Abstract
Here we evaluate undergraduate student attitudes about science after each of three authentic research experiences in a semester of an introductory biology laboratory course at Utah State University. The three course-based research experiences (CUREs) vary in length and student freedom, and they cover different areas of biology. Students responded to the science attitude items of the CURE Survey. When compared to national data, our students faired similarly, and all students struggled with certain epistemic assumptions about science knowledge. As also seen in the national database, change in science attitude was slight and nonlinear. Student self confidence in what a career scientist is and in scientific process skills was the best predictor of scientific maturity, not the three CUREs or other aspects of students’ background. We discuss the slight positive and negative change in attitude we did influence, and we note that most students would choose to have another research experience.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26077/f5d3-9317
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Lucas, Lauren K.; Hunter, Frances K.; and Gompert, Zachariah
(2020)
"Effect of Three Classroom Research Experiences on Science Attitudes,"
Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence: Vol. 4:
Iss.
2, Article 8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26077/f5d3-9317
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/jete/vol4/iss2/8
