Implementing a research-infused botanical curriculum at a public liberal arts university

Background/Question/Methods

Under the auspices of a three year National Science Foundation Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement grant, we began to incorporate additional inquiry-based research experiences into our university’s botany curriculum.  Undergraduate research students collaborated with instructors supervising, and students enrolled in, course exercises related to their research topics, and led classroom student teams in data collection.  We hypothesized that assisting in undergraduate research projects would improve classroom students’ appreciation of plant science, expose them to research culture, and help them develop better written communication and data analysis skills.  In 2010 and 2011, we implemented this model as part of an ongoing student-driven investigation testing the effectiveness of chemical, mechanical and combination treatments for removing invasive exotic plant species from two campus forests.  Sophomore-level botany students were given background information on the project, helped collect vegetation data that was incorporated into a larger dataset, developed hypotheses to test with the dataset, conducted statistical analyses, and wrote journal-style lab reports.  Classroom students took pre- and post-tests to assess skill gains and attitudinal shifts, and research students were tested for changes in attitude.  

Results/Conclusions

In the field experiment, all three methods reduced exotic herb cover after a single treatment; this reduction was significant in the mechanical (P = 0.021) and combination (P = 0.009) treatments.  Exotic shrub density decreased in all treatments, but not significantly (P > 0.05).  Recovery of native plants also varied among treatments (P = 0.012).   Student scores on journal-style papers rose after use of our curricular module (P = 0.001), and sophomores improved their abilities to state hypotheses (P = 0.001), identify types of variables (P = 0.001), and choose appropriate statistical analyses (P = 0.017).   Comparing pre- and post-test results demonstrated that students perceived significant gains in field experience, experimental design and analysis ability, writing experience, comfort with citing primary scientific literature, and recognizing the importance of plant science (P < 0.05 for all).  Research students also showed shifts in their attitudes towards teaching and their own research.  We are implementing similar curricular modules in additional courses and have expanded this model of research-driven laboratory experiences with students at two high schools.  Future goals include evaluating attitudinal and learning outcomes in students that have completed a vertically integrated (from sophomore to senior) research-infused curriculum.