A Course-Based Research Experience: How Benefits Change with Increased Investment in Instructional Time
Open accessAbstract
There is widespread agreement that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs should provide undergraduates with research experience. Practical issues and limited resources, however, make this a challenge. We have developed a bioinformatics project that provides a course-based research experience for students at a diverse group of schools and offers the opportunity to tailor this experience to local curriculum and institution-specific student needs. We assessed both attitude and knowledge gains, looking for insights into how students respond given this wide range of curricular and institutional variables. While different approaches all appear to result in learning gains, we find that a significant investment of course time is required to enable students to show gains commensurate to a summer research experience. An alumni survey revealed that time spent on a research project is also a significant factor in the value former students assign to the experience one or more years later. We conclude: 1) implementation of a bioinformatics project within the biology curriculum provides a mechanism for successfully engaging large numbers of students in undergraduate research; 2) benefits to students are achievable at a wide variety of academic institutions; and 3) successful implementation of course-based research experiences requires significant investment of instructional time for students to gain full benefit.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
CUREs provide a viable mechanism to foster the development of factors related to a student's academic success and retention in STEM.
“Studies investigating course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) suggest that CUREs provide a viable mechanism to foster the development of factors related to a student’s academic success and retention in STEM (6–10).”
From Gains in Scientific Identity, Scientific Self-Efficacy, and Career Intent Distinguish Upper-Level CUREs from Traditional Experiences in the Classroom (2022) · cites this paper as [6]
Students experience cognitive gains from CUREs, including analyzing data, interpreting results, and increased content knowledge.
“Students experience cognitive gains, including analyzing data, interpreting results, and increased content knowledge (6–10, 17, 18).”
From Gains in Scientific Identity, Scientific Self-Efficacy, and Career Intent Distinguish Upper-Level CUREs from Traditional Experiences in the Classroom (2022) · cites this paper as [6]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Classroom-Based Science Research at the Introductory Level: Changes in Career Choices and Attitude
Harrison, M., Dunbar, D., Ratmansky, L., Boyd, K., & Lopatto, D. (2011) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.10-12-0151 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 34
- Anderson LW Krathwohl DR (eds.) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives 2001 Boston, MA Allyn & Bacon
- Banta LM Integrating genomics research throughout the undergraduate curriculum: a collection of inquiry-based genomics lab modules CBE Life Sci Educ 2012 11 203 208 22949416 PMC3433288
- Bascom-Slack CA Arnold AE Strobel SA Student-directed discovery of the plant microbiome and its products Science 2012 338 485 486 23112324
- Boomer S Lodge D Dutton B Bacterial diversity studies using the 16S rRNA gene provide a powerful research-based curriculum for molecular biology laboratory Microbiol Educ 2002 3 18 25 23653546 PMC3633119
- Brenner S Life sentences: ontology recapitulates philology Genome Biol 2002 3 comment1006 11983049 PMC139340
- Campbell AM Ledbetter ML Hoopes LL Eckdahl TT Heyer LJ, Rosenwald A, Fowlks E, Tonidandel S, Bucholtz B, Gottfried G Genome Consortium for Active Teaching: meeting the goals of BIO2010 CBE Life Sci Educ 2007 6 109 118 17548873 PMC1885901
- Call GB Genome-wide clonal analysis of lethal mutations in the Drosophila melanogaster eye: comparison of the X chromosome and autosomes Genetics 2007 177 689 697 17720911 PMC2034635
- Caruso S Sandoz J Kelsey J Non-STEM undergraduates become enthusiastic phage-hunters CBE Life Sci Educ 2009 8 278 282 19952096 PMC2786278
- Chen J Discovery-based science education: functional genomic dissection in Drosophila by undergraduate researchers PLoS Biol 2005 3 e59 15719063 PMC548953
- Clark AG Drosophila 12 Genomes Consortium. Evolution of genes and genomes on the Drosophila phylogeny Nature 2007 450 203 218 17994087
- Ditty JL Incorporating genomics and bioinformatics across the life sciences curriculum PLoS Biol 2010 8 e1000448 20711478 PMC2919421
- Drew J Triplett E Whole genome sequencing in the undergraduate classroom: outcomes and lessons from a pilot course J Microbiol Biol Educ 2008 9 3 11 23653818 PMC3577148
- Emerson JA Key SCS Alvarez CJ Mel S McNeil G, Saville KJ, Leung W, Shaffer CD, Elgin SCR Introduction to the Genomics Education Partnership and collaborative genomics research in Drosophila In: Association for Biology Laboratory Education: Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching, Proceedings of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education, vol. 34, pp. 135–165. www.ableweb.org/volumes/vol-34/v34reprint.php?ch=6 (accessed 27 January 2014) 2013
- Evans C G-TRACE rapid Gal4-based cell lineage analysis in Drosophila Nat Methods 2009 6 603 605 19633663 PMC2754220
- GenBank NCBI GenBank home page 2013 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank (accessed 6 July 2013)
