Undergraduate Science Research Research Articles

Exploration on the Training Path of Scientific Research Ability and Quality of Undergraduates Majoring in Applied Physics

Different from the traditional physics major, the applied physics major focuses on cultivating students' ability to solve natural science and engineering technology problems using physical principles and methods. To this end, relevant teachers in the applied physics major were organized to spontaneously carry out undergraduate scientific research ability and quality training activities, establish a team of academic tutors, form a method for student selection, team formation and management, and carry out supplementary knowledge teaching for specific research projects, accumulating experience in the use of experimental instruments and equipment, data analysis, and technical paper writing skills training. The results show that, on the basis of fully exploring the interest and ability of undergraduates, appropriate guidance and solid training can stimulate students' interest in scientific research and greatly improve their scientific and technological innovation ability. Keywords: Applied Physics, undergraduate, scientific research ability, scientific and technological innovation.

Survey analysis and discussion on cultivating scientific research quality among undergraduates in medical colleges.

To explore rational measures to improve medical undergraduates' scientific research quality by investigating and analyzing their scientific research situation. A questionnaire survey was conducted in March 2022 among medical college/university undergraduates across four grades and five majors. Five hundred and ninety-four questionnaires were distributed, and 553 valid copies were returned, with a 93.1% return rate. The results showed that 61.5% of the students had an intense interest in research experiments, and 46.8% thought it was important for undergraduates to participate in research experiments, but only 17.5% often participated in them. Among the students, 85.0% thought that the main factors preventing them from participating in research experiments were academic stress and insufficient time, and 82.6% hoped that mentors would focus on practical skills training; only 13.0% read literature at least once per week, and 93.5% were not proficient at organizing and using literature. Among the participating undergraduates, more than half were strongly interested in scientific research, but academic stress, unclear participation modes, and insufficient literature retrieval skills limited undergraduate scientific research practice and improvement of scientific quality. Therefore, it is essential to cultivate undergraduates' interest in scientific research, ensure that they have spare time to engage in scientific research, improve the undergraduate scientific research mentorship system, and enhance relevant scientific research abilities to cultivate more innovative talent in scientific research.

Study finds students with disabilities underrepresented in life sciences

Recent research has shown that students with disabilities are underrepresented in postsecondary life science education. See Logan E. Gin et al., Students with Disabilities in Life Science Undergraduate Research Experiences: Challenges and Opportunities, 21 CBE‐Life Sci. Educ. 2 (May 2022) (https://bit.ly/3G8IJzS). A May 2022 study surveyed over 1,200 undergraduate researchers to ascertain the percentage of students with disabilities participating in research in undergraduate science programs. Researchers found that roughly 12% of survey respondents identified as a student with disabilities.

AS POSSÍVEIS CONTRIBUIÇÕES DO CONCEITO DE MÍMESIS PARA PENSAR A INICIAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA EM TEMPOS DE REGULAÇÃO DA CONDUTA EM PESQUISA

ABSTRACT: Research ethics has been the subject of an intense movement of conduct regulation based on a preconceived model under the logic of biomedical sciences. In the context of a mostly normative response to the question of research ethics, this article, based on an exploratory research, aims to investigate the potential of undergraduate scientific research (USR) in stimulating student’s awareness of the issue of ethical conduct in research. For this, the bibliographical research, centered on the concepts of mímesis developed by Adorno and Benjamin, is combined with the analysis of responses given by undergraduate students of the Humanities and Social Sciences with experience in USR to an online questionnaire. The formative potential of USR is affirmed as it is a privileged instance for mimetic behavior, allowing the learning through observation from the practical application of concepts from the moral field to research.

