[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Over the last decade, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been recognized as a way to improve undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education by engaging students in authentic research…

A large body of literature has established the benefits of undergraduate research experiences via the traditional apprenticeship model. More recently, several studies have shown that many of these benefits can be recapitulated in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) that are more scalable and easier for students to participate…

An opportunity exists to attract students from historically underrepresented communities into the geosciences, the least diverse of the STEM fields. Home to a diverse population, Riverside County in Southern California supports several community colleges with thriving geoscience programs where students can take a range of geology courses in…

The impact of peer coaches embedded in classrooms are outlined in the literature. There is, however, a lack of evidence on "when" their services should be introduced into the curriculum to have the most impact possible. The goals of this exploratory research project, therefore, were to aim to provide baseline evidence on the most…

Writing to report research writing may be a daunting task since it requires motivation, interest, background knowledge and hard work from the part of students. This paper focused on the major obstacles faced by the English foreign language learners in research writing at Belhadj Bouchaib University, Algeria, in addition to the teachers' attitudes…

This article examines the mindset and process of undergraduate music majors conducting research in their discipline. While working with students in a writing-intensive music history class, the authors conducted several surveys, focus groups, and task-based assessments. Results indicated that most were overconfident in their research abilities,…

Three indicators of undergraduate students' (n = 197) source evaluation were investigated as students completed an academic task requiring the use of multiple texts. The source evaluation metrics examined were students' (1) accessing of document information, (2) trustworthiness ratings, and (3) citation in written responses. All three indicators…

For many political science programs, research methods courses are a fundamental component of the recommended undergraduate curriculum. However, instructors and students often see these courses as the most challenging. This study explores when it is most appropriate for political science majors to enroll and pass a research methods course. The…

In this article, we describe student perceptions of, and experiences in, a one-semester, required sociology research capstone course. The data come from 106 students in eight sections of the course taught at three institutions. We used multiple methods for data collection: questionnaires, focus groups, and learning reflection essays. Our results…

Undergraduate research is viewed as an important catalyst for educational engagement and persistence, with an emphasis on the faculty mentoring relationship. Despite the common practice of having multi-tiered lab teams composed of newer undergraduates and more seasoned undergraduates serving as peer mentors, less is understood about the experience…

This study explores undergraduate students' experiences of learning disciplinary research in a summer undergraduate research program (S-UR). The study used a qualitative research design incorporating semi-structured interview, observation, and document analysis methods to analyze the learning experiences of nine study participants from different…