In undergraduate research settings, students are likely to encounter anomalous data, that is, data that do not meet their expectations. Most of the research that directly or indirectly captures the role of anomalous data in research settings uses post-hoc reflective interviews or surveys. These data collection approaches focus on recall of past…

The "Hagen Cumulative Science Project" is a large-scale replication project based on students' thesis work. In the project, we aim to (a) teach students to conduct the entire research process for conducting a replication according to open science standards and (b) contribute to cumulative science by increasing the number of direct…

Many instructional physics labs are shifting to teach experimentation skills, rather than to demonstrate or confirm canonical physics phenomena. Our previous work found that many students engage in questionable research practices in attempts to confirm the canonical physics phenomena, even when confirmation is explicitly not the goal of the lab.…

In qualitative doctoral research the methodological approach, and the research design are extremely important when ensuring the rigorousness of the work. This is particularly significant for all researchers, and even more for doctoral students who are still developing their research and analytical skills. This paper aims to support doctoral…

In this article we report on the use of a graduate "Special Topics" course to provide vital research and practical laboratory experience, within the context of developing a chemical process to manufacture biodiesel from algal sources. This course contained several key components that we believe are necessary skills in graduate research: 1) a…

Students of exercise science are well positioned to facilitate a shift of the nation's attitude on health care from disease treatment to disease prevention. This report chronicles our efforts toward transforming the exercise physiology core course from a lecture-based, instructor-centered class to a student-centered environment in which…

With the growing emphasis on the development of scientific inquiry skills, there is a strong need for more research on students' ability to collect and interpret evidence. This paper calls attention to the notion of evidentiary competence that refers to the concepts and reasoning skills involved in the collection, organization, and interpretation…

Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides an excellent tool for students to enter into inquiry-based science. This very simple organism is used to demonstrate that the principles governing life apply to all organisms. Students learn to design experiments using trypan blue and heat, build upon their findings with new experiments, and refine and repeat…

Describes a second year, high school biology course in which students learn how to do independent investigations. Focuses on the research methodology used by the students (including Campbell and Stanley designs) and instructional strategies. (JN)

This guide has been designed to help teachers, supervisors, and administrators set up a science or mathematics research program which should provide students with a set of basic "tools" for use in problem solving situations. The guide is organized into 17 chapters. The first 15 chapters focus on: organizing a research program; recruiting students;…

The National Student Research Center (NSRC) is dedicated to promoting student research and the use of the scientific method in all subject areas across the curriculum, especially science and mathematics. The NSRC facilitates the implementation of a nationally recognized, innovative, and highly effective approach to instruction called the Student…