Undergraduate Experience Research Articles

Engineering Learning Experiences: A Scale Adaptation and Validation into Turkish

Undergraduate students' learning experiences are thought to have a significant impact on their future career choices. The Engineering Learning Experience Scale (ELES) was created within the framework of Social Cognitive Career Theory to accurately evaluate learning experiences arising from direct or indirect learning activities in or out of school. The purpose of this research is to adapt and validate the ELES in Turkish. The scale was given to two groups of engineering students from a large public university in Turkey. In order to provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to analyze the psychometric properties of the instrument. According to the confirmatory factor analyses, the correlated four-factor model suited the data well. This study strengthens the standing of the ELES as a useful measurement tool in the field of engineering.

Examining the Variations in Undergraduate Students' Conceptions of Successful Researchers: A Phenomenographic Study.

Undergraduate education represents an important transitional stage in which students make career decisions, and undergraduate research experiences (UREs) play a critical role in training the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics researchers. Extensive studies have identified the different ways in which researchers and graduate students understand their profession, but little work has focused on undergraduate students. To contribute to this gap in literature, this study examines how undergraduate students conceptualize successful researchers. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with transfer students at a research-intensive university, in which participants articulated how they perceive a successful researcher and how their conception had changed based on their undergraduate experiences. Using phenomenography as the research approach, three conceptions of successful researchers were identified based on variations within the following aspects: process of research, interactions with other researchers, and scope of contribution. Retrospective conceptions were more simplistic, with little appreciation for the complex methodological processes and collaborations needed to meaningfully contribute to the research community. After UREs, participants reported conceptions with more nuanced understanding that successful researchers demonstrate proactive engagement, collaboration, and contribution. These findings can be applied to facilitate meaningful research experiences and target undergraduates' professional development as they are enculturated into the research community.

S1 - Clinical midwifery placement: Undergraduate student's experiences with novice and expert preceptors

Clinical placement is a vital component of the undergraduate midwifery degree, giving the student the opportunity to develop clinical skills. Workforce shortages have led to an increased number of graduates employed, resulting in an imbalanced skill mix, which sees novices frequently acting as preceptors to undergraduate students on clinical placement. The impact of this on the student learning experience has not been examined. To address the midwifery workforce shortage, it is vital that student midwives are adequately supported to complete their studies, join, and remain in the profession. This research aims to illuminate the beneficial attributes of novice and experienced preceptors, along with any challenges students may face with each cohort; provide the current and future midwifery workforce an opportunity to examine the provision of a suitable learning environment for midwifery students, and provide stakeholders with key recommendations on preparation of precepting midwives to optimise the student experience. A qualitative descriptive design will be utilised; third-and-fourth-year Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Midwifery (Hons) students have been invited to participate in focus group discussions and/or semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Data will be thematically analysed. Student midwives report benefits with each cohort, which may not be evident with the other. These include the expert’s ability to give meaningful feedback and verbal guidance, whilst greater relatability, increased awareness of requirements, and making students feel welcome is reported with novice midwives. The final results of the research will be available in July 2022. The hypothesis is that student participants will identify advantages and disadvantages with both novice and expert preceptors. Results can be used to improve future training of preceptors to optimise student clinical learning experiences.

Investment in Learning English: A Case Study of Chinese LOTE Learners

With the increasing global status of China’s economy, languages other than English education (LOTE) in China has experienced an unprecedented expansion size. The importance of offering language programs is particularly relevant and geographically significant in China’s border provinces. Yunnan, China’s Southwest border province, has been discursively positioned as an ideal space for cultivating South Asian and Southeast Asian language learners for China’s cross-cultural communication. However, while majoring in LOTE, Chinese students have to prove their proficiency in English both for academic attainment and employment prospect. This study examines how English is ideologically embedded in the learning process of LOTE learners in the context of China’s socioeconomic transformation and regional integration with its neighbouring countries. Adopting the concept of language, investment and ideology (Darvin & Norton, 2015), the study explores the English learning experiences of Chinese undergraduates majoring in LOTE in a Chinese border university in Yunnan. Findings reveal how LOTE learners attach great importance on English and see English as a symbolic capital which can be translated into academic credits and facilite their future educational and social mobility. Findings also demonstrate that LOTE learners take advantage of their learning strategies in English and transfer their learning strategies into their LOTE learning process. Based on the findings of the study, it is argued that LOTE students can be empowered to enhance their language proficiency by LOTE in the process of investment learning English and their investment can help them acquire additional multilingual ability and multiple identities. The study can prove pedagogical implications for curriculum of LOTE.

