Premium
Proposal to Poster: A Model for Individualized Inquiry Based Research Projects in the Context of an Undergraduate Physiology Laboratory Course
Author(s) -
Poteracki J,
Dunbar R,
Wehrwein E
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.541.26
Subject(s) - session (web analytics) , likert scale , context (archaeology) , medical education , psychology , undergraduate research , set (abstract data type) , mathematics education , medicine , computer science , paleontology , developmental psychology , world wide web , biology , programming language
Inquiry‐driven learning is a focus of the 2011 Vision and Change Report. A research skill set is important in multiple career paths. It is atypical for undergraduate students to be able to research their own hypothesis, even in a funded lab. We developed a classroom research project to provide this individualized inquiry‐based learning opportunity to all students. As part of a multi‐site trial at Michigan State Univ (MSU) and the Univ of Minnesota Rochester (UMR), students in an upper division physiology course participated in a “Proposal to Poster” project, allowing each student to engage at all levels of the research experience. Students worked in small groups (2‐6) for the first half of the semester to become familiar with available AD Instruments equipment and the scientific method. For the last 9 weeks of the semester, students designed and proposed a unique human physiology research project, wrote an NRSA‐style grant (outline, rough draft, and final draft), recruited subjects, collected/analyzed data over 2‐3 weeks, and presented their human physiology results in a public poster session. After the end of each course, an anonymous survey was given to MSU and UMR students (n=89) using a 5‐pt Likert scale (1 as the worst and 5 as the best). Student satisfaction with this exercise was 4.0 for UMR and 4.5 for MSU. Value of going through the entire process from proposal to poster was 4.1 at UMR and 4.5 at MSU. A common perception of inquiry‐based learning is that individualized independent research is not feasible, although it is highly valued by both students and faculty. Our data demonstrates that this experience is attainable with existing resources, highly valued, and successful across multiple institutions.