In higher education, online students are often precluded from research assistantships that are more accessible for campus-based students. At a highly ranked institution for online learning, we developed the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) to address this gap in opportunities for online students. The URP is designed to engage fully distanced…

Purpose: The National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs are traditionally delivered in-person and full-time (40 h per week) for 10 weeks during the summer. However, this type of format has the potential to limit broader student participation. This study aims to compare learning assessment data between a…

With support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Merced Anomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing (MACES) was launched in the summer of 2015 at the University of California Merced (UC Merced). MACES is a research and education center, focused on creating innovative materials-enabled solutions for energy and…

Moreno Valley College, a two-year community college in Southern California, experiences an annual migration of cliff swallows. The presence of these birds inspired the development of the undergraduate research program Flying with Swallows. The assessment of the project indicated significant increases in qualitative student outcomes such as…

We evaluate how the U-Links Centre for Community-Based Research (U-Links), a nonprofit organization that brokers research for community-based organizations with postsecondary institutions in Haliburton County, Ontario, has impacted this rural region of Ontario. Our approach uses contribution analysis and realist evaluation as layered tactics…

This paper introduces an innovative project in teacher education, designed to enhance student teachers' engagement with educational research methods by creating in a peer-learning network. The Student Teacher Educational Research (STER) project was established by the author in partnership with a group of student volunteers in 2017. The project…

A theory of action outlining undergraduate research program inputs and desired outcomes was developed and used to guide implementation of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) sections and to create assessment tools to measure attainment of program goals in both apprentice-model undergraduate research and CURE. Student survey…

Programs involving research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) typically reflect either university-sponsored programs or programs funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that aim to facilitate students' research-based skill development. Despite the prevalence of research supporting the effectiveness of these programs, little research…

The National Institute of Justice (1999) and the National Academy of Sciences (2009) recommended that forensic science training shift from on-the-job training to formal education; however, the reports cited inconsistencies in the curricula of the forensic science degree programs as an impediment to this. The Forensic Science Education Programs…

Many university science outreach programs involve presentations of research projects to high school students. These presentations often focus more on exciting scientific content and less on fostering direct relationships between high school students and scientists. Such interactions are important for sustaining student interest in science…

This paper uses triangulation to assess key aspects of a team-based, participatory action research programme for undergraduates in rural communities across northern Ghana. The perceptions of the programme and its effects on the students, staff and host communities are compared, showing areas of agreement and disagreement. The successes of the…

GLOBE is a global educational program for elementary and high school levels, and its main purpose in Costa Rica is to develop scientific thinking and interest for science in high school students through hydrology research projects that allow them to relate science with environmental issues in their communities. Youth between 12 and 17 years old…

Honours research projects in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Adelaide are run with small groups of students working with an academic supervisor in a chosen area for one year. The research project is mainly self-directed study, which makes it very difficult to fairly assess the contribution of…

Over the past two decades, preparation of LIS professionals to conduct credible research has been both scrutinized and encouraged by a variety of scholars. The conclusion of these researchers has been that there is a paucity of courses and that opportunities for students to participate in authentic field research are few. There is a resulting need…

Retaining college-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students remains a priority in higher education. A variety of methods have been shown to increase retention, including mentorship, tutoring, course enhancements, community building, and engagement in high-impact practices such as undergraduate research. In 2011, an…