Gender Identity and Student Perceptions of Peer Research Aptitude in CUREs and Traditional Laboratory Courses in the Biological Sciences.

While several studies have investigated gender inequities in the social learning environment of biology lecture courses, that same phenomenon remains largely unexplored in biology laboratory contexts. We conducted a mixed methods study to understand the influence of gender on student perceptions of their peers' research aptitude in introductory biology CUREs and traditional laboratory courses. Specifically, students (N = 125) were asked to complete a name generator survey at three time points across the semester. This survey asked students to list the names of peers whom they viewed as "most proficient" in the course investigations and to justify their choice via an open-ended response prompt. Using social network analysis, exponential random graph modeling (ERGM), and thematic analysis, we demonstrate that student gender identity did not influence nomination behaviors in CURE or traditional laboratory courses. However, the ERGMs reveal the presence of a popularity effect in CUREs and demonstrate that mutual nominations were more prevalent in traditional laboratory courses. Our qualitative data further provide insights into the reasons students nominated peers as proficient in CURE and traditional courses.

Preparing Teaching Assistants to Facilitate Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in the Biological Sciences: A Call to Action.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer an expanding avenue to engage students in real-world scientific practices. Increasingly, CUREs are instructed by graduate teaching assistants (TAs), yet TAs may be underprepared to facilitate and face unique barriers when teaching CUREs. Consequently, unless TAs are provided professional development (PD) and resources to teach CUREs effectively, they and their students may not reap the assumed benefits of CURE instruction. Here, we describe three perspectives - that of the CURE TA, the CURE designer/facilitator, and the CURE student - that are collectively intended to inform the development of tentative components of CURE TA PD. We compare these perspectives to previous studies in the literature in an effort to identify commonalities across all sources and offer potential insights for advancing CURE TA PD efforts across a diversity of institutional environments. We propose that the most effective CURE TA PD programs will promote the use of CURE-specific instructional strategies as benchmarks for guiding change in teaching practices and should focus on three major elements: 1) enhancement of research and teaching acumen, 2) development of effective and inclusive mentoring practices, and 3) identification and understanding of the factors that make CUREs a unique learning experience.

SMART CUREs: a Professional Development Program for Advancing Teaching Assistant Preparedness To Facilitate Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a viable platform to engage large numbers of students in real-world scientific practices. Historically, CUREs have been offered throughout science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula at both the introductory and advanced levels and have been facilitated by a variety of individuals, including faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This latter population, in particular, has increasingly been tasked with facilitating CUREs, yet they often receive little meaningful professional development to improve pedagogical skills vital to this type of instruction. To address this disparity, we designed and evaluated a semester-long intervention to support GTAs (N = 7) responsible for leading CUREs at our institution during the Fall 2020 semester. Intervention activities included synchronous interactive discussions, reflective journaling, and asynchronous practical exercises. Analysis of retrospective postintervention survey responses and focus group interview data revealed that participants exhibited gains in their understanding of the dimensions of CUREs, strategies for mentoring undergraduates, and use of various pedagogical techniques as well as confidence in addressing and adopting those dimensions and strategies in their courses. Furthermore, participants reported finding value in the sense of community created through the intervention, which served as a means to share ideas and struggles throughout the term.

Converting a face-to-face neuroanatomy course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) to an online environment: lessons learned from remote teaching.

Previously, we described a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for first-year students that featured a unique approach to brain mapping in a model organism (rat). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we adapted this course for an online learning environment, emphasizing image analysis (identifying immunoreactive signal in an immunohistochemical stain, making neuroanatomical distinctions in a cytoarchitectural stain) and translation of image data to the brain atlas. Using a quasiexperimental mixed methods approach, we evaluated aspects of student engagement and perceived gains in student confidence with respect to the nature and process of science and student science identity development. Additionally, we examined the dynamics of mentorship and student connectedness experienced in the online-only context. We found that the majority of students reported positive affective outcomes for the course in domains such as project ownership and project engagement in addition to positive responses toward perceived mentorship received during the course. Unsurprisingly, students expressed frustration in not being able to freely communicate with members of the course in an organic face-to-face environment. Furthermore, we found that students encountered greater difficulty in mastering image software skills causing a delay in producing consistent-quality data maps. From our analysis of the course, we have identified both useful approaches and areas for course improvement in any future iterations of the online research course.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Herein, we describe the process of converting a novel, face-to-face neuroanatomy course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) to an online-only research setting. We document student affective and skill gains resultant from participating in this course and examine best practices for structuring online CUREs to maximize student learning and success.