The impact of a global pandemic on undergraduate learning experiences: One year later

Background and PurposeWe examined students perceived changes in their attention, motivation, affect, and time perception following the implementation of the pandemic-related restrictions. MethodsOne year after the restrictions were implemented, we surveyed students’ (N = 153) perceived changes in their experiences relative to their remembered pre- and early-pandemic ones, as well as their predicted future changes. ResultsConsistent with prior work, when students compared their current experiences (March/April 2021) to their remembered pre-pandemic ones, they perceived increases in mind-wandering, technology use, external distraction, and negative affect, as well as decreases in focus, flow, motivation, and time perception. Although somewhat attenuated, students also noted changes in these behaviours when comparing the memory of their early pandemic experiences to their current experiences. Finally, they further anticipated negative changes in their future experiences, possibly due to continued pandemic-related isolation. ImplicationsReducing students’ sense of isolation might improve their cognitive and affective experiences.

An evaluation of undergraduate student nurses' gameful experience whilst playing a digital escape room as part of a FIRST year module: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundThe circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the use of digital teaching and learning in health professions education. Digital gamification-based teaching and learning activities are innovative and versatile tools for the acquisition of professional competencies in higher education, which can be used on a range of topics and can be supplemental to other teaching methods. ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate nursing students' gameful experience whilst playing a digital escape room. In addition, we aimed to analyze the students' motivation, learning experience and outcome of the activity, and the students' perception of the degree of achievement of the intended learning outcomes. DesignCross-sectional descriptive study. ParticipantsA total of 136 undergraduate first year student nurses enrolled in a “Fundamentals of Nursing” course. MethodThe digital escape room game took place online during the academic year 2020–2021. The measures included the GAMEX scale in its Spanish version and a self-reported questionnaire to evaluate the outcome of the scape room game and the degree of achievement of the intended learning outcomes. ResultsMore than 80 % of the participants were moderately to very motivated to play the game. Three GAMEX dimensions achieved a mean score of 3 or above 3, namely Enjoyment, Creative Thinking and Absence of Negative effects. The mean score for each of the outcome variables was over 3. However, the degree of achievement of the learning outcomes after exiting the digital escape room was uneven. ConclusionGamification-based teaching and learning activities, such as digital escape rooms, can be effective in fostering specific skills, including teamwork, communication and critical thinking. However, they should be designed carefully, and used as a complement, rather than a substitute, of other educational activities.

CRISPR in butterflies: An undergraduate lab experience to inactivate wing patterning genes during development.

CRISPR is a technique increasingly used in the laboratory for both fundamental and applied research. We designed and implemented a lab experience for undergraduates to carry out CRISPR technology in the lab, and knockout the wing patterning genes optix and WntA in Vanessa cardui butterflies. Students obtained spectacular phenotypic mutants of butterfly wings color and patterns, awakening curiosity about how genomes encode morphology. In addition, students successfully used molecular techniques to genotype and screen wild-type caterpillar larvae and butterflies for CRISPR edits in genes. Student feedback suggests that they experienced a meaningful process of scientific inquiry by carrying out the whole CRISPR workflow process, from the design and delivery of CRISPR components through microinjection of butterfly eggs, the rearing of live animals through their complete life cycle, and molecular and phenotypic analyses of the resulting mutants. We discuss our experience using CRISP genome editing experiments in butterflies to expose students to hands-on research experiences probing gene-to-phenotype relationships in a charismatic and live organism.

Factors important in the correct evaluation of oral high-risk lesions during the telehealth era.

BackgroundConsidering that early detection of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) improves prognosis and clinical examination is the primary detection method, we identified factors related to the clinical evaluation of oral mucosal lesions. Due to the growing role of telehealth, our study was based on clinical image evaluation.Subjects and MethodsOral medicine specialists and dental students evaluated six images of benign, potentially malignant, or SCC lesions (18 images in total). We analyzed the role of personal factors of the examiners and the visual pathological features of the lesion upon which the participants based their evaluation.ResultsOne hundred thirty‐three subjects participated. Half of the benign images were correctly evaluated. On average 1.2 (±SD1.3) cancer pictures were recognized correctly and 3.66 (±SD1.42) images were considered potentially malignant. Potentially malignant lesions were correctly evaluated at an average of 4.08 (±SD1.48) images. For cancer and potentially malignant lesion images, there were significantly better results among clinicians with the worst results from the fourth‐year students. Student results correlated significantly with years of study, number of weeks spent in the oral medicine clinic, and interest in oral pathology. Consideration of lesion irregularity yielded a correct diagnosis, whereas wrong answers were based on color changes. Lesion size and margins were considered equally important.ConclusionsUsing clinical images as part of the diagnostic process provides good results, though increased clinical experience for graduates and undergraduates may be necessary to improve accuracy. Therefore, emphasizing the important visual parameters of malignancy may be valuable in the current telehealth era.

