Author:
Stewart John F.,Gustafson John E.,Moore Michael E.,Forshee J. Lance,Canaan Patricia,French Donald P.
Abstract
Students who experience research as undergraduates tend to remain in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Since course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are often expensive to implement, we developed a relatively inexpensive first-semester research course for majors entitled “Freshman Research in Biochemistry,” in which approximately 100 students participated in an ongoing research project each year. During this course, students conducted laboratory work related to multiple research veins, and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) and the instructor ensured that sufficient data from the laboratory were made available to the students to analyze. During three unique course iterations, students worked on faculty research projects that included connecting contigs of the draft genome of a native Oklahoma bacterial Arhodomonas isolate capable of degrading petroleum hydrocarbons, cloning antibiotic resistance genes from the genus Elizabethkingia, and analyzing RNAseq data from Elizabethkingia anopheles challenged with cell wall-active antibiotics to determine gene function, gene differential expression, and relative gene genome location. During the course, students scored results, analyzed data, maintained laboratory notebooks, and presented posters in a symposium to faculty and graduate TAs. To determine positive impacts of the course on students, they completed the Laboratory Course Assessment Survey in two course sections. Survey data indicated/students agreed that the course included elements of Iteration, Collaboration, and Discovery and Relevance. Students also reported that they gained scientific skills but were ambivalent about whether instructor feedback was harsh. Examination of Student Survey of Instruction responses showed students thought positively about the course, but some considered it too difficult. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry major cohort tracking revealed no effect of Freshman Research in Biochemistry on student persistence in the major or institution. Nonetheless, we consider the course a cost-conscious model for biochemistry and molecular biology departments for introducing research to first-year students.
Publisher
University of California Press
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Education
Reference31 articles.
1. Undergraduate research experience models: A systematic review of the literature from 2011 to 2021;International Journal of Educational Research,2022
2. American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2011). Vision and change in undergraduate biology education: A call to action. https://visionandchange.org/files/2011/03/Revised-Vision-and-Change-Final-Report.pdf
3. Assessment of course-based undergraduate research experiences: A meeting report;CBE—Life Sciences Education,2014
4. The Freshman Research Initiative as a Model for Addressing Shortages and Disparities in STEM Engagement
5. Cures in biochemistry – Where we are and where we should go;Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education,2017