- Goff SA The iPlant collaborative: cyber infrastructure for plant biology Front Plant Sci 2011 2 34 22645531 PMC3355756
- Hanauer DI Jacobs-Sera D Pedulla ML Cresawn SG Hendrix RW, Hatfull GF Teaching scientific inquiry Science 2006 314 1880 1881 17185586
- Hatfull GF Exploring the mycobacteriophage metaproteome: phage genomics as an education platform PLoS Genet 2006 2 e92 16789831 PMC1475703
- Hingamp P Brochier C Talla E Gautheret D Thieffry D, Herrmann C Metagenome annotation using a distributed grid of undergraduate students PLoS Biol 2008 6 e296 19067492 PMC2586363
- Jacob-Sera D On the nature of mycobacteriophage diversity and host preference Virology 2012 434 187 201 23084079 PMC3518647
- Kent WJ Sugnet CW Furey TS Roskin KM Pringle TH, Zahler AM, Hausslet D The human genome browser at UCSC Genome Res 2002 12 996 1006 12045153 PMC186604
- Kerfeld CA Simons RW The Undergraduate Genomics Research Initiative PLoS Biol 2007 5 e141 17503966 PMC1868073
- Leung W Evolution of a distinct genomic domain in Drosophila: comparative analysis of the dot chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila virilis Genetics 2010 185 1519 1534 20479145 PMC2927774
- Locks A Gregerman S Taraban R Blanton RL Undergraduate research as an institutional retention strategy: the University of Michigan model Creating Effective Undergraduate Research Programs in Science 2008 New York Teachers College Press 11 32
- Lopatto D Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE): first findings Cell Biol Educ 2004 3 270 277 15592600 PMC533131
- Lopatto D Undergraduate research experiences support science career decisions and active learning CBE Life Sci Educ 2007 6 297 306 18056301 PMC2104507
- Lopatto D Genomics Education Partnership Science 2008 322 684 685 18974335 PMC2953277
- National Center for Biotechnology Information NCBI home page 2013 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed 6 July 2013)
- National Research Council BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists 2003 Washington, DC National Academies Press http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10497.html (accessed 6 July 2013) 20669482
- Oleksyk TK A locally funded Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata) genome sequencing project increases avian data and advances young researcher education GigaScience 2012 1 14 23587420 PMC3626513
- Riddle NC Shaffer CD Elgin SCR A lot about a little dot: lessons learned from Drosophila melanogaster chromosome 4 Biochem Cell Biol 2009 87 229 241 19234537 PMC2950803
- Riddle NC Enrichment of HP1a on Drosophila chromosome 4 genes creates an alternate chromatin structure critical for regulation in this heterochromatic domain PLoS Genet 2012 8 e1002954 23028361 PMC3447959
- Shaffer CD The Genomics Education Partnership: successful integration of research into laboratory classes at a diverse group of undergraduate institutions CBE Life Sci Educ 2010 9 55 69 20194808 PMC2830162
- Singer SR Keeping an eye on biology Science 2013 339 408 409 23349282
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Brownell, S. E., Hekmat-Scafe, D. S., Singla, V., Chandler Seawell, P., Conklin Imam, J. F., Eddy, S. L., Stearns, T., & Cyert, M. S. (2015) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.14-05-0092 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Kelley, E. W. (2021) · Journal of Chemical Education · doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00457 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Shuster, M. I., Curtiss, J., Wright, T. F., Champion, C., Sharifi, M., & Bosland, J. (2019) · Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning · doi:10.7771/1541-5015.1806 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
NIBLSE: A network for integrating bioinformatics into life sciences education
Dinsdale, E., Elgin, S. C. R., Grandgenett, N., Morgan, W., Rosenwald, A., Tapprich, W., Triplett, E. W., & Pauley, M. A. (2015) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.15-06-0123 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationNewell, M. J., & Ulrich, P. N. (2022) · Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education · doi:10.1128/jmbe.00051-22 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
The genome solver project: Faculty training and student performance gains in bioinformatics
Mathur, V., Arora, G. S., McWilliams, M., Russell, J., & Rosenwald, A. G. (2019) · Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education · doi:10.1128/jmbe.v20i1.1607 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationLauren, P. (2024) · 2024 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) · doi:10.1109/fie61694.2024.10893139 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Shaffer, C. D., Alvarez, C. J., Bednarski, A. E., Dunbar, D., Goodman, A. L., Reinke, C., Rosenwald, A. G., Wolyniak, M. J., Bailey, C., Barnard, D., Bazinet, C., Beach, D. L., Bedard, J. E. J., Bhalla, S., Braverman, J., Burg, M., Chandrasekaran, V., Chung, H.-M., Clase, K., DeJong, R. J., DiAngelo, J. R., Du, C., Eckdahl, T. T., Eisler, H., Emerson, J. A., Frary, A., Frohlich, D., Gosser, Y., Govind, S., Haberman, A., Hark, A. T., Hauser, C., Hoogewerf, A., Hoopes, L. L. M., Howell, C. E., Johnson, D., Jones, C. J., Kadlec, L., Kaehler, M., Silver Key, S. C., Kleinschmit, A., Kokan, N. P., Kopp, O., Kuleck, G., Leatherman, J., Lopilato, J., MacKinnon, C., Martinez-Cruzado, J. C., McNeil, G., Mel, S., Mistry, H., Nagengast, A., Overvoorde, P., Paetkau, D. W., Parrish, S., Peterson, C. N., Preuss, M., Reed, L. K., Revie, D., Robic, S., Roecklein-Canfield, J., Rubin, M. R., Saville, K., Schroeder, S., Sharif, K., Shaw, M., Skuse, G., Smith, C. D., Smith, M. A., Smith, S. T., Spana, E., Spratt, M., Sreenivasan, A., Stamm, J., Szauter, P., Thompson, J. S., Wawersik, M., Youngblom, J., Zhou, L., Mardis, E. R., Buhler, J., Leung, W., Lopatto, D., & Elgin, S. C. R.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Longwood University (US)