Deepening students' experiences with problem identification and definition in an empathetic approach: lessons from a university design-thinking program

PurposeThis study explored students' experiences of creative problem-solving using a design thinking approach in higher education, mainly focusing on the importance of empathetic approach in the problem identification and definition phase.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a descriptive qualitative research design and thematic analysis, in which observation and 27 semi-structured reports were used to reveal the impact of design thinking on undergraduate students' experience of creative problem-solving.FindingsThe authors found multiple themes in students' responses concerning problem identification and definition in design thinking, which could be described as a systematic innovation process. Four major themes were identified. They included identifying and defining problems in a real-world context, empathizing with people from the target beneficiary group as a process of problem identification and definition, working with a team to expand the empathizing view, and perceiving the need for deep exploration in the empathetic process and defining a problem.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined the perceived role of empathy in students' creative problem-solving process. However, the main limitation of this study was the small sample size, which can limit the generalizability of the results of the study. Nonetheless, this study provides valuable insights into understanding the role of empathy and problem identification as an essential process in creative problem-solving.Practical implicationsIt is worthwhile to integrate design thinking as an effective teaching and learning strategy in university education, particularly for fostering empathy and creative problem-solving skills in students. Among the processes of design thinking, empathy is critical in the problem identification and definition phase.Originality/valueThis study adds to existing knowledge by examining the role and ways of perceiving real-world problems in a human-centered mindset in university programs.

Value-Based Cancer Care: What are the opportunities to improve training for future Radiation Oncologists on the Quality/Cost Equation?

Purpose A cancer diagnosis can lead to lasting financial problems for many Americans. The American Medical Association has called for a greater focus on value and affordability education to increase awareness of burdens on both patients and the healthcare system. This study evaluated how future physicians were educated on cost and value-based principles during their undergraduate medical education. Radiation Oncologists were the focus given their oncology specific residency. Methods An anonymous 18-question survey was developed by the study team to assess undergraduate medical education experiences on cost, quality, and value. A list of recently graduated (2016-2012) physicians was generated from residency applications; emails and Twitter handles were identified via publicly available data and contacted August 2021- February 2022 to complete the survey. Results Of 279 contacted, 67 (24.0% response rate) completed the survey. Participants graduated in 2016 (25.4%), 2017 (6.0%), 2018 (25.4%), 2019 (17.9%), 2020 (14.9%), and 2021 (10.4%); they trained in the Northeast (34.3%), South (26.9%), Midwest (29.9%), and West (9.0%). Less than half had a lecture on value (49.3%, n=33) or costs (32.8%, n=22). Only 19.4% (n=13) had an entire class on value. About half had heard value mentioned "occasionally" (55.2%, n=37) during their time on the wards and less than a third (28.4%, n=19) heard about it "frequently". Similarly, half had heard about costs "occasionally" (52.2%, n=35) and less than a quarter (17.9%, n=12) had heard it mentioned "frequently". Less than half had a lecture on health insurance (46.3%, n=31); about a third had heard it mentioned "occasionally" (38.8%, n=26) on the wards while less than a tenth (7.5%, n=5) had hear it mentioned "frequently". A third had NO education on improving affordability for patients (34.8%, n=23) although about a half had been taught to discuss the $4 list and/or pill splitting (47.0%, n=31). Less than a tenth (9.0%, n=6) had a "good idea" of the charged/billed prices and even less (6.0%, n=4) knew the out-of-pocket costs for standard tests, procedures, and medications. Most (89.6%, n=60) felt their education about value, affordability, and cost was marginal or insufficient. Discussion Most recent graduates entering radiation oncology have not received adequate education on cost, affordability, and value. This education gap leads to the vast majority stating ignorance to the cost burdens on patients. Given rising healthcare costs, systemic reform of medical education will be required to educate the next generation of oncologists on the importance of value-based cancer care. A cancer diagnosis can lead to lasting financial problems for many Americans. The American Medical Association has called for a greater focus on value and affordability education to increase awareness of burdens on both patients and the healthcare system. This study evaluated how future physicians were educated on cost and value-based principles during their undergraduate medical education. Radiation Oncologists were the focus given their oncology specific residency. An anonymous 18-question survey was developed by the study team to assess undergraduate medical education experiences on cost, quality, and value. A list of recently graduated (2016-2012) physicians was generated from residency applications; emails and Twitter handles were identified via publicly available data and contacted August 2021- February 2022 to complete the survey. Of 279 contacted, 67 (24.0% response rate) completed the survey. Participants graduated in 2016 (25.4%), 2017 (6.0%), 2018 (25.4%), 2019 (17.9%), 2020 (14.9%), and 2021 (10.4%); they trained in the Northeast (34.3%), South (26.9%), Midwest (29.9%), and West (9.0%). Less than half had a lecture on value (49.3%, n=33) or costs (32.8%, n=22). Only 19.4% (n=13) had an entire class on value. About half had heard value mentioned "occasionally" (55.2%, n=37) during their time on the wards and less than a third (28.4%, n=19) heard about it "frequently". Similarly, half had heard about costs "occasionally" (52.2%, n=35) and less than a quarter (17.9%, n=12) had heard it mentioned "frequently". Less than half had a lecture on health insurance (46.3%, n=31); about a third had heard it mentioned "occasionally" (38.8%, n=26) on the wards while less than a tenth (7.5%, n=5) had hear it mentioned "frequently". A third had NO education on improving affordability for patients (34.8%, n=23) although about a half had been taught to discuss the $4 list and/or pill splitting (47.0%, n=31). Less than a tenth (9.0%, n=6) had a "good idea" of the charged/billed prices and even less (6.0%, n=4) knew the out-of-pocket costs for standard tests, procedures, and medications. Most (89.6%, n=60) felt their education about value, affordability, and cost was marginal or insufficient. Most recent graduates entering radiation oncology have not received adequate education on cost, affordability, and value. This education gap leads to the vast majority stating ignorance to the cost burdens on patients. Given rising healthcare costs, systemic reform of medical education will be required to educate the next generation of oncologists on the importance of value-based cancer care.

