Author(s):
NEEDCourse-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are a type of inquiry-based laboratory pedagogy in which students undertake an authentic, hypothesis-driven research problem, with unknown results, that are of interest outside the classroom. Since their introduction in the mid-2000s, CUREs have been developed and studied in a wide variety of contexts, and their unique characteristics and benefits have been systematically investigated. It is known that the duration of the CURE experience impacts student outcomes; however, almost all CUREs are designed and studied as one-semester, stand-alone experiences. Thus, there is a need to design, develop, and investigate multi-year CURE curricula and to study their impacts on student learning.This work addresses this need by developing and implementing CUREs in four chemistry laboratory courses at the State University of New York – Geneseo, a primarily undergraduate institution of 5,000 students in upstate New York. The CUREs are introduced in students’ first year laboratory experiences and are scaffolded in a multi-year sequence spanning a range of chemistry sub-disciplines throughout a 4-year curriculum. GUIDING QUESTIONThe guiding question of this work is “What are the impacts of a multi-year, sequenced laboratory CURE curriculum on student learning?” More specifically, we hypothesize that a multi-year CURE curriculum will produce larger gains in student self-efficacy compared to stand-alone experiences. We have designed a longitudinal study utilizing the Persistence in the Sciences (PITS) survey data, a validated and reliable instrument to measure student perception self-efficacy, to answer this research question.OUTCOMES33 unique individuals completed 58 CURE experiences between 2021-2024 at SUNY Geneseo as part of the research project. Multiple linear regression analysis of student survey responses indicates a statistically significant effect of the number of CURE experiences on self-reported self-efficacy (B = 0.42, p = 0.048). Qualitative analysis of open-ended student survey questions suggests that positive associations with different CURE design features (discovery, ownership, collaboration, mentorship, iteration) change over time, which may explain why CURE impacts increase with the number of experiences. Analysis of student retention pre-/post-intervention indicates student retention in the Chemistry major significantly increased following implementation of the CURE curriculum.BROADER IMPACTSThrough this project we aim to transform the chemistry laboratory curriculum by centering it on the high impact practice of undergraduate research. Results indicate possible pathways to expand the impacts of CURE experiences, resulting in improved student learning and experience, a greater persistence in pursuing post-baccalaureate education, and ultimately more effective STEM educational practices.
Coauthors
Eric Helms, SUNY Geneseo; Michael Webb, SUNY Geneseo
