This paper explores the design and initial implementation of a political science capstone. The capstone was organized around the theme of critical thinking. The course made the case to students that critical thinking was important and that political science provides uniquely valuable training for good critical thinking by teaching students methods…

Storytelling is an important tool through which to make sense of life experiences. Stories can be classified as personal narratives, historical documentaries and those that inform the viewer about a specific concept or practice. These narratives can be used to promote discussion about current issues in the world. Storytelling can thus be seen as…

Yakima Valley College--a two-year, Hispanic-serving institution in south-central Washington state--partnered with four-year universities, agricultural centers, businesses, and federal and state agencies to develop a streamlined undergraduate research experience in which students work closely with a faculty mentor in a science, technology,…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the migration to online learning have presented unique challenges to undergraduate research, reducing opportunities to participate in high-impact practices, including in-person summer research programs. To mitigate some of these effects, Loyola Marymount University adapted its summer undergraduate research program,…

Attract, Inspire, Mentor and Support Students (AIMS[superscript 2]), a grant-funded program from the U.S. Department of Education for the HSI-STEM and Articulation Programs, focuses on improving outcomes for Hispanic and low-income students in STEM. Using a quasi-experimental design (QED) approach, this study examined outcomes between students who…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Student Engagement." Contents include: (1) Mental Health Implications of…

The Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Pomona College has long worked to create an inclusive and welcoming space for all individuals to study mathematics. Many years ago, our approach to the lack of diversity we saw in our majors was remediation through programming, which sought to ameliorate student deficits. More recently, however, we…

Research is a requisite for most of the undergraduate honors degrees offered by universities worldwide and these undergraduates are expected to submit a dissertation based on their research. Given the new demands of this independent component of learning, it is important to understand the challenges faced by students and the strategies that they…

Undergraduate research (UR) is a high-impact practice associated with many positive student outcomes. However, extending UR opportunities to all students is not practical for all psychology programs. Classroom-based UR experiences (CUREs) provide a scalable solution to this problem, but there is a paucity of empirically validated, authentic CUREs…

Developing a research identity is a critical space for novice researchers in teacher education. This self-study explores the experiences of a postgraduate Master of Education student who was working as a novice research assistant with her supervisor to explain how these experiences contributed to research identity development. As novice researcher…

Integrating authentic research-based experiences that mimic real-world scientific practices and relevance to student personal life into a chemistry curriculum can make abstract chemical principles more palpable to students. Unfortunately, many reported research-based experiences chemistry laboratory experiments lack relevance to a student's…

Systems thinking, interdisciplinary research projects, and creative problem solving are ways to frame modern chemistry curricula to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers, and citizens to use their skills and education to create a sustainable future. By integrating planetary boundaries, green chemistry, and the UN…

Course-based undergraduate research (CURE) is an educational paradigm to engage students in authentic research projects as part of their classroom experience. We present a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for first-year students to get acquainted with the research process and apply the skills of scientific computing to…

Research apprenticeship experiences provide a uniquely authentic context for deepening participants' understanding of the nature of science and encouraging them to choose STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) studies and careers. This study evaluated a STEM program for high school students who engaged in science research with…

Research skills are important for university graduates, but little is known about undergraduates' motivation for research. In this study, self-efficacy beliefs and intrinsic motivation for several research activities were measured three times during an undergraduate research project (N = 147 students). In order to promote self-efficacy for writing…