Racial Health Disparities and Black Heterogeneity in COVID-19: A Case Study of Miami Gardens.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a critical public health concern that has disproportionately affected the Black community in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and protective factors faced by residents in the City of Miami Gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic, with emphases placed on racial health disparities and Black heterogeneity. Using convenience and snowball sampling, quantitative and qualitative data for this study were collected via an anonymous online questionnaire using QuestionPro. Survey links were distributed by e-mail invitations with assistance from city officials to the residents of this predominantly Black city in Florida (n = 83). Descriptive statistics and relevant qualitative responses are presented. Furthermore, a machine learning (ML) approach was used to select the most critical variables that characterized the two racial groups (Black versus non-Black participants) based on four ML feature selectors. Study findings offered important and interesting insights. Specifically, despite the greater prevalence of adopting measures to protect themselves and others from COVID-19, Black participants were more susceptible to activities that increased their COVID-19 risk levels. In addition, their rate of infection, particularly among the Afro-Caribbean ethnic group, was reported to be higher, indicating the need to further investigate the underlying conditions and root causes (including vaccine hesitancy and refusal) that contribute to their greater health disparities.

No Cameras, No Problem: Creating an Inclusive Research-Driven Classroom Environment Using Student-Generated Avatars.

Student involvement in distance education has continued to increase over the last decade and has been accelerated by the unplanned transition to remote instruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical data demonstrate variable levels of student learning and engagement in such environments, including limited use of technologies (e.g., laptop cameras) to interact with peers and course instructors. Consequently, creating accessible and inclusive virtual learning contexts that best promote collaboration and success - whether in lecture or laboratory spaces - can be a challenge. To address these concerns, we developed and evaluated the Researcher Avatar (RA) activity, a brief exercise designed to provide students with the opportunity to depict and describe their identity as a scientific researcher through creation of an avatar. Students then made use of their avatars as their profile pictures on the course videoconferencing platform throughout the duration of the term. Participants (N = 24) who completed the RA activity as part of an online Research Foundations Course at our institution developed avatars that included both stereotypical imagery of scientists (e.g., lab coat) and personal attributes intended to reflect their dedication to science, collegiality, and future career interests. Collectively, participants reported that the activity was valuable in allowing them to "see" and get to know their classmates while likewise offering them the chance to reflect on their own goals as a researcher.

Addressing Foodborne Illness in Côte d'Ivoire: Connecting the Classroom to the Community through a Nonmajors Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience.

The integration of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) laboratory curricula has provided new avenues to engage students at all levels in discovery-based learning. Empirical research demonstrates that CUREs have the potential to foster students' development of scientific process and reasoning skills, attitudes, motivations, and persistence in STEM. Yet, these outcomes are largely reported for studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. It therefore remains unclear to what extent CUREs are impactful for students enrolled in alternate international university contexts. To address this concern, we conducted a quasi-experimental mixed methods study to investigate the impact of a one-semester food microbiology and public health (FMPH) CURE on nonmajors students' development of science identity, science communication and process skills, science community values, and science-society perceptions at a private institution in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Content analysis of students' end-of-semester research poster products and thematic analysis of student responses to post-semester open-ended survey items revealed positive gains with respect to student learning and student perceptions of the relevancy of their research to diverse audiences. Paired t-test analyses of pre-/post-semester closed-ended survey responses likewise indicated significant gains in students' science identity and science community values development as well as their confidence in handling and treating foods to reduce the bacterial load on those foods. Collectively, these findings suggest that the FMPH CURE was a meaningful and relevant learning experience capable of promoting students' growth as scientists and scientifically-minded citizens.

The DoC IT: a Professional Development Tool to Support and Articulate Alignment of One's Course with the Five Dimensions of CUREs.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer a powerful approach to engage students at all academic levels in the process of scientific discovery. In comparison to prescriptive laboratory exercises, CUREs have been shown to promote students' science process skill development, positive attitudes toward scientific research, and persistence in STEM. While this is the case, descriptions of CUREs within the literature vary widely, particularly in the extent to which they explicitly address the five posited dimensions of CUREs. This can present as a challenge to both novice CURE facilitators, who may be unfamiliar with CURE terminology, as well as the CURE community as a whole, who seek to understand what facets of CUREs impact student outcomes. In response, we created the "Dimensions of CUREs Informational Template" (DoC IT), a professional development tool amenable for use with CURE designers, facilitators, and evaluators. Application of this tool is intended as a viable step in achieving a unified way to discuss CUREs in both intra- and interinstitutional contexts.

