Trends in transforming undergraduate biology education encourage providing all students with an authentic research experience. Faculty investment of close mentoring of a few students comes with its own rewards as undergraduate research assistants (RAs) help train future students, but they rarely connect their own expertise with their peers. Course undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), in which class laboratories conduct inquiry-guided projects, increase opportunities for students to engage in non-cookbook labs involving active research. However, executing CUREs successfully also poses a challenge that might be offset by involving teaching assistants (TAs).
In this case study, we paired two high impact practices, faculty-student collaborative research and CUREs, to investigate identity and distribution of native apple snails (Pomacea spp.). The CURE goals included increasing student understanding of species concepts, developing molecular skills, and offering students an opportunity to contribute data to on-going research project. The RA-turned-TA and professor met weekly to reflect on the process. Active-learning practices often employ videos to replace in-class instruction. We assessed effectiveness of different means of laboratory instruction (video vs. TA demonstration) on student confidence and molecular understanding (0-5 Likert scale). In addition, students will complete nationally recognized pre- and post-surveys about their CURE experiences.
Results/Conclusions
Our case study will present best practices for incorporating undergraduate researchers into class laboratory settings and will discuss results about student perceptions of laboratory instruction modes within their CURE experience. In our surveys, students indicated a decline in their confidence of learning molecular techniques via video demonstration when given the experience of learning from a RA-turned-TA [before video (3.53 ± 0.83 as 1 SD); after video (3.26 ± 1.16); after TA demonstration (2.8 ± 0.86)]. In terms of laboratory instruction, video demonstrations typically do not communicate the degree of detail and precision that go into molecular techniques that may be provided by a trained RA. As students realized this, their confidence in learning new molecular techniques via video demonstrations decreased. The average student reported much higher confidence in learning molecular techniques via TA experience [before video (4.46 ± 0.64); after video (4.33 ± 0.72); after TA demonstration (4.26 ± 0.59)], and this confidence ranked relatively similar regardless of video inclusion. TA demonstrations overall increased student confidence more than video demonstrations, indicating the power of peer instruction. Our experience may suggest an advantageous model to turning an undergraduate RA into a TA.