Meeting Abstract
There are many benefits to getting students involved in research early in their career. However, first- and second-year students are often unaware of the research process and have no experience interacting with faculty, especially at large institutions. Three different one-credit course models devoted to preparing science and engineering students for successful research endeavors are currently offered at three institutions. Goals of this work include (1) involving students early in their academic career so they can gain the most out of subsequent research experiences, and (2) providing basic skills to make the transition into the research environment easier. These pre-research course models include a semester long seminar, a one-week faculty led “boot camp,” and an intense three-day peer mentor led course. These models have been implemented at each institution several times with instructors from life science and engineering backgrounds. The multi-university team has prepared a set of best practices from their experiences while evaluating the pros and cons associated with each format.
A pre- and post-test has been developed to help with the evaluation of the project. Initial results show similar gains in conceptual awareness between each course format and at each institution. This suggests that the educational models may be transferrable and easily adopted. Focus group discussions indicate that students are pleased with the programs and consider them useful, especially for students preparing to conduct research. Additionally, survey data indicates that students completing the program have a high placement into research experiences within one-year of completing the course. Since 2011, over 500 science and engineering pre-research students have completed the courses (33% in the life sciences), and a web site has been developed to disseminate information.