Integrating Authentic Research, Peer Learning, and High-Impact Project Work into the General Chemistry Laboratory

For the past several decades, high-enrollment undergraduate chemistry laboratory experiences have favored traditional approaches involving disparate daily experiments with optimized protocols provided to students. This model often results in poor learning outcomes and low student engagement, and it lacks any attention to scientific inquiry. Here, we present the structure and early outcomes of a complete redesign of our general chemistry sequence laboratory components to address these shortcomings. The approach includes the following: a requirement of student choice and design of protocols, increase in lab contact hours, authentic open-ended research experiences, and a course series with increasing challenge leading to a capstone. Emphasis is placed on student engagement, the value of experimental failure and redesign, an increase in technical skill through revision, peer learning, and faculty mentoring of students. While students almost universally recognize that this approach to laboratory science is more work, a great deal of feedback indicates they acknowledge its value. In addition to anecdotal evidence, course evaluation data show a marked increase in the perceived intellectual challenge of this new approach (mean of 4.00 on a 5 point scale before redesign (2016/2017, N = 416), increased to 4.19 (2017/2018, N = 592) afterward) along with an attendant increase in time-on-task. Notably, data from cohorts moving to higher-level laboratory courses show improved outcomes and adaptivity to experimental rigor. We believe this approach represents a strong improvement over a more traditional laboratory structure; at a slightly lower cost to deploy, an equivalent number of faculty members, and some institutional/departmental buy-in, this design is readily transferable to other schools.

TU5.3 Surgical Simulation – Does it improve the undergraduate surgical experience?

Abstract Aims Many final year undergraduate students rotating through surgery in our DGH have had their clinical experience adversely affected by COVID due to missed or cancelled patient contact, absence, or cancelled placements earlier in the curriculum. We sought to improve the experience by designing a new simulation programme of acute surgical presentations to become embedded in the teaching schedule and to audit the feedback from this and make improvements. Methods We held a small focus group with FYs and medical students to identify surgical presentations that they would benefit from practice on. We wrote a package of simulated cases including “unwell pancreatitis”, “wound dehiscence” and “post op pyrexia”. All scenarios had the aim of encouraging A-E assessment by the student pitched at incoming-FY1 level, and available equipment in the SIM lab includes SIM man, real-time obs, and general ward equipment. Scenarios were written to include multidisciplinary input from nursing, anaesthetic and surgical colleagues and include flexible options depending on student performance. The hospital resus officer helped to run the scenarios. Results The scenarios were run with 4 consecutive blocks of students. All feedback was positive with all students grading feedback as “very good” or “excellent”. Other feedback included “more scenarios” and “helps prepare for FY1”. Small improvements were made to the written documentation through PDSA cycles over the 4 blocks and are now embedded in the curriculum. Conclusions Availability of surgical simulation helped students to become more confident in A-E assessment of unwell surgical patients despite loss of patient interactions due to COVID.

