Engaging Students in Authentic Research in Lab‐based Courses Increases Student Competency in Applying the Scientific Method and Increases Collaboration Between Teaching and Research Faculty

Abstract

In response to our TH!NK program, designed to engage students in critical and creative thinking across the campus, and the need to provide more students with authentic research experiences, we have designed and integrated several course‐based research labs into our curriculum. These courses have allowed undergraduates to engage in meaningful research beyond the classroom without taxing the space, time, and resources of the current research faculty. Our newest cell biology lab, using cell culture, Western blots, and immunofluorescent chemistry allows students to learn advanced lab techniques and data analysis typically reserved for faculty research labs. Course‐based research allows student to receive credit toward their degree and allows them the opportunity to design and implement original experiments within a framework for potential publication. Since the development of these courses, students who have taken one or more of these labs have scored higher on post assessments related to applying scientific methods and scientific communication – a key departmental learning outcome ‐ than students who did not take these labs. (92% vs 74% competency on post‐assessments).An added, and somewhat unforeseen benefit, has been the strengthening of the faculty learning community, particularly between teaching‐focused and research‐focused faculty. At many R1 institutions, the teaching mission has taken a backseat to the research‐dominated culture. As these labs have been developed, teaching and research faculty have engaged with each other ‐ becoming a more involved community that has led to increased team teaching, research projects, and publications. Teaching faculty has had another mechanism for staying current and engaged in research and literature, making them better instructors and giving them another outlet for potential scholarly work. Research faculty has had another mechanism for exploring side projects that they may not have had the time or funds to pursue in their labs. In some cases, research faculty have provided a one page proposal for a research project to pursue in class along with necessary protocols. This is modified for a student lab of up to 24 students working in groups of 4. We are hopeful that these labs will eventually increase in number to accommodate all students who wish to enroll in a research‐based lab course and that numbers of publications from undergraduates and collaborations between teaching and research faculty will increase.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.