Current Approaches for Integrating Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Education into Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A National Assessment.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), which often engage students as early as freshman year, have become increasingly common in biology curricula. While many studies have highlighted the benefits of CUREs, little attention has been paid to responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education in such contexts. Given this observation, we adopted a mixed methods approach to explore the extent to which RECR education is being implemented and assessed in biological sciences CUREs nationwide. Survey and semistructured interview data show a general awareness of the importance of incorporating RECR education into CUREs, with all respondents addressing at least one RECR topic in their courses. However, integration of RECR education within the CURE environment primarily focuses on the application of RECR during research practice, often takes the form of corrective measures, and appears to be rarely assessed. Participants reported lack of time and materials as the main barriers to purposeful inclusion of RECR education within their courses. These results underscore a need for the CURE community to develop resources and effective models to integrate RECR education into biology CUREs.

A historical perspective on training students to create standardized maps of novel brain structure: Newly-uncovered resonances between past and present research-based neuroanatomy curricula.

Recent efforts to reform postsecondary STEM education in the U.S. have resulted in the creation of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), which, among other outcomes, have successfully retained freshmen in their chosen STEM majors and provided them with a greater sense of identity as scientists by enabling them to experience how research is conducted in a laboratory setting. In 2014, we launched our own laboratory-based CURE, Brain Mapping & Connectomics (BMC). Now in its seventh year, BMC trains University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) undergraduates to identify and label neuron populations in the rat brain, analyze their cytoarchitecture, and draw their detailed chemoarchitecture onto standardized rat brain atlas maps in stereotaxic space. Significantly, some BMC students produce atlas drawings derived from their coursework or from further independent study after the course that are being presented and/or published in the scientific literature. These maps should prove useful to neuroscientists seeking to experimentally target elusive neuron populations. Here, we review the procedures taught in BMC that have empowered students to learn about the scientific process. We contextualize our efforts with those similarly carried out over a century ago to reform U.S. medical education. Notably, we have uncovered historical records that highlight interesting resonances between our curriculum and that created at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School (JHUMS) in the 1890s. Although the two programs are over a century apart and were created for students of differing career levels, many aspects between them are strikingly similar, including the unique atlas-based brain mapping methods they encouraged students to learn. A notable example of these efforts was the brain atlas maps published by Florence Sabin, a JHUMS student who later became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. We conclude by discussing how the revitalization of century-old methods and their dissemination to the next generation of scientists in BMC not only provides student benefit and academic development, but also acts to preserve what are increasingly becoming "lost arts" critical for advancing neuroscience - brain histology, cytoarchitectonics, and atlas-based mapping of novel brain structure.

Framework for advancing rigorous research.

There is a pressing need to increase the rigor of research in the life and biomedical sciences. To address this issue, we propose that communities of 'rigor champions' be established to campaign for reforms of the research culture that has led to shortcomings in rigor. These communities of rigor champions would also assist in the development and adoption of a comprehensive educational platform that would teach the principles of rigorous science to researchers at all career stages.

Characterization of Instructor and Student Behaviors in CURE and Non-CURE Learning Environments: Impacts on Student Motivation, Science Identity Development, and Perceptions of the Laboratory Experience.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) serve to increase student access to authentic scientific opportunities. Current evidence within the literature indicates that engagement in CUREs promotes students' science identity development, science self-efficacy, motivation, and ability to "think like a scientist." Despite the importance of these findings, few studies have examined the behaviors and interactions occurring within CURE and non-CURE settings and the impact of those behaviors on said student outcomes. To address these concerns, we conducted a mixed-methods study to explore student and instructor behaviors in four CURE and four non-CURE introductory biology laboratory sections. Representative video data were collected in each section and coded using the Laboratory Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM. In addition, pre/postsemester affective survey data were obtained from CURE and non-CURE participants. Results indicated that CURE students and instructors engaged in more interactive behaviors (e.g., one-on-one dialogue, questioning) than their non-CURE counterparts, a finding confirmed by analyzing behavioral patterns via construction of partial correlation networks. Multiple regression analyses further revealed that both student and instructor interactive behaviors and enrollment in a CURE were strong predictors of pre/postsemester shifts in student motivation, science identity development, collaboration, and perceived opportunities to make relevant scientific discoveries.

Place-Based Case Studies: A New Approach to an Effective Teaching Practice.

Case-based approaches have been used extensively in STEM classrooms to enhance the real-world applicability of course content. Prior research in the bioeducation field indicates, specifically, that such methods lead to increases in students' conceptual understanding and affect in the discipline relative to more traditional methods. Despite these outcomes, the majority of case study exercises are formatted in a generalist manner. In other words, the content and context of the case study itself are not framed around the communities in which the students live. In an effort to address this concern, we developed and implemented a series of place-based case study (PBCS) exercises within the introductory cell and molecular biology courses at our institutions. A comparative, quasi-experimental approach was used to evaluate the impact of PBCSs versus non-PBCSs on cognitive and non-cognitive student outcomes. Results indicated that both PBCSs and non-PBCSs led to increases in students' content knowledge; however, no statistically significant difference existed in post-exercise performance between the PBCS and non-PBCS cohorts at the University of Texas, for instance, after controlling for confounding factors. Importantly, data also revealed that students within the PBCS cohort agreed more strongly that the case studies provided them with a better understanding of how scientific advancements and research impacted the community in which they lived than did their peers in the non-PBCS cohort. Collectively, these outcomes suggest that PBCSs offer a scalable, classroom-based approach to engage students in relevant, practical experiences that are of direct interest to them and, ideally, the broader scientific community.

