Over the past two decades, there has been a move towards incorporation of authentic research into college curricula. The use of Course-Based Research Experiences is ideal for conveying concepts in a real-world context, and these experiences have high potential for positive impacts on students. Since 2013, our research has focused on development and evaluation of these experiences across a collaborative network of institutions in mid-Michigan. We formed a partnership between chemistry and biology faculty from a large research-intensive university, a predominantly undergraduate institution, and a community college. Together, authentic environmental research activities were incorporated through the curriculum (general chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry) and across disciplines (chemistry, biochemistry, biology) at the institutions. Presented in this talk are a summary of the activities incorporated, as well as recent evaluation results. Evaluation results include quantitative analyses as measured by the Science Motivation Questionnaire, the Awareness and Attitudes towards Environmental Issues survey, and concept inventories, as well as the preliminary qualitative analyses of responses to open-ended questionnaires and interviews of students and instructors.  This research is supported by NSF DUE TUES Grant No. 1323470.

Investigating impacts of authentic environmental research experiences in the college classroom: A multi-institution collaboration to incorporate research throughout the curriculum and across disciplines

255th National Meeting (2018)

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