Developing a scaffolded learning process to increase undergraduate research skills

Abstract

This session presents the successes and challenges experienced in redesigning our curriculum (BS in Community Health) to support a scaffolded approach to developing undergraduate research skills, which was funded through a Students as Scholars’ Curriculum Scholarship Development grant. We will detail the creation of discovery, inquiry and creation of scholarship level courses. In addition, our liaison librarian, who created library skills workshops unique to the research requirements of each class level, will share her insights on the collaboration. We will share our assessment data related to student learning outcomes. Implementation challenges, including working with various types of faculty members (adjunct, tenured, tenure-track, and term) and teaching these scholarship courses across multiple sections will be covered. Our presentation team includes tenured, term and adjunct faculty members and our liaison librarian. Session attendees will learn more about how to introduce, reinforce and further develop students’ research skills using an integrated approach across the curriculum.