An approach for incorporating preliminary drug discovery research into a biochemistry laboratory is described. During a total of 42 hr (one 3-hr laboratory section a week for 14 weeks), students were exposed to bioinformatics; molecular cloning; protein expression, purification, and characterization; and enzymatic kinetic assays. This…

In the United Kingdom (U.K.), all students who are studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree need to complete a piece of independent research in order to gain their "honours" (U.S. "honors") status. As a university faculty we have very specific ideas about the purpose of this research and the positive impact that we hope that it…

In today's knowledge intensive and post-factual world, student teachers' relationship towards knowledge is a vital element in learning to teach. Student teachers must have a sense of epistemic agency to see themselves as productive participants in knowledge-laden activities. However, little attention has been paid to the role of agency in the…

In today's world shaped by technology and the natural sciences, knowledge and skills related to experimentation are crucial, especially given growing public debates about science-related topics. Despite a strong emphasis on experimentation in science curricula worldwide, learners still encounter diverse challenges when experimenting. This paper…

The purpose of this study was to assess students' self-perceptions of their research abilities and develop strategies to improve research skills among undergraduate students. The instrument was administered to students in a Kinesiology department at a university in Midwest U.S.A. Fifteen questions were included in the self-administered…

This study focuses on the perceived gap between the required and actual level of digital research skills (DRS) of students entering tertiary science education. By combining existing frameworks for research skills and digital literacy skills, a guiding framework of DRS was constructed. The DRS framework incorporates seven categories and is…

Psychology majors typically conduct at least one research project during their undergraduate studies, yet these projects rarely make a scientific contribution beyond the classroom. In this study, we explored one potential reason for this--that student projects may not be aligned with best practices in the field. In other words, we wondered if…

Promoting research knowledge and skills (RKS) is an important task of teacher training programmes. One way of fostering RKS is through research-based learning (RBL). However, student teachers often struggle with the acquisition of RKS and do not benefit from RBL like students of other study programmes. This paper suggests e-learning as one part of…

Research is the whole of the systematic efforts of individuals by making new discoveries and inventions to find solutions to the problems they face or to improve the current situation. After the implementation of teacher training activities by higher education institutions, courses such as "Research Techniques", "Research Methods in…

This research aims to build economic research skills and stimulate students' interest in the local economy through data-based undergraduate research in entry-level economics courses. The authors developed two assignments and one student survey assessing students' learning outcomes and implemented them in two introductory-level classes from fall…

In 2014, at Rollins College, a liberal arts college in central Florida, the history department completely revised its curriculum. Like their peers across the history discipline, Rollins history faculty saw a disconnect between its traditional curriculum--with a stress on lecture and memorization--and the actual process of doing history. Colleges…

There is a critical need to understand the factors that influence the development of students' skills for using the Internet to search for and locate information. Teachers play an important role in this process and there is a related impetus to identify the dynamics of instruction in information-seeking activities. This study investigated German…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer students opportunities to engage in critical thinking and problem solving. However, quantitating the impact of incorporating research into undergraduate courses on student learning and performance has been difficult since most CUREs lack a comparable traditional course as a control. To…

This paper documents a case study examining collaborative transdisciplinary (TD) and interdisciplinary (ID) graduate programmes at the University of British Columbia (a large, public, research-intensive university in Canada) -- serving as a model for other universities globally. TD and ID programmes in higher education can ultimately create a new…

While undergraduate research has been shown to be a high-impact educational practice, it is logistically impossible for all undergraduate biology majors to have long-term faculty-mentored research experience. Therefore, biology educators and researchers must devise opportunities to engage more students in undergraduate research outside of working…