- Cabrini University (US)
- California Polytechnic State University (US)
- Linfield College (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Hampden–Sydney College (US)
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Worcester State University (US)
- St. John's University (US)
- University of the Fraser Valley (CA)
- Johnson C. Smith University (US)
- Saint Joseph's University (US)
- Grand Valley State University (US)
- Saint Mary's College of California (US)
- University of West Florida (US)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Calvin University (US)
- Hofstra University (US)
- Montclair State University (US)
- Missouri Western State University (US)
- University of the Cumberlands (US)
- Amherst College (US)
- Department of Biological Sciences, Mount Holyoke, South Hadley, MA 01075
- University of St. Thomas - Texas (US)
- City University of New York (US)
- City College of New York (US)
- University of San Diego (US)
- Muhlenberg College (US)
- St. Edward's University (US)
- Pomona College (US)
- Lock Haven University (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- Moravian University (US)
- Wilkes University (US)
- Luther College (US)
- Biology Department, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707
- Adams State University (US)
- Cardinal Stritch University (US)
- Utah Valley University (US)
- Loyola Marymount University (US)
- University of Northern Colorado (US)
- Simmons University (US)
- University of the Incarnate Word (US)
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Mayaguez, PR 00680
- York College, City University of New York (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Widener University (US)
- Macalester College (US)
- Saint Mary's College (US)
- McDaniel College (US)
- Suffolk University (US)
- Webster University (US)
- University of Alabama (US)
- California Lutheran University (US)
- Agnes Scott College (US)
- Department of Chemistry, Simmons College, Boston, MA 02115
- University of Puerto Rico at Cayey (PR)
- Department of Biology, Albion College, Albion, MI 49224
- LaGuardia Community College (US)
- New Mexico Highlands University (US)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (US)
- San Francisco State University (US)
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (US)
- Arcadia University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- William Woods University (US)
- California State University, Monterey Bay (US)
- University of Evansville (US)
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Denison University (US)
- William & Mary (US)
- California State University, Stanislaus (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Grinnell College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shaffer, Christopher D.
- ORCID
- Shaffer, Christopher D.
- Alvarez, Consuelo J.
- Bednarski, April E.
- Dunbar, David
- Goodman, Anya L.
- Rosenwald, Anne G.
- Wolyniak, Michael J.
- Bailey, Cheryl
- Bazinet, Christopher
- Braverman, John
- Chandrasekaran, Vidya
- Clase, Kari
- DeJong, Randall J.
- Du, Chunguang
- Frary, Amy
- Govind, Shubha
- Haberman, Adam
- Hark, Amy T.
- Hauser, Charles
- Johnson, Diana
- Kleinschmit, Adam
- Leatherman, Judith
- Nagengast, Alexis
- Parrish, Susan
- Peterson, Celeste N.
- Reed, Laura K.
- Robic, Srebrenka
- Schroeder, Stephanie
- Skuse, Gary
- Spana, Eric
- Stamm, Joyce
- Thompson, Jeffrey S.
- Wawersik, Matthew
- Youngblom, James
- Zhou, Leming
- Mardis, Elaine R.
- Buhler, Jeremy
- Leung, Wilson
- Elgin, Sarah C. R.
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2014-03
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 111-130
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3940452
- OpenAlex
- W2124417537
- Cited by
- 178
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 61.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital USD (University of San Diego) (submittedVersion)
- CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Commons - CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- DigitalCommons@Linfield (Linfield College) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Lincoln (University of Nebraska) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Commons@Becker (Washington University School of Medicine) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- W&M Publish (College of William & Mary) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (52007051)
- Yale University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of California, Los Angeles
- National Human Genome Research Institute (U54HG003079, 2U54 HG00307910)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM059429)
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (P20MD006144)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research
- Social Sciences › Education › Problem and Project Based Learning
- Keywords
- course-based research experience, undergraduate research, learning gains, student attitudes, alumni survey, STEM education, biology curriculum
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Biology, Cooperative Behavior, Curriculum, Data Collection, Faculty, Humans, Learning, Surveys and Questionnaires, Research, Research Personnel, Time Factors, Program Evaluation, Genome, Knowledge, Genomics, Self Report, Molecular Sequence Annotation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
