Capstone Studies on Roots of Hyperbolic Numbers

This chapter examines the design and impact on student learning in two STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) capstone undergraduate research courses at Saint Augustine’s University. It discusses how these courses help student metacognitive capabilities as they synthesize their learning across the program, demonstrate holistic development, and successfully negotiate the transition to their next academic and career pathway. It couples data from these capstone research courses with a review of the literature to elucidate the conditions and impact that undergraduate research STEM capstone courses have benefited students, faculty and the University. These best practices for the capstone courses may be used as a model for other HBCUs capstone courses or undergraduate research experiences. Throughout this chapter, the following questions are addressed: How do the capstone courses prepare students for graduate school and/or the STEM workforce? How are the capstone courses enhancing student undergraduate experiences? How do the capstone courses offer authentic research experiences for each student in spite of limited resources and faculty? How do students and faculty feel they have benefited from the capstone course experience? How have students overall learning been enhanced because of the capstone courses?

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have long been integrated into the landscape of undergraduate education, and the typical, one-on-one model has been associated with several positive student outcomes. Newer models of URE, aimed at improving scalability and promoting access for larger cohorts of students, have proliferated. However, due to the absence of a systematic classification of the models of UREs, comparisons across model types are limited, particularly in Canada. Therefore, it is unclear if these scalable models have achieved the aim of providing a more accessible, but equally impactful URE. We used principal component analyses of key variables derived from the course syllabi of 76 UREs to generate a typology of curriculum-based biology UREs, categorized into the following: Type A (apprenticeship-style research), Type B (field courses), and Type C (high enrollment, course-based research). Analysis of the course characteristics of these three course types revealed that Type C courses were the best positioned to provide an accessible learning environment and to include students who would otherwise not participate in research. The development of a typology of UREs provides a foundation to extend previous research on undergraduate research courses—which primarily focuses on the apprenticeship model—to include the other course types characterized in this study.

Understanding the impact of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is crucial as universities debate the value of allocating scarce resources to these activities. We report on the Berkeley Undergraduate Research Evaluation Tools (BURET), designed to assess the learning outcomes of UREs and CUREs in chemistry and other sciences. To validate the tools, we administered BURET to 70 undergraduate students in the College of Chemistry and 19 students from other STEM fields, comparing the performance of students who had less than one year of undergraduate research to those with more than one year of research experience. Students wrote reflections and responded to interviews during poster presentations of their research project. BURET asks students to communicate the significance of their project, analyze their experimental design, interpret their data, and propose future research. Scoring rubrics reward students for integrating disciplinary evidence into their narratives. We found that the instruments yielded reliable scores, and the results clarified the impacts of undergraduate research, specifically characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of undergraduate researchers in chemistry at our institution. Students with at least a year of research experience were able to use disciplinary evidence more effectively than those with less than one year of experience. First-year students excelled at explaining the societal relevance of their work, but they incorporated only minimal discussion of prior research into their reflections and presentations. Students at all levels struggled to critique their own experimental design. These results have important implications for undergraduate learning, suggesting areas for faculty members, graduate student research mentors, and CURE or URE programs to improve undergraduate research experiences.

The Importance of Scientific Publishing: Teaching an Undergraduate How to Swim the Entire Length of the Pool

Most undergraduates give high ratings to research experiences. Studies report that these experiences improve participation and persistence, often by strengthening students' views of themselves as scientists. Yet, the evidence for these claims is weak. More than half the 60 studies reviewed rely on self-report surveys or interviews. Rather than introducing new images of science, research experiences may reinforce flawed images especially of research practices and conceptual understanding. The most convincing studies show benefits for mentoring and for communicating the nature of science, but the ideas that students learn are often isolated or fragmented rather than integrated and coherent. Rigorous research is needed to identify ways to design research experiences so that they promote integrated understanding. These studies need powerful and generalizable assessments that can document student progress, help distinguish effective and ineffective aspects of the experiences, and illustrate how students interpret the research experiences they encounter. To create research experiences that meet the needs of interested students and make effective use of scarce resources, we encourage systematic, iterative studies with multiple indicators of success.

Projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program aim to (a) enhance participation of students who otherwise might not have research opportunities, and (b) increase the number of students interested in graduate programs, thus expanding the pool of a well-trained scientific workforce. To provide meaningful experiences for these students, REU projects make use of a set of interesting, appropriate research problems that can be tackled in 8 to 10 weeks in summer.The panelists have all served as PIs or Co-PIs on NSF REU projects in computing. They will present their REU research problems, highlight challenges they encountered, and present their results. They will also discuss what they have done, or what can be done, to incorporate such research problems within the regular computing curriculum, for example, in capstone courses or senior projects. A significant amount of time will be set aside for audience participation and discussion.

Use Student Affairs Strategies to Retain Women in STEM

Converting in-person courses to an online and asynchronous format requires significant updates to instructional materials. In this report, we share how we adapted a two-semester, undergraduate biochemistry laboratory sequence to this modality, while simultaneously engaging students in the science of COVID-19. We modified the advanced course mid-semester and planned changes to the introductory course in advance. Pedagogical choices made in the advanced course leveraged pre-existing materials, which supported new learning objectives focused on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In contrast, changes to the introductory course relied heavily on new materials, which preserved the original course learning objectives and engaged students in SARS-CoV-2 research. Below, we describe aspects of this approach that supported a smooth transition to online instruction.The advanced biochemistry laboratory course at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is an upper-division capstone course focused on experimental design and technique. The second of a 2-course series, this course culminates in an 8-wk novel research project in which students generate and test a hypothesis based on a single amino acid change to the green fluorescence protein (GFP). Students design and complete experiments to assess the modified protein's function. Students had just begun this project when LMU moved online. Loss of campus access made finishing these research projects impossible. In response, we redesigned the course to engage students in a 5-wk SARS-CoV-2 project delivered in an asynchronous format. Below, we describe 3 potentially generalizable design principles applicable to situations requiring rapid, midsemester changes to teaching modality.(a) Identify relevant and teachable learning objectives. Realizing that the learning objectives associated with the GFP project could not be adequately addressed online, we developed a new set of learning objectives related to SARS-CoV-2. In the resulting project, students related biochemical methods to the study of SARS-CoV-2 and the treatment of COVID-19. We used readily available resources, including video lectures, news articles, and scientific papers, to create course content and activities (Table 1). The new learning objectives were relevant and teachable in an online setting.(b) Engage students. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic placed a premium on student attention. In an attempt to engage students, we began the SARS-CoV-2 project with a This Week in Virology (TWiV) (1) introduction to the pandemic and a student interest survey on topics related to SARS-CoV-2. Student-selected topics included testing, vaccines, and antivirals (Table 1). By focusing on SARS-CoV-2, we acknowledged the pandemic's effect on students' lives while giving them tools to understand it.(c) Be clear and predictable. Among the anxieties that students developed while learning under pandemic conditions was a concern that they might miss assignments. In an effort to reduce student stress, we divided the SARS-CoV-2 project into weekly units that we delivered in a consistent format. We shared relevant materials with students through a learning management system on the same day each week and scheduled due dates for 1 wk later. The weekly assignment guided students through multiple activities aligned with various learning objectives (Table 1). This consistency simplified the logistics of online teaching and was central to the subsequent development of an online introductory biochemistry laboratory course.In LMU's introductory biochemistry laboratory course, students strengthen their scientific skills by being introduced to biochemical methods through a series of labs. With increased campus access and time to plan, 2 major changes were introduced. First, labs were presented as recorded experiments. Second, students engaged in scientific research through a new, 4-wk SARS-CoV-2 transitional lab. Given the extensive time requirements needed to create new materials, the course retained two-thirds of the labs included in earlier offerings. The following paragraphs discuss important aspects of this online and asynchronous course.(a) Course delivery. As in the advanced course, course content was shared in a uniform way. Weekly materials included a detailed lab protocol, a recorded prelab lecture, experimental videos, raw data, the instructor's lab notebook entry, and detailed assignment instructions. The experimental videos showed what was done in the laboratory and provided visual context for the observations and data. An increased frequency of writing-intensive activities compensated for the decrease in hands-on experiment time. Assignments focused on the highly transferable skills that students use in most biochemical laboratory settings (2). These included understanding the fundamentals of biochemical techniques, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating complex biochemical topics in written form.