Exploring Electrosynthesis: Bulk Electrolysis and Cyclic Voltammetry Analysis of the Shono Oxidation.

As electrochemistry continues to gain broader acceptance and use within the organic chemistry community, it is important that advanced undergraduate students are exposed to fundamental and practical knowledge of electrochemical applications for chemical synthesis. Herein, we describe the development of an undergraduate laboratory experience that introduces synthetic and analytical electrochemistry concepts to an advanced organic chemistry class. Experiments focus on the electrooxidative α-functionalization of carbamates, more generally known as the Shono oxidation, and include cyclic voltammetry analysis of two cyclic carbamates and a constant current bulk electrolysis reaction. The exercise offers students an authentic experience in organic electrochemistry, lays a practical and theoretical foundation for future engagement with concepts in electrochemistry and redox chemistry, and strengthens fundamental organic chemistry skills.

A Reflection on the Relationship Between Place and Health:: Understanding Undergraduate Student Experiences and Priorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Environment and setting have a large influence on matters of population health, and college is a critical place for students, shaping both health and education. College students across the nation were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes at universities left many anxious, isolated, and coping with social, emotional, and educational impacts. Objective: To perform a data analysis of the qualitative responses garnered through the Student Return to Campus Survey administered at the University of Delaware (UD) in Spring 2020, and to identify common themes of student experiences and priorities during the pandemic years to inform future recommendations for health crisis management. Methods: The study utilized secondary data analysis from an online student experience survey of 2,941 Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior students from the 2020-2021 academic year. Results: Qualitative analysis revealed a set of common outstanding themes influencing the college pandemic experience, including: Quality and Accessibility of Education in a Virtual Learning Environment; Quality of Student Life; Mental Health During the Pandemic; Thoughts and Attitudes About Vaccination Policies, Masking, Testing, and COVID Guidelines; Priorities and Considerations About the Return to Campus; and Overall Feelings About the Pandemic at UD. Conclusions: Student experiences were influenced by academic, social, emotional, and financial factors, which were often described with great intensity, and were at times contradictory. Students emphasized struggles with transitioning to and with virtual learning, the quality of campus resources, financial responsibilities, family health, and personal health. The results also shed light on the importance of communication with the campus community and the desire for students to express opinions during a crisis. Health Policy Implications: The results of this study have implications for crisis management for college campuses and planning for future responses to unanticipated events and ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

A Sustainability-focused Project-based Learning Experience for Engineering Undergraduates: Case Study of a Smart Greenhouse Project

In this paper, a smart greenhouse project has been presented as an example of a sustainability-focused project-based learning experience for undergraduates. While project-based instruction and learning experience has already gained enough momentum in several fields of education, the inclusion of sustainability perspectives from the science and engineering fields of studies is yet to make its room in the current course curricula as well as in the mindset of new generations of engineering undergraduates. This smart greenhouse project is an example of how sustainability can be brought into a classroom setting of engineering and technology programs as a project-based learning experience. The objective of this smart greenhouse project is to create an automated system capable of growing vegetation with little human input by utilizing electricity, computer programming, and a microcontroller operation. While this project was implemented by a group of two students with electrical engineering technology (EET) major as parts of their Introduction to Programming (ET 142) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (ET 342) courses requirements at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, a similar sustainability-focused project-based learning approach can also be applied successfully in other courses at different levels of engineering and technology programs at other academic institutions.

Factors affecting the quality of endodontic treatment in general dental practice in Scotland: a qualitative focus group study

Introduction The quality of endodontic treatment worldwide is variable despite clear clinical guidelines being available.Aims Identify the factors that affect the quality of endodontic treatment in general dental practice in Scotland and how to overcome the barriers identified.Methods Four online focus group interview sessions were conducted in which a total of 16 participants were recruited, including general dental practitioners, endodontic specialists and educationalists. Topics for facilitated discussion were based on healthcare system theory and included education/training, patient factors, resources and equipment factors; themes were identified via template analysis.Results A number of themes and subthemes affecting the quality of care are reported, including aspects to do with remuneration, time, education, training, support from secondary care and the impact of COVID-19.Conclusion Findings support: increase practical experience for undergraduates; access to postgraduate mentoring and training; development of a managed clinical network to facilitate access to appropriately trained specialists; and increased remuneration to allow sufficient time and adequate equipment to achieve clinical standards.

