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Engaging Students in Authentic Research in the Classroom

Engaging Students in Authentic Research in the Classroom. May 2, 2013 Center for Teaching Excellence Emily Grossnickle Sarah Balcom Dylan Selterman. What is Research?. “Process of creating new knowledge --Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research.

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Engaging Students in Authentic Research in the Classroom

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  1. Engaging Students in Authentic Research in the Classroom May 2, 2013 Center for Teaching Excellence Emily Grossnickle Sarah Balcom Dylan Selterman

  2. What is Research? “Process of creating new knowledge --Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research Compare to what Davis & Shade (2000) refer to as Apprentice Work: “Not making knowledge as much as reporting the known”

  3. Communicating results What is Research? Searching for information in libraries and archives Creating models Conducting fieldwork Composing creative works Theory testing Surveying and interviewing subjects Performing computations

  4. Ways in which students can engage with research • Research-led: Learn about current research • Research-tutored: Engage in discussions about research • Research-oriented: Develop skills and techniques • Research-based: Undertake research --Jenkins and Healy (2000)

  5. Why engage your students in research and what might be stopping you? Goals for your students Potential Barriers Knowledge goals Instructor/Instructional Critical thinking goals Student/Learning Motivational goals Pragmatic Other Other

  6. Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research www.ugresearch.umd.edu 2100D McKeldin Library • Undergraduate research day • Database of projects • Resources for faculty and students

  7. Research in the classroom:Examples from my ANSC courses Sarah Balcom, DVM, MS Animal and Avian Sciences 2 May 2013

  8. Why I teach research in the classroom • Students don’t understand how to do it • Students don’t evaluate existing research well • It engages students • It develops skills for life-long learners

  9. The research process

  10. 1. Learning to search the medical and scientific literature • Asking the right questions • Generating good search terms • Using academic search engines • Sorting results

  11. 1. Learning to search the medical and scientific literature • Ex. ANSC 275- Introduction to Veterinary Medical Science and Practice • Case discussion: Heartworm disease in dogs • Concept: Is it a good idea to keep dogs on year round heartworm preventative? • Pros: Compliance, control of GI parasites, income for vet • Cons: Cost to owner, possibility of the worms evolving resistance to the dewormer • Research question: Is resistance to dewormers a problem with canine heartworm disease?

  12. 2. Field methods in class • Skills learned • Data collection appropriate to the discipline • Not everything goes as planned • Revising and refining until you know how you need to make your observations, collect your data, run your experiment, etc. • The study design process

  13. 2. Field methods in class • Ex. “Epidemiology in action” class for ANSC 340- Health Management of Animal populations • Flipped class: Pre-work about monitoring animal health, making observations, basic epidemiology • Students designed means of measuring respiratory disease among UMD students in Feb. • 45 minutes (90 min course) to make observations • Groups of 5-6 students • 6 different locations on campus • 30 minutes to discuss • what worked • what didn’t work • results

  14. 2. Field methods in class

  15. 2. Field methods in class • Discussion of data and its collection, what to do with results • Refine ideas on data collection •  incorporated into animal disease surveillance plan (final project component) • another level on which to judge epidemiology studies

  16. 3. Article critiques • Skills learned • Evaluation of authorship, content, format and style, applicability of articles • Critical thinking • Writing

  17. 3. Article critiques • Ex. ANSC 250- Companion Animal Care and Management • Groups evaluate a scientific or medical article using a set of guided questions • Discussion of some of the major points that came out in the critiques • Study design • Funding sources • Assumptions, biases, and other pitfalls • Usefulness of different types of resources for different groups of people involved with comp aml care

  18. 3. Article critiques • Basis for selecting references for take-home final exam scenarios • Same process used to evaluate our guest speakers as well

  19. 4. Conducting a mini-research project • Ex. ANSC 225- Love me, Hate me, Use me, Save me: Our conflicting views of animals. • Some students interested in conducting a short study • Ethnographic interviews and participant observations • Coding for themes uncovered in the interviews • Guidance from me in design, execution, and analysis of the research

  20. 4. Conducting a mini-research project • Example: Why does hitting an animal on the side of the road bother some people and not bother others? • Study sample • Question guide • Analysis

  21. Conclusions • It’s a lot of fun. • It certainly beats lecturing! • It takes planning. • Many students enjoy it.

  22. Research in Undergraduate Education Dylan Selterman, Ph.D. Department of Psychology

  23. Courses & Format/Goals • PSYC 221 – Social Psychology (S in P) • Large; blended; content + scholarly activities • PSYC 334 – Interpersonal Relationships • Large; upper-level; content • PSYC 420 – Social Psych Research Lab • Small; upper-level; student-led research

  24. Psychology lab (420) • Semester-long project • 2-hr lab sections run by TAs (2 hr lecture) • Emphasis on replication • Eases burden on students & teachers • Plus extension (new variable) • Content (broad) VS. Application (specific) • Focus on 1-2 key concepts to apply • 1-3 sub-disciplines (faculty expertise) • Unlike graduate methods/stats courses

  25. Issues & Concerns • Time • Resources (Qualtrics; Facebook) • Class size • Student ideas can be poor • Most research fails • Repeating content from previous courses • Students struggle to communicate ideas

  26. Strategies in other courses • Scientific creativity & innovation • Focus on pieces of the research process • Literature review; summary of findings • Scale creation (measures, items) • Discuss/debate, communicate findings • Propose new theories (MFT) & hypotheses • Propose new methods/studies • Peer review • Scientific writing (APA style) • Popular media writing • Science of Relationships; In-Mind Magazine

  27. Issues & Concerns • Little previous education in the field • Emphasis on the basics • Pushback from students • Difficulty & motivation • Need strong TA support (GTA & UTA) • Devote class time and extended office hours for Q&A

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