons learned during the PIs' earlier NSF-funded project, "EURO: Enhancing Undergraduate Research Opportunities" (award 1123068). In this earlier project, faculty from 3 large institutions collaborated in developing coursework to provide lower division undergraduate STEM students with research experiences that were less costly than traditional methods involving labs. EURO met the considerable challenge of increasing participation in early undergraduate research in an affordable way. This was done through the creation of courses and programs designed to teach general research skills, rather than only engaging students in specific disciplinary research activities. By focusing on "research-oriented" or "research skills" experiences, more students can engage research early in their undergraduate studies without major increased expense. The target audience for the current project is comprised of faculty and administrators interested in increasing the number of students involved in undergraduate research at their institution. The workshop organizers are drawn from the EURO team. All of them have taught these courses over the past four years. The workshop has a capacity for 27 participants who are expected to become trainers in this method. The organizers are committed to following up with the participants to support adaptation of this approach at the participants' home institutions. The PI team is continuing to solicit and develop modules and information to share with practitioners of undergraduate research. Workshop participants will be expected to contribute to the research concept inventory problems previously developed, adding content from a broad range of institutions. By holding the workshop concurrently with the short course taught at the lead institution, the PI team is also planning to measure the effectiveness of this method of dissemination and determine if it is more effective than the conventional methods. If most of the participants follow through and set up their own regional training programs, using materials that the project team will make accessible, the train-the-trainers aspect of this project will have a substantial impact and also become self-sustaining.