Undergraduate Research
Summary of reform: Undergraduates (recently shifting toward first
and second year students) are involved in faculty research in a similar
fashion to graduate research assistants. Students have independence to do
research assignments under the mentorship of a faculty member, participate
in research group discussions, and witness results in progress. Students
are responsible for keeping appropriate hours, maintaining records of
their work, and fulfilling their assignments.
Students also attend group seminars in which they discuss their research
work and participate in workshops aimed at improving research skills
(library, computer, proposal writing, etc.).
Additional opportunities are provided to interview for summer internships,
apply for conference presentations (as undergraduate research conferences
are shaping up), and develop extra research skills.
Connection to other reforms: Cooperative Learning, Student Peer Teaching, Active Learning, Writing Across the Curriculum
Model Institutions: University of Michigan, Ursinius College,
Hendrix College, Southern Oregon State College, Bucknell University,
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Web Site:
http://www.unca.edu/cur
http://www.umich.edu/~urop/Home.html
Types of institutions: Comprehensive
Duration: At Michigan, since 1989.
Source list of institutions: A big resource is the Council of
Undergraduate Research (at North Carolina-Asheville), which focuses on
programs in the sciences at non-doctoral granting institutions.
Contact for further information: Sandra Gregerman, University of
Michigan; John Strassburger, Ursinius College
Level of institutionalization: These programs seem to be forming
roots in disciplines (primarily the sciences, as faculty-led initiatives)
as well as in some graduate school preparation efforts (again, in the
sciences, but as a top-down reform) at some institutions.
Outcomes: Grassroots intended outcomes: Students have a higher
assessment of their own academic potential, and set their academic goals
higher as a result. Faculty have a more positive impression of
undergraduate ability and shift their teaching styles to tap into that
ability. Faculty-student mentorships are created from these programs.
Likewise, faculty are able to bridge the research-teaching gulf, creating
lively material for their students while getting fresh perspective in
their research. This is especially critical at non-doctoral granting
institutions, at which students are filling a gap in research help for
faculty.
Top-down intended outcomes: Raising the number of scientists in the U.S.,
encouraging minority/female participation in the sciences. Faculty-student
mentorships are also a top-down intended outcome, especially as role
models.
Process: Undergraduates (recently shifting toward first and second
year students) are involved in faculty research in a similar fashion to
graduate research assistants. One big process change intended is stopping
the self-selection out of the sciences by many students (especially
minorities and women).
Target of Reform: both students and faculty
K-12 parallel:
Origination of reform: Institutional
Support: Government grant
Linking Characteristic 1: Student centered
Linking Characteristic 2: Linking or integrating
Linking Characteristic 3: Collaboration
Linking Characteristic 4: Making environments smaller
Assessment? Yes
Description of assessment: A FIPSE grant at UM has targeted the
effect of the program on student performance, the effect on student
self-assessment of intellectual ability, the effect of the program on
faculty attitudes toward students, and the operating mechanics of the
program itself.
The National Institutes of Health has been tracking the rate of doctoral
enrollment by students in the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS)
and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) programs begun in 1972 and
1977, respectively. Between 1985 and 1989, MBRS and MARC accounted for
22.9 percent of all Ph.D.s granted to African Americans and Latinos
nationwide.
Resistances: There are faculty who feel that undergraduates,
particularly first and second year students, are not capable of high level
thinking or research involvement.
In 1981, the NSF discontinued all college-level science education programs
except for graduate fellowships.
Evolution/History: In the 1920s and 1930s a movement took place at
some colleges (Princeton, Harvard, Reed) toward requiring a senior thesis
for graduation. This research work evolved into senior and junior level
research programs. Undergraduate research was the subject of two
conferences in the 1950s: An NSF conference in 1954 and a NSF/College of
Wooster Chemical Education conference in 1959. The national discussion was
largely dropped for many years after that time.
In the 1970s, many graduate schools were creating junior and senior level
research programs for minority students to interest them in graduate
school and prepare them for the higher level of work required. The Council
on Undergraduate Research formed in 1978 to promote undergraduate research
in the sciences by students at predominately undergraduate colleges. These
movements in the late 1980s and 1990s have shifted toward freshmen and
sophomores, involving them at an early stage of college in
research.
Notes:
Major sources:
Hoyte, Robert M. (1993). "I Can Do It": Minority Undergraduate Science
Experiences and the Professional Career Choice. New Directions for
Teaching and Learning n53 p81-90 Spr 1993; GRAD LB 2835 B85 1993
New Directions for Teaching and Learning (No. 47 Applying the Seven
Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education) p37-49 Fall 1991;
GRAD/UGLI LB 2331 A6611 1991
Promising Practices: Praxis. Liberal Education v76 n2 p18-29 Mar-Apr
1990; GRAD/UGLI LB 2301 A84
Allen, J. C. (1991) Integrating Undergraduate Research with a Writing
Program. Journal of Geological Education v39 n3 p224-26 May 1991; SCIENCE
QE 40 J862
Purdom, William Berlin and others. (1990). Study of Local Radon Occurrence
as an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Project. Journal of
Geological Education v38 n5 p428-33 Nov 1990. SCIENCE QE 40 J862
Journal of Chemical Education (SCIENCE QD 1 J86), v61 n 6 June 1984 had a
special issue (Undergraduate Research as Chemical Education--A Symposium)
with these articles:
-- Hansch, Corwin. (1984). Research and Its Support in the Undergraduate
Chemistry Department.
-- Pladziewicz, Jack R. (1984). Factors Important to the Maintenance of
Undergraduate Research Programs.
-- Mills, Nancy S. (1984). Undergraduate Research from the Perspective of
a Young Faculty Member.
-- Goodwin, Thomas E. (1984). An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment: The
Total Synthesis of Maytansine.
-- Bunnett, Joseph F. (1984). The Education of Butchers and Bakers and
Public Policy Makers.
