Scholarship-Based Undergraduate Laboratory Courses Modeled on a Graduate School Research Rotation

Abstract

This paper describes and assesses the impact of a new upper-level “scholarly” laboratory model that is part of a four-year scaffolded research skills curriculum at a Carnegie Bachelor’s institution. In this scholarly lab model, students gain the “tools” of a discipline in a first-semester laboratory and engage in the scholarly work of the instructor in the second semester. Analogous to the experience of graduate students in a research rotation program, undergraduates participating in these scholarship-based laboratories in addition to their capstone research requirement are exposed to chemical research in multiple subdisciplines as well as different scholarly strategies to conduct research. Student perception data show that scholarly lab students feel highly engaged in all steps of the scientific method and that they integrate, implement, and improve the research skills gained throughout the four-year research skill curriculum. Authentic, student-driven collaborations within and between courses were observed multiple times in the two pilot iterations. However, the model was less effective than anticipated at building student confidence and sense of inclusion in the scientific community. Participation in the scholarly based laboratory model led to a statistically significant ∼10% improvement in lab notebook, final presentation, overall lab, and overall course grades for the scholarly lab cohort compared to a traditional lab cohort in a second-semester physical chemistry course. College-assigned women and men benefit similarly from the scholarly lab model, though these groups show some important perception differences that are discussed.