Kern Amie M, Olimpo Jeffrey T
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Nov 23;24(1). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00137-22. eCollection 2023 Apr.
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a viable platform to engage large numbers of students in real-world scientific practices. Historically, CUREs have been offered throughout science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula at both the introductory and advanced levels and have been facilitated by a variety of individuals, including faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This latter population, in particular, has increasingly been tasked with facilitating CUREs, yet they often receive little meaningful professional development to improve pedagogical skills vital to this type of instruction. To address this disparity, we designed and evaluated a semester-long intervention to support GTAs (= 7) responsible for leading CUREs at our institution during the Fall 2020 semester. Intervention activities included synchronous interactive discussions, reflective journaling, and asynchronous practical exercises. Analysis of retrospective postintervention survey responses and focus group interview data revealed that participants exhibited gains in their understanding of the dimensions of CUREs, strategies for mentoring undergraduates, and use of various pedagogical techniques as well as confidence in addressing and adopting those dimensions and strategies in their courses. Furthermore, participants reported finding value in the sense of community created through the intervention, which served as a means to share ideas and struggles throughout the term.
基于课程的本科研究经历（CUREs）已成为让大量学生参与实际科学实践的可行平台。从历史上看，CUREs在科学、技术、工程和数学课程的入门和高级阶段都有提供，并且由包括教师、博士后和研究生助教（GTAs）在内的各种人员推动。特别是后者，越来越多地承担起推动CUREs的任务，但他们往往很少接受有意义的专业发展培训，以提高对这类教学至关重要的教学技能。为了解决这一差距，我们设计并评估了一项为期一学期的干预措施，以支持在2020年秋季学期负责在我们机构领导CUREs的研究生助教（n = 7）。干预活动包括同步互动讨论、反思性日志记录和异步实践练习。对干预后回顾性调查回复和焦点小组访谈数据的分析表明，参与者在对CUREs维度的理解、指导本科生的策略、各种教学技巧的运用以及在课程中处理和采用这些维度及策略的信心方面都有提高。此外，参与者报告说，他们从通过干预创建的社区感中找到了价值，这是一种在整个学期分享想法和困难的方式。