(b) Using research as a lens for teaching. Student involvement in undergraduate research experiences (UREs) cultivates understanding and interest, increases likelihood of graduate school attendance, and helps transform students into scientists (3–6). To circumvent the problem of URE supply and demand, these experiences can be integrated into undergraduate curriculum through course-based UREs (CUREs) (7–12). Transitional labs bridge the gap between the divergent experiences of students completing traditional labs with those completing CUREs by introducing some of the hallmarks of CUREs (13, 14). For example, in traditional lab experiments, the outcome is known to both the instructor and students. Contrastingly, in a CURE, the outcome is unknown to both groups. In a transitional lab, the outcome is unknown to students but known to the instructor. This type of laboratory exercise may facilitate a student's transition from traditional labs to a CURE (13).To engage students in research remotely, a new SARS-CoV-2 transitional lab was added to our introductory biochemistry laboratory course. The central objective was to introduce students to a variety of biochemical techniques as practiced in authentic scientific research. The research activities featured were part of a collaborative effort to identify small molecules that bind to a SARS-CoV-2 RNA structure and modify its function. The viral RNA structure targeted has an important role in the SARS-CoV-2 reproductive cycle. Thus, small molecules that modify the RNA's function and consequently inhibit viral reproduction may be candidate drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. In the 4-wk lab, students created an annotated bibliography from primary literature, viewed preliminary models of small molecules in complex with RNA by using the PyMOL Molecular Graphics System, version 2.3.2 (Schrödinger LLC, New York, NY), evaluated RNA purity and folding, quantified RNA function in the absence of small molecules, and suggested the next step in the research after comparing experimental data to published literature. In the future, we hope to assess whether this transitional lab affects student preparation for a subsequent CURE.The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic affected undergraduate education in a multitude of ways. Instructors teaching laboratory courses made difficult pedagogical decisions as they adapted to an online modality. When faced with an immediate transition to online education with no campus access, we used the SARS-CoV-2 literature to highlight the relevance of biochemical methods to real-world problems in an advanced biochemistry laboratory course. When moving an introductory biochemistry laboratory course online, a new transitional lab progressed time-sensitive SARS-CoV-2 research while introducing students to a variety of biochemical techniques. Although our circumstances were unique, aspects of our approach may be portable to other instructional contexts. For example, it is possible to include aspects of a CURE in a laboratory course, even when students are unable to perform the experiments themselves. Likewise, publicly available resources developed by experts can be used in courses regardless of modality. A growing body of open educational resources support online biophysics and biochemistry education (Table 2) (15, 16). Much like the approaches presented in this report, these resources can be leveraged to improve instruction beyond the pandemic, in both online and in-person courses.This work was funded by KDM's Research Corporation for Science Advancement COVID initiative (27339) and Cottrell Scholar (23983) Awards. Dr. Amanda Hargrove and a graduate student in her lab, Martina Zafferani, contributed to the transitional lab by providing Protein Data Bank files and a video presentation on the collaborative SARS-CoV-2 research project. The authors thank Dr. Stephen Heller for providing helpful feedback on this manuscript.SFM and KDM co-wrote and revised the manuscript and designed teaching materials for and taught the advanced biochemistry laboratory course. KDM developed new content for and taught the introductory biochemistry laboratory course.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have the potential to benefit undergraduates and longer UREs have been shown to lead to greater benefits for students. However, no studies have examined what causes students to stay in or consider leaving their UREs. In this study, we examined what factors cause students to stay in their UREs, what factors cause students to consider leaving their UREs, and what factors cause students to leave their UREs. We sampled from 25 research-intensive (R1) public universities across the United States and surveyed 768 life sciences undergraduates who were currently participating in or had previously participated in a URE. Students answered closed-ended and open-ended questions about factors that they perceived influenced their persistence in UREs. We used logistic regression to explore to what extent student demographics predicted what factors influenced students to stay in or consider leaving their UREs. We applied open-coding methods to probe the student-reported reasons why students chose to stay in and leave their UREs. Fifty percent of survey respondents considered leaving their URE, and 53.1% of those students actually left their URE. Students who reported having a positive lab environment and students who indicated enjoying their everyday research tasks were more likely to not consider leaving their UREs. In contrast, students who reported a negative lab environment or that they were not gaining important knowledge or skills were more likely to leave their UREs. Further, we identified that gender, race/ethnicity, college generation status, and GPA predicted which factors influenced students’ decisions to persist in their UREs. This research provides important insight into how research mentors can create UREs that undergraduates are willing and able to participate in for as long as possible.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been shown to facilitate students’ pursuit of graduate studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including geoscience. Less is known about why or how UREs have a lasting impact on participants, particularly through graduate school and into careers. Furthermore, few studies have captured the views and experiences of former URE participants no longer in STEM. The present study used purposive sampling and semistructured interviews to explore the long-term academic and career impacts of a summer-long geoscience URE (4 to 7 years post-URE; M = 5.4) on 10 former participants: 4 in STEM graduate school, 4 in STEM careers, and 2 in non-STEM careers. During interviews, participants described key long-term URE impacts within three interrelated domains: research/science, graduate school, and careers. These came about through a combination of significant relationships (e.g., mentors) and heightened self-awareness (e.g., clarity of career aspirations), which participants developed during the URE. Often, participants spoke of seemingly proximal URE outcomes that retained or gained significance over time. For example, the URE offered immersive experiences (e.g., in laboratory science) and opportunities for professional development (e.g., programing) that gave participants insight and skills related to their future endeavors. Drawing on these emergent themes, we discuss the importance of examining long-term URE impacts towards a deeper understanding of their benefits and toward the design of more effective URE programs.

