Classroom-based science research at the introductory level: changes in career choices and attitude

Abstract

Our study, focused on classroom-based research at the introductory level and using the Phage Genomics course as the model, shows evidence that first-year students doing research learn the process of science as well as how scientists practice science. A preliminary but notable outcome of our work, which is based on a small sample, is the change in student interest in considering different career choices such as graduate education and science in general. This is particularly notable, as previous research has described research internships as clarifying or confirming rather than changing undergraduates' decisions to pursue graduate education. We hypothesize that our results differ from previous studies of the impact of engaging in research because the students in our study are still in the early stages of their undergraduate careers. Our work builds upon the classroom-based research movement and should be viewed as encouraging to the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education movement advocated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and other undergraduate education stakeholders.

Figure 1.

Student pre- and postsurvey attitude results for 13 Phage Genomics students. The items asked students how much they found the course content stimulating, how interested they are in science, how interested they are in research, in attending graduate school, in attending medical school, how much they enjoy making decisions in their work, and how the course resulted in their thinking in new ways. The bars represent the mean response. The error lines represent one standard error above and below the mean. Analysis with independent sample t tests showed significant increases in means from pre- to posttests (p < 0.05, directional hypothesis). When re-analyzed with the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, all tests were significant except for Item 1, which measured how stimulating the students found the course content.