Design of a Pre-Curriculum and Research Interest Exploration, Prior to the Research Experience, to Better Prepare Student Researchers

Chris Thomas | Dr. Sarah Shoemaker | Dr. Robin Boltz

North Carolina School of Science and Math, Durham, NCwww.ncssm.edu

T81. 186-12. Intentional Integration of Research into the Curriculum: Undergraduate Research as a Teaching Practice. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 7, p.476 . Baltimore 2015

Academic Program

Academic Programs• Full Time Boarding School (680)• Supplemental Online School

(300)• Outreach (many)

NCSSM is the nation’s first statewide public residential high school focused on science, technology, engineering and math. It’s tuition free

Implementing Our Strategic Plan: ObjectivesResearch Participation

Faculty-Led “R”

ResearchMentorship

Summer Research

Research-Focused Courses

Total

2014-15 159 79 75 129 442

Students Participating in a Research Opportunity by Program,

2011-12 to 2014-15 (duplicated) *

*Counts include both residential and Online students who participated in research

Mentorship

Mentorship

Application

Jr. Pre-Curriculum Course

Senior Year Travel Tues/Thurs afternoon

Research Symposium

Sr. Year Co-Curriculum Course

Driving Questions• Are they learning?• Does it fit their

existing knowledge and framework?

• Does it engage them personally?

• How do we broaden participation?

• How do you build interest in less familiar research areas? CC Joe Shlabotnik, FlickR

Junior Year Pre-Curriculum11 week course; ~5 hours work/week

Residential Program• Required to find a mentor

Online Program• No requirement to find a mentor /

no senior year continuation

Experience Curiosity

5 Things (activity)

Curiosity Sources (activity)

Curiosity Interview (activity)

30 Interesting Researchers (activity)

What is Science? (video)

Write 5 specific fields of study you ARE interested in researching and 5 fields you ARE NOT interested, using the Considerations below.  Your list will have 10 items total.

Learn Discrete Steps of Research

University Research Structures (video)

Research, Actually (How do you carry out a question?) (video)

Classroom vs. Research Environment (How are you evaluated?) (video)

Professional Communication (Email) (assignment)

Investigate/Refine Areas of Interest

Librarian Meeting (activity)

Search Strategy Steps (handout)

Search Resources (searching in a University) (handout)

Class Research Paper (Read /Discuss a Common Paper) (assignment)

Identify and Evaluate Other’s Research

Reading a Scholarly Article / How Research is Communicated (video/handout)

Finding High Impact Research(video)

Paraphrasing in Research (video/handout)

Research Publication Types (video)

Build Confidence/Motivation…and engage in research that builds motivation to actively pursue research

Read Three Research Articles (activity)

• Guided Questions• Annotated Bibliography

Research Compliance (video/handout)

Quantitative/Qualitative Data Analysis (video)

Professional Communication (video)

Senior Year Co-Curriculum

Continued Research Article Reading and Summaries

Small Group Discussions

Mini Grant Proposal

Incremental Rehearsal of Final Presentation

Daily Journal

Are We Effective?

Acknowledgements

• University of North Carolina General Administration: Instructional Innovation Incubator

• North Carolina General Assembly• Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Monsanto, and NCSSM Foundation

supports the mentorship program NASA