Exploring the Development of Undergraduate Scientific Research Ability in Basic Course Instruction: A Case Study of Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Complexes in Inorganic Chemistry

Exploring the Development of Undergraduate Scientific Research Ability in Basic Course Instruction: A Case Study of Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Complexes in Inorganic Chemistry

Unlearning, uncovering and becoming: experiencing academic writing as part of undergraduate research

ABSTRACT Increased specialisation of disciplinary cultures creates barriers for students who may not understand the genre, style and conventions of disciplinary writing. Academic literacies research recognises that literacy is a social practice where writing is inextricably linked to knowledge construction. Learning to write, therefore, requires meaning-making by students as they engage with the nature of questions asked and arguments constructed within a discipline. We have examined the proposition that immersive and dialogic environments promote learning of disciplinary writing by analysing students’ lived experience during a science undergraduate research project. We adopted an academic literacy framework for a qualitative analysis of students’ reflective journals as they wrote a critical review. We show that (i) students initially struggled with assessment requirements, terminology and writing conventions; (ii) constructing the critical review was coupled to epistemological changes as they understood scientific argument; and (iii) they gained confidence in themselves as participants in the scientific community.

Effectiveness of online social science undergraduate research experiences: Exploratory evidence

Undergraduate research experience (UREs) benefit students, but are typically conducted in person. In 2020–2021, many research and teaching activities unexpectedly moved into virtual spaces. We identify key benefits and challenges experienced by virtual URE participants in the social sciences, based on systematic coding of aligned surveys with both faculty and students. Perceived benefits included access and flexibility. Both mentors and students who had switched from in-person modalities, however, expressed a perceived loss of community, undermining the perceived effectiveness and value of the URE. They also perceived the lack of “hands-on work” as a negative. In contrast, existing online students identified UREs as creating a much needed and valued connection, enhancing their experiences. We suggest the experience of all participants in virtual UREs can benefit from centralizing community-building strategies, and give some possible examples.

Students with Disabilities in Life Science Undergraduate Research Experiences: Challenges and Opportunities.

Individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in postsecondary science education and in science careers, yet few studies have explored why this may be. A primary predictor of student persistence in science is participating in undergraduate research. However, it is unclear to what extent students with disabilities are participating in research and what the experiences of these students in research are. To address this gap in the literature, in study 1, we conducted a national survey of more than 1200 undergraduate researchers to determine the percent of students with disabilities participating in undergraduate research in the life sciences. We found that 12% of undergraduate researchers we surveyed self-identified as having a disability, which indicates that students with disabilities are likely underrepresented in undergraduate research. In study 2, we conducted semistructured interviews with 20 undergraduate researchers with disabilities. We identified unique challenges experienced by students with disabilities in undergraduate research, as well as some possible solutions to these challenges. Further, we found that students with disabilities perceived that they provide unique contributions to the research community. This work provides a foundation for creating undergraduate research experiences that are more accessible and inclusive for students with disabilities.

Student attitudes toward research in an undergraduate social science research methods course

ABSTRACT This study used a mixed-methods longitudinal design to investigate change in students’ understanding, attitudes, anxiety, perceptions of relevance, and disinterest in a required social science undergraduate research methods course across a semester. Participants were 78 undergraduates (94% women, 6% men; 92% white non-Hispanic/Latinx, M age = 25.62, SD = 7.17) at a university in the United States. Results suggest that participant attitudes toward and perceptions of research methods shifted over the course of the semester. Overall, anxiety decreased, while positive attitudes increased. However, initial perceptions and changes in perceptions varied among the three course sections. Over time, students largely recognized the course’s relevance and conveyed positive attitudes toward research and their success in overcoming the challenge of completing the course. Implications for pedagogy include the need for continued assessment of learners, development of students’ self-concept as researchers, teaching of research as a process, and connection to application.

Nursing students admitted through the affirmative action system display similar performance in professional and academic trajectories to those from the regular path in a public school in Brazil

Affirmative action providing higher education access for socially vulnerable students has been implemented in several countries. However, these policies remain controversial. This study compares the performance of students admitted through the regular path and social quota systems, during and after completion of nursing education, in a public nursing school in Brazil. This retrospective cohort study included all students admitted to nursing school at the School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brazil, between 2009 and 2014, who were followed until May 2020. The first phase involved document analysis from the ESCS academic management system and Brazilian government agencies. In the second phase, a survey was conducted among the alumni. The social quota system criterion was public school attendance across all primary and secondary education levels. Of the 448 students included in the study, 178 (39.7%) were from the affirmative action and 270 (60.3%) from the regular path systems. Affirmative action students were older at the time of nursing school admission (p < 0.001) and took longer to be admitted to the nursing school (p < 0.001) after completing high school. There were no significant differences in the dropout rates and years to complete nursing school. In the second phase, 108 alumni answered the survey. No significant differences were found in their participation in the undergraduate scientific research program and university extension projects, attending residency programs, getting a master's degree and doctoral degree, monthly income, teaching activity, joining public service through a government job competition process, participation in management activities in the private and public health sector, and degree of job satisfaction. Our results revealed that affirmative action is a policy that contributes to the reduction of inequalities and guarantees the training of nursing professionals with a similar professional qualification received through affirmative action and regular path systems.