The current study presented an initial evaluation, following Year 1, of a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in chemical engineering conducted at a large Mid-Atlantic research university. A methodology for evaluating student outcomes from undergraduate research experiences was also proposed. Evaluation of the REU program relied upon an extensive assessment methodology, utilizing preand post-survey measures of research and scientific-based experiences and skills as well as indepth student and faculty mentor interviews of REU experiences, gains, and perceived benefits. Participants (n = 21; 25% female; 42% underrepresented minority status) evidenced significant gains in broad research experience and specific research-based skills and experiences after completing the REU program. Specific production metrics, ratings of research experiences, as well as initial graduate school plans and outcomes, were also obtained. Results indicated involvement in presentations and publications as well as moderate to high ratings of core REU experiences. A key finding from the study is the clarifying role the REU program played in facilitating students’ graduate school plans; results support REU programs as a refining experience rather than a prompting experience for graduate school outcomes. Qualitative analysis of student interview data revealed a perceived significant benefit of working collaboratively with other students while engaged in the research experience and an increased and improved understanding of the nature of research. Qualitative analysis of faculty mentor interview data corroborated the perceived benefits of student pairing and research collaboration, and also noted the ability of student pairing to facilitate student work and time management. Despite high ratings of core REU program elements, students expressed a desire for more time working with and under the advisement of faculty mentors. Across students and faculty mentors, suggestion was made for the inclusion of additional social and related events and programs to further facilitate research collaboration and integration during the program. Limitations, recommendations for improvement of the REU program and for future evaluation of the REU, and implications for institutions interested in implementing REU programs are discussed.

The process of writing a mock grant proposal has been incorporated into biology courses as a means of developing discipline-specific skills such as accessing the primary literature, generating hypotheses, and writing scientifically (1–5). An original grant proposal is a centerpiece of our required Biology Capstone course, which also focuses on mastery of written and oral science communication competencies described in Vision and Change: A Call to Action (6). Students are asked to generate a research proposal based on their undergraduate research experience or interests. Most Capstone students have good research experience, but even so, some aspects of the grant proposal are new and challenging. These include grounding the proposed research in previous work and choosing an appropriate methodology for the research design. In order to facilitate the development of these skills and provide practice in science communication, I require students to give a short, informal presentation (elevator speech) at three points in the research proposal process. The elevator speeches serve as a formative assessment of progress on the development of the research proposal, an opportunity for low-stakes feedback, and a chance to develop competency in science communication through the effective process of guided practice coupled with targeted feedback (7).

After graduation, engineering and engineering technology students are expected to enter the highly competitive, global work place of the 90's and beyond as immediately productive members of manufacturing or development teams. In order to excel in that target market, students must experience and practice concurrent engineering, design engineering and team development skills throughout their undergraduate curriculum. Students in the Engineering Technology Department at Western Washington University actively participate in a wide variety of undergraduate design and undergraduate research projects where concurrent engineering and team work are expected and emphasized. This paper describes how the faculty within Engineering Technology Department have integrated concurrent engineering principles and design throughout the curriculum and gives several program and project examples. The paper also presents specific examples of where multi-disciplinary teams of students have actively participated in undergraduate research experiences and learned much from active team development and integrated design. Marketing, accounting and technical communication majors are often the most popular additions to design or competition teams. This paper describes specific design, research and student competition examples where concurrent engineering team work has been successful. It also describes the extra faculty efforts needed to help the process to work. Curricular issues that have been modified within the manufacturing and plastics programs are also discussed.