Recommendations for Effective Integration of Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research (E/RCR) Education into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report.

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines. During the inaugural ENCOUR meeting, a four-pronged approach was used to develop guidelines for the effective integration of E/RCR in CUREs. This approach included: 1) defining appropriate student learning objectives; 2) identifying relevant curriculum; 3) identifying relevant assessments; and 4) defining key aspects of professional development for CURE facilitators. Meeting outcomes, including the aforementioned E/RCR guidelines, are described herein.

Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Outcomes Associated with Student Engagement in a Novel Brain Chemoarchitecture Mapping Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) engage emerging scholars in the authentic process of scientific discovery, and foster their development of content knowledge, motivation, and persistence in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Importantly, authentic research courses simultaneously offer investigators unique access to an extended population of students who receive education and mentoring in conducting scientifically relevant investigations and who are thus able to contribute effort toward big-data projects. While this paradigm benefits fields in neuroscience, such as atlas-based brain mapping of nerve cells at the tissue level, there are few documented cases of such laboratory courses offered in the domain. Here, we describe a curriculum designed to address this deficit, evaluate the scientific merit of novel student-produced brain atlas maps of immunohistochemically-identified nerve cell populations for the rat brain, and assess shifts in science identity, attitudes, and science communication skills of students engaged in the introductory-level Brain Mapping and Connectomics (BM&C) CURE. BM&C students reported gains in research and science process skills following participation in the course. Furthermore, BM&C students experienced a greater sense of science identity, including a greater likelihood to discuss course activities with non-class members compared to their non-CURE counterparts. Importantly, evaluation of student-generated brain atlas maps indicated that the course enabled students to produce scientifically valid products and make new discoveries to advance the field of neuroanatomy. Together, these findings support the efficacy of the BM&C course in addressing the relatively esoteric demands of chemoarchitectural brain mapping.

Collaborative Posters Develop Students' Ability to Communicate about Undervalued Scientific Resources to Nonscientists.

Scientists are increasingly called upon to communicate with the public, yet most never receive formal training in this area. Public understanding is particularly critical to maintaining support for undervalued resources such as biological collections, research data repositories, and expensive equipment. We describe activities carried out in an inquiry-driven organismal biology laboratory course designed to engage a diverse student body using biological collections. The goals of this cooperative learning experience were to increase students' ability to locate and comprehend primary research articles, and to communicate the importance of an undervalued scientific resource to nonscientists. Our results indicate that collaboratively created, research-focused informational posters are an effective tool for achieving these goals and may be applied in other disciplines or classroom settings.

Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students' Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide an avenue for student participation in authentic scientific opportunities. Within the context of such coursework, students are often expected to collect, analyze, and evaluate data obtained from their own investigations. Yet, limited research has been conducted that examines mechanisms for supporting students in these endeavors. In this article, we discuss the development and evaluation of an interactive statistics workshop that was expressly designed to provide students with an open platform for graduate teaching assistant (GTA)-mentored data processing, statistical testing, and synthesis of their own research findings. Mixed methods analyses of pre/post-intervention survey data indicated a statistically significant increase in students' reasoning and quantitative literacy abilities in the domain, as well as enhancement of student self-reported confidence in and knowledge of the application of various statistical metrics to real-world contexts. Collectively, these data reify an important role for scaffolded instruction in statistics in preparing emergent scientists to be data-savvy researchers in a globally expansive STEM workforce.

A Call for Programmatic Assessment of Undergraduate Students' Conceptual Understanding and Higher-Order Cognitive Skills.

In response to empirical evidence and calls for change, individual undergraduate biology instructors are reforming their pedagogical practices. To assess the effectiveness of these reforms, many instructors use course-specific or skill-specific assessments (e.g., concept inventories). We commend our colleagues' noble efforts, yet we contend that this is only a starting point. In this Perspectives article, we argue that departments need to engage in reform and programmatic assessment to produce graduates who have both subject-matter knowledge and higher-order cognitive skills. We encourage biology education researchers to work collaboratively with content specialists to develop program-level assessments aimed at measuring students' conceptual understanding and higher-order cognitive skills, and we encourage departments to develop longitudinal plans for monitoring their students' development of these skills.