Research on the Path of Improving the Scientific Research Ability of Students Majoring in Tourism Management in Local Undergraduate Colleges

Undergraduate scientific research has become an important part of undergraduate education. However, in practice, the emphasis on the cultivation of undergraduate scientific research ability is still not enough. Especially in local undergraduate colleges, it is particularly obvious that the undergraduate students pay more attention to teaching and less scientific research. Tourism management is an emerging discipline that needs more high-quality professionals. But due to the characteristics of the major itself, the training level of undergraduates is lower than that of other management majors, and the scientific research level of undergraduates majoring in tourism management is also much lower than that of other majors. Therefore, we take the major of tourism management as an example to analyze the problems existing in the scientific research of students in local undergraduate colleges, and explore the way to improve the scientific research ability of undergraduates majoring in tourism management, in order to provide a scientific basis for the major of tourism management in local undergraduate.

Sharing of Experience From the Perspective of Students: How to Realize the Development from Basic Chemistry Courses to Undergraduate Scientific Research Innovation

Sharing of Experience From the Perspective of Students: How to Realize the Development from Basic Chemistry Courses to Undergraduate Scientific Research Innovation

Development Suggestion and Hotspots Analysis of Medical Undergraduate Scientific Research Training at Home and Abroad Based on CiteSpace Software

Objective: To study the current situation and hotspots of medical undergraduate research training at home and abroad, and to provide suggestions for the development of medical undergraduate research training in China. Methods: PubMed and CNKI were used as data sources to retrieve literature related to medical undergraduates scientific research training from January 2000 to July 2021. Based on CiteSpace software, visualized analysis was performed on the literature of age, country, author, institution and keyword. Use Excel to make statistics of CiteSpace running results. Results: The number of domestic and foreign literature was on the rise. The United States published the most English literature in this field, and Beijing and Jiangsu have published the most Chinese literature in this filed. The distribution of core authors at home and abroad is discrete, and some core authors have cooperated with each other. Domestic research institutions are mainly medical colleges and universities, while foreign research institutions are mainly medical institutions. There are 5 cluster label words in English literature and 9 cluster label words in Chinese literature. There are 11 burst terms in foreign countries and 20 burst terms in Chinese. The historical evolution process of foreign research can be divided into theoretical education and practical education, while the historical evolution process of domestic research can be divided into exploration, development, continuous research and deepening research. Conclusion: There are great differences between domestic and foreign research hotspots. Domestic research focuses on research ability and quality, while foreign research focuses on the combination of theory and practice. There are certain problems in teaching, practice, system, influence and other aspects. It is suggested that the teaching methods should be diversified based on practice, the scientific training system should be improved, and the cooperation between domestic and foreign institutions and authors should be strengthened to further deepen the research in this field and lay a good foundation for the future scientific research and training system.

