CURRENT COURSE STRUCTURE

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COURSE HISTORY THE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE ASSESSMENT PLAN • Learning courses have a long history of including an animal • laboratory component. • When I first began teaching, I adopted a lab experience similar • to what had already been in place at Concordia. • This included animal training exercises that allowed students to • apply principles of learning and behavior, which the students • enjoyed a great deal. • It did not include an opportunity for students to investigate • a current phenomena of interest to psychologists, to do a • thorough literature review, or to write a major • empirical paper. • Over the years, because of my commitment to undergraduate • research and because of noted value of integrating • undergraduate research into the curriculum1 , I have developed • a more extensive research-based lab experience. • The class works as a group to design an experiment that • must be a novel extension of previous work; however, it often • also replicates well-known findings. • Students work in pairs to collect data; each pair gets one rat to • work with and care for. Data collection happens outside of • class time and the course has no designated lab time. • Students collect data for three to five weeks. Professor • synthesizes data and discusses analysis with class. • Students write an empirical report of findings using • progressive draft-revision cycle . Three versions turned in for • professor feedback and graded; one is peer reviewed. Open-ended questions: Students were asked to comment in general on their experiences with the lab and to articulate what worked well and what changes they might recommend. Self-reported responses to a series of statements (modified URSSA survey questions2) answering: How much did you gain as a result of this research experience? How confident are you as a result of this research experience? Completed CURE: Lopatto’s Classroom Based Undergraduate Research Experience survey.3 Response rate on this survey was lower than for in-class administered measures and outcomes differed based on semester. Integration of Research into Learning and Behavior: An example of curriculum renewalSusan J. Larson, Department of Psychology, Director of Undergraduate Research Concordia College, Moorhead MN 56562 STUDENT FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT CURRENT COURSE STRUCTURE • Many positive comments about the lab experience. Students say it was fun, enjoyable, and a good experience. Positives noted also include: • Valuable hands on experience • Opportunity to apply knowledge • Experience with writing • Challenges noted include: • Scheduling (using of equipment, finding time • outside of class to collect data) • Some students wished for more/clearer • instructions • Time commitment, since there was no • designated lab time. • PSYC 318: Learning and Behavior fulfills the Behavior & • Cognition component of Psychology major requirements • and is taken by approximately 50% or our majors. • Maximum course enrollment: 30; typical enrollment 17-22. • The course includes a rat lab experience worth ~ 35% of • student’s final grade. Course content covers a basic • Learning textbook and the remainder of the grade comes • from exams and participation. • Students assist with the design of the research project , • collect data and write an empirical research paper • using a draft-revision cycle.  • Sophomores: n=8 • Juniors: n=15 • Seniors: n=11 • Had taken Psych Methods: n=13 • Enrolled in Psych Methods: n=5 • Had not taken/not enrolled in Methods: n=17 1: Not at all confident 5: Very confident 1: No gain 5: Great gain RESEARCH PROJECT GOALS CHALLENGES AND REWARDS • Students will • Read, summarize and synthesize research articles. • Formulate research questions, develop hypotheses, and • choose methodology to test hypotheses. • Work with non‐human animals and increase their • awareness of ethical considerations in psychology • research. • Collect and interpret data. • Practice written communication skills by writing an APA‐style research paper. • Apply the principles of conditioning and behavioral • analysis. • This class is one of the most invigorating and exciting I teach and I highly recommend the integration of authentic research experiences into similar lab courses. My enthusiasm for integrating undergraduate research into the course is not dampened by the challenges. • The research experience is only one component of the class making it difficult balancing time committed to the lab versus other course material. • All students do one project and spend a lot of time writing about it when many are not personally invested in the project; this may impact the self-reported development of interest in science (see CURE survey results). • No designated lab section makes oversight of data collection difficult. • Differences in level of preparation of the students, which most impacts the writing component. • References: • Karukstis, KK. & Elgren, T. eds. (2007) Developing and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Curriculum: A Compendium of Successful Practices. Washington, DC: Council on Undergraduate Research. • Laursen, S., Hunter, A-B., Seymour, E., Thiry, H., & Melton, G. (2010). Undergraduate Research in the Sciences: Engaging students in real science. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass • Lopatto, D. (2009) Science in Solution: the Impact of Undergraduate Research on Student Learning. Tucson, AZ: Research Corporation for Science Advancement.  Some of this information was previously presented at the CUR Biennial Meeting (June 2012) in a session titled: Course-embedded undergraduate research in psychology.