Meeting Abstract

79.5  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Advancing Interest in Graduate Research through Undergraduate/Scientist Partnerships: The Tioga Learning Community BLANK, L.M.*; VALEN, A.; University of Montana, Missoula; University of Montana, Missoula lisa.blank@mso.umt.edu

Creating dynamic learning communities for undergraduate science students that motivate and support their interest in pursuing graduate research opportunities and develop their ability and commitment to successfully communicate complex scientific information to the general public is a perennial challenge. The Tioga Learning Community Internship project partnered undergraduate science majors and science education majors with research scientists and education faculty. Students and faculty met as a learning community for a one-semester seminar where students developed a deeper understanding of stress ecology, proficiency in field research techniques, and the ability to use educational research to develop a teaching module on the behavior, telemetry study, and general biology of white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) populations established in the high Sierra Mountains. Students then spent four weeks in the field with research faculty examining the adrenocortical response to stress and the behavioral and cellular actions of glucocorticoids in the white-crowned sparrow; and, visited three local schools where they taught the stress ecology modules they had co-developed with education faculty. At the completion of the project, undergraduate students demonstrated deeper knowledge of the scientific principles underlying stress ecology, proficiency in a variety of teaching pedagogy, increased self-efficacy in designing and pursuing research questions in the field, and an enhanced interest in pursuing graduate research opportunities in ecology and/or science education.