Many colleges and universities are encouraging faculty to provide more undergraduate research experiences (URE). Proponents of URE describe many benefits for students and faculty mentors. In addition to developing important research skills (e.g., problem solving, communication), students learn the process of science, and the recruitment and retention of highly qualified students are increased. Mentors often gain assistance in meeting their long-term research goals while helping shape careers of future scientists. The call for increasing URE requires a basic understanding of goals, responsibilities, and priorities from student and mentor perspectives. Our intent is to discuss merits of URE and offer advice for structuring and developing URE. We provide an overview of student and faculty perspectives of URE, outline various structures for URE with an emphasis on the student colleague model, and describe how to incorporate URE in mentor research programs. Also, we supply a list of internet resources for publishing and funding undergraduate research projects. We contend that URE might help overcome some of the shortcomings of undergraduate education recently identified by wildlife educators and employers, as students develop many key career skills and acquire relevant experience important to later success in the profession. However, students and faculty must carefully assess and consider whether URE help meet future goals, given other commitments.

The Association of American Colleges (1990, p. 9) believes that a major should be structured around a principle or set of principles. It states, A major ought to have a beginning, a middle, and an end--each contributing in a different way to the overall aim of the Programs can create structures, such as capstone courses, that provide a final opportunity to assess growth in achievement in light of the basic goals of the college, such as critical thinking and writing across the disciplines, as well as the goals of the sociology major. Higher-order thinking skills accrue to students as a result of the inclusive nature of learning, both through general education and through major requirements, and should crystallize in the capstone experience. Eberts et al. (1991) who produced the report Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major recommend that majors need coherence and that departments should offer at least four levels in a sequence of courses in the major. The fourth level would include one or more capstone courses for senior majors. This course should require participants to integrate, synthesize, critique, and apply the concepts, theories, and methods articulated in the sociology curriculum. The capstone course, along with other assessment measures (e.g., comprehensive examination and/or senior thesis) should coalesce to produce an aha experience for majors that facilitates the development of sociological imagination and practice. Capstone courses are essential because they provide the forum through which participants (students and professors) integrate theoretical with methodological considerations. At the same time they provide departments with the opportunity to help students assimilate and apply sociological knowledge. Capstone courses can enhance assessment of students' outcomes by providing an integrative experience, one that is often lacking because of the fragmentary nature of our curricula. Isn't this what higher education is all about? We should be more concerned about what our students are learning and retaining than about the political and sophomoric rhetoric that often accompanies assessment. Good teaching is enhanced by clearly articulated goals (see Wagenaar 1991) and by an assessment of those goals; the same can be said for learning. The status of higher education, especially in light of the impact of assessment (see Hutchings and Marchese 1990), compels us to reevaluate how we structure learning environments and objectives. Clearly articulated goals, an assessment plan, and capstone courses are a strong start for restructuring collegiate learning and improving undergraduate instruction. Assessment can and should be a process that enhances learning and growth. Capstone courses are potential pieces of the assessment puzzle, which ultimately is concerned with improving the validity of teaching and learning. For those well versed in the assessment literature, it becomes very apparent that no one model or plan will fit the needs and wants of all colleges and universities. Assessment plans, including capstone courses, must be designed by each institution. Although no single generic model exists, in the following paragraph I will describe a model used by Missouri's liberal arts and sciences university, a leader in the assessment movement in higher education. In a presentation at a recent conference on assessment held by the American Association for Higher Education, faculty members from Northeast Missouri State University shared their insights on capstone courses as assessment tools. The structure of the course allowed the faculty to assess the following areas of learning and growth among students: 1) knowledge: discipline content area and interdisciplinary connections; 2) skills: writing, speaking, collaborative skills, and critical thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation); and 3) attitudes: openness to more than one position, recognition of the distinction between facts and values, reflective evaluation of self, and evaluation of university and major (Gordon, Cartwright, and Young 1991). Capstone courses are required in all programs at the university and are one of 11 components of the assessment system. The capstone experience at Northeast Missouri State University offers the following bene-