A Letter from the Editorial Board

&#x0D; &#x0D; Dear readers,&#x0D; After a year of developments, we are proud to present the Spring 2017 Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal. The current edition of the journal features topics from all over the natural sciences. This year, our main focus regarding the Journal was to extend the reach of the journal to universities all over the world. As the CUSJ’s mission is to encourage students to involve themselves in scientific discovery, we saw no need to restrict our scope to only Columbia University. We received submissions from diverse areas such as biochemistry, astrophysics, and electrical engineering.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Our team also published the second issue of the Columbia Junior Science Journal, a journal meant to introduce high school researchers to the world of research publication. After making changes to the previous Columbia Research Scholars Journal to better reflect the mission of the journal, we were proud to publish many of the incredible submissions sent in from high schoolers from around the United States, and invite several of them to our annual Spring Symposium.&#x0D; In addition to producing the two research journals for high school and college students, the CUSJ also seeks to foster the undergraduate research community at Columbia University. This year, we worked hard to further this goal by hosting several events on campus. In the Fall, the CUSJ hosted an event to assist undergraduate students in the process of soliciting a research position. In the Spring, the CUSJ hosted Dr. George Yancopoulos, founder of Regeneron and chief scientific officer, and held the annual symposium.&#x0D; This year’s the CUSJ Spring Research Symposium involved a welcome address from Dr. Gasperov, the undergraduate science research adviser at Columbia University, as well as a poster session where students presented on their research. The Awards of Excellence this year went to Nicholas Page from Rutgers University and Sarah Lundell from Fordham University.&#x0D; This Spring, the CUSJ also established the CUSJ Colloquium, a bi-weekly undergraduate speaker series where students from an array of scientific disciplines presented their research in a comfortable peer setting. Students discussed topics in research subjects including two-dimensional materials, exoplanets, biofilms, viral binding, ophthalmology, and photosynthetic origins of life.&#x0D; Our publications, the CUSJ and CJSJ, and the events we hosted this year could not have happened without the hard work of our editorial team and the assistance of our faculty board and advisors.&#x0D; Natalie Kolba, Editor-in-Chief Osman Moneer, President&#x0D; &#x0D;

Science Undergraduate Research Conference

Science Undergraduate Research Conference

Reform thought and practice on training application-oriented talents of medical laboratory technology specialty by the trinity of "teaching, clinics and research" method

Medical Laboratory Technology now belongs to the first-level discipline of medical technology and focuses on the cultivation of technical talents. At present, there are some problems in this professional education, such as emphasizing theoretical knowledge neglecting practical skills training, weak practicability of some courses and graduates' lack of professional quality. In this study, we have combined Teaching, Clinical and Scientific together. By improving the teaching staff, increasing the proportion of experimental courses, clinical skills and scientific research training, relying on verification-synthesis-design experiments, laboratory opening and undergraduate scientific research competitions, we have carried out professional personnel training, and have achieved better educational results, which is also helpful to the development of laboratory discipline. Key words: Medical laboratory technology; Application-oriented talents training; Practice teaching; Trinity of teaching, clinics and

Bringing scientific research education closer to undergraduates through International Genetically Engineered Machine competition

In recent years, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition has experienced rapid global development. In 2017 alone, the number of iGEM teams registered around the globe reached an unprecedented 313, with 98 iGEM teams from China having enrolled in the competition and obtained outstanding results. In contrast to the many college students' innovation projects and scientific research training programs in China, iGEM's organization mode is focused on student-centered research learning. Moreover, it achieved a rich educational effect, embodying a new educational idea, which gives it great significance for the extracurricular scientific research training of undergraduates in Chinese universities. In this article, we took Peking University's participation in the iGEM competition as a starting point. The first part introduces the background and general situation of the iGEM competition. The second part reproduces the general procedure of one iGEM season and organization of Peking University's team. The third part compares iGEM's organization mode with those of other undergraduate research training courses and discusses them in detail. The fourth part sums up the experience with iGEM activities as well as explains its effect on developing the research capacity of undergraduate students as well as inspiring them to organize an undergraduate scientific research competition. This article aims to provide a reference for the organization of iGEM activities in domestic universities and for the reform of undergraduate education.

Six Steps for Cultivating Successful Undergraduate Research

Six Steps for Cultivating Successful Undergraduate Research

Practice and Discussion of Scientific Research Ability Training for Undergraduates Major in Geomatics

Using the School of Geomatics and Urban Information at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture as a case, this article first explores the connotation of the undergraduate research. Then it investigates the research capability of undergraduates, followed by a detailed depiction of the implementation of the training methods such as academic lectures, practice-oriented teaching, laboratory construction and research-oriented supervisors. Finally it analyzes the problems in the trainings for the undergraduate scientific research ability in colleges and provides some suggestions. This research can provide some new ideas and new measures and will be helpful in enhancing the undergraduates’ scientific research level and promoting the cultivation of scientific research ability and innovative ability of college students across china.

Authentic computer science undergraduate research experience through computational science and research ownership

Authentic computer science undergraduate research experience through computational science and research ownership