MCC Pedagogy & Pedagogical Research

There are two overarching  goals of OUR CURE pedagogical research.

1)      To determine whether the eight essential elements of research that should be incorporated into CUREs contribute equally to student identity as a scientist, persistence in science and overall academic success

2)      To determine whether integration between CUREs (horizontal or vertical) or Collaboration with/between CUREs (Instrumentation/Data or student to student collaboration) augments the CURE experience and impact on  identity as a scientist, persistence in science and overall academic success.

We are also exploring how non CURE undergraduate research experiences (UREs) contribute to student identity as a scientist and beneficial student outcomes and whether there is an interaction between URE and CURE benefits to students.

CUREs we are studying can be focused on any scientific question and should contain all eight components discussed in the Essential Components of OUR CUREs section

1.       Horizontally Integrated CUREs (Collaborative) where two CUREs, taught in the same semester at the same institution collaborate on an overall project (for example a fist year chemistry CURE and a first Year Biology CURE) and students taking both CUREs see an integrated multidisciplinary approach to a problem.

2.       Vertically integrated CUREs where two CUREs are taught in consecutive years at the same institution (for example first year general chemistry and second year Organic chemistry) and students taking both CUREs see a scientific progression of material and experimental approaches in a project.

3.       CUREs where experimental approaches are extended to a technique specialist who performs experiments and supplies data (that would not otherwise be obtainable in a given CURE)- the technique specialist may be in the same or a different institution (for example a faculty member establishes a CURE that creates and expresses, purifies mutants of a protein and would like to get CD spectra and Thermal melts of the purified proteins as part of the overall project but does not have access to CD spectroscopy- they ship samples prepared by students in the class to an instrument specialist with access to CD who runs the samples and sends the raw data back to the class

4.       External Collaboration CUREs where a CURE in a particular institution working on a given project is teamed with a CURE in a different institution working on the same project and the collaboration involves student to student and student to faculty interactions.

5.       In addition to standard, stand alone CUREs that do not include any of the above but are standard CUREs.