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How to Assess Your CURE: A Practical Guide for Instructors of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences.

ABSTRACT: Integrating research experiences into undergraduate life sciences curricula in the form of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can meet national calls for education reform by giving students the chance to "do science." In this article, we provide a step-by-step practical guide to help instructors assess their CUREs using best practices in assessment. We recommend that instructors first identify their anticipated CURE learning outcomes, then work to identify an assessment instrument that aligns to those learning outcomes and critically evaluate the results from their course assessment. To aid instructors in becoming aware of what instruments have been developed, we have also synthesized a table of "off-the-shelf" assessment instruments that instructors could use to assess their own CUREs. However, we acknowledge that each CURE is unique and instructors may expect specific learning outcomes that cannot be assessed using existing assessment instruments, so we recommend that instructors consider developing their own assessments that are tightly aligned to the context of their CURE.

SUBMITTER: Shortlidge EE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5134943 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How to Identify the Research Abilities That Instructors Anticipate Students Will Develop in a Biochemistry Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE).

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Project description: Not available

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Project description:Evidence indicates that students who participate in scientific research during their undergraduate experience are more likely to pursue careers in the STEM disciplines and to develop increased scientific reasoning and literacy skills. One avenue to increase student engagement in research is via their enrollment in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), where they are able to conduct authentic research as part of the laboratory curriculum. The information presented herein provides an example of a CURE which was developed and implemented in an introductory cell and molecular biology course at the University of Northern Colorado. In addition to describing the Tigriopus CURE curriculum itself, we also present evidence regarding the effectiveness of the CURE in promoting students' development of confidence in science process skills, quantitative reasoning skills, and written communication skills. The curricular details of the Tigriopus CURE are provided in this article to provide instructors who are interested in CUREs the opportunity to implement this specific CURE in their own course.

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