A student-partnered approach to design a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in biological sciences

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v8i2.5672

Keywords:

undergraduate research opportunities, course design, experiential learning, STEM education, students as partners, course-based undergraduate research experiences

Abstract

Immersive research opportunities allow students to take ownership of their learning, explore based on curiosity, and engage in the scientific process while developing confidence and skills. However, research positions for biology undergraduates are limited, and conventional teaching labs are often restricted to pre-designed experiments without opportunities for curiosity-driven research. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are discovery-based research experiences that provide students with accessible avenues to explore research. Here we describe a unique student-partnered approach to the design of a foundation-level CURE in biological sciences (BIO-CURE). As student partners, we were mentored by faculty as we designed CURE projects that considered the interests and abilities of our peers to create a course structured around student-driven scientific exploration. We anticipate that this case study of our approach and experiences as the student partners of the CURE design team will serve as a helpful resource for other departments and institutions.

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Published

2024-10-15

How to Cite

Hawco, O., Sutanto, E., Alsafar, H., Dave, E., Bansal, A., Ratnayake, A., Bell, E., & Ashok, A. (2024). A student-partnered approach to design a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in biological sciences. International Journal for Students as Partners, 8(2), 128–143. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v8i2.5672

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2024)

Section

Case Studies

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Copyright (c) 2024 Olivia Hawco, Erynne Sutanto, Haider Alsafar, Eshal Dave, Aditi Bansal, Ayuni Ratnayake, Emily Bell, Aarthi Ashok

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