Undergraduate student experiences in remote lab courses during the COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020–2021 academic year was a unique time for many instructors who had to adapt their courses to be conducted remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was especially challenging for physics lab courses, which usually emphasize hands-on experiments. Although many courses have now returned to in-person teaching, the possibility remains of future disasters necessitating similar remote courses. It is important to understand how undergraduate students experienced remote physics lab courses during the pandemic, including what aspects of the courses contributed to positive student outcomes. To investigate this, we surveyed over 5000 students from 24 different institutions, asking how the students engaged with their physics lab courses during the 2020–2021 academic year. Here, we describe the frequency with which the students performed various class activities, aspects of the course environment, challenges the students faced, aspects of the courses the students found enjoyable, and some student outcomes. We further study the impact of the course activities and course environment on four of the outcomes (self-reported learning of lab skills, self-reported learning of concepts, course enjoyment, and development of a sense of community). We find that students who were provided clear expectations, had enough time for their coursework, frequently worked in groups, and frequently had access to guidance from their instructors were more likely to report positive outcomes. This work demonstrates the importance of certain aspects of lab courses for several desirable outcomes in remote lab courses during a pandemic, with findings that may transfer to in-person or remote lab courses in the future.4 MoreReceived 18 March 2022Accepted 1 June 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.020105Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasInstructional strategiesLearning environmentProfessional TopicsLower undergraduate studentsUpper undergraduate studentsPhysics Education Research

REU program as a student-centered, project-based environment for teaching math in California State University

Starting from 2004, within the last years California State University at Chico (CSUC) hosted the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Teachers (REUT) program in Mathematics. The program targets secondary teachers with a strong interest in mathematics or math education (RET) and students who have completed their junior year with coursework appropriate to the research project (REU). The program is designed to engage participants in research problems with a high potential for publication and to create a research experience that broadens participants’ perspective both of mathematics as a discipline and of research (whether mathematical or not) as an exciting exploratory process. During this period the large group of undergraduate students from different US universities and high school math teachers were involved in numerous research projects in pure and applied math, in math education and statistics. Working on the research projects the participants acquire the fundamental mathematical concepts and also studied how to apply modern IT technologies and computational systems for solving various math problems. We provide a research experience that enhances the skills necessary for careers in any of the sciences, while adding both depth and breadth to the participant’s mathematical knowledge, skill, and understanding. The depth comes primarily from participation in a research team working on a potentially publishable research problem, while breadth is added by activities that integrate all research teams, by in-service teacher/undergraduate interactions, and by synergistic activities such as weekly research talks. Mathematical activities are supplemented with social activities conducive to creating a productive and comfortable research environment.

The Long-Term Role of Undergraduate Experiences: Predicting Intellectual and Civic Outcomes

The Long-Term Role of Undergraduate Experiences: Predicting Intellectual and Civic Outcomes

How Medical Education Pathways Influence Primary Care Specialty Choice.

Primary care is associated with improved patient health and reductions in health disparities. Consequently, the demand for primary care physicians is increasing. To meet this demand, medical schools have employed strategies to graduate students interested in primary care careers, including medical education pathways-structured, longitudinal experiences that are explicitly separate from the main curricular scope of the undergraduate medical education experience. Our goal was to explore and identify common characteristics of medical education pathways that influence primary care specialty choice. Using research articles identified through a scoping review, we performed a qualitative content analysis of studies that evaluated the impact of medical education pathways on medical students' choices of primary care careers. Sixty-three papers described 43 medical education pathways; most studies used quantitative methods to describe outcomes. Program characteristics mapped onto five levels of an emerging socioecological model: state or national, community, institutional, relational, and individual. Successful medical education pathway programs complement a medical school curriculum that supports a common goal, and demonstrate multiple levels of structural and institutional factors that develop community connectedness, relatedness, and longitudinal community engagement in students. Further work is needed to better understand how each of these levels influence career choice and to reassess how to measure and report medical education outcomes that will more accurately predict the student choice of primary care careers.