Invasive species cause harm to the environment, economy, and human health. Understanding undergraduate student’s awareness, knowledge, concern, and behaviors about invasive species can guide the implementation of programs which better illustrate key biological concepts. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (C.U.R.E.) can be implemented to offer students unique opportunities to be highly engaged in scientific practices, collaboration, and discovery. To better understand the efficacy of a C.U.R.E. as it relates to student perceptions, we examined how student’s perceptions of invasive species are impacted by participating in a C.U.R.E. compared to a traditional ecology course. Here, C.U.R.E. students focused on understanding how an invasive milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, affects native milkweed community structure in Louisiana. Changes in milkweed communities have a direct impact on monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) fitness. Students enrolled in this C.U.R.E. participated in a wide variety of experiences relating to invasive species, including conducting research, field tours, and student discussions and presentations. To measure student perceptions on invasive species, two surveys (initial and end-of-course) were sent to students enrolled in C.U.R.E. sections and those in traditional ecology courses. The survey questions focus on gauging students’ knowledge, concerns, contributions to, and willingness to change their behavior regarding invasive species.
Results/Conclusions
While the study is ongoing, initial results indicate that students enrolled in the C.U.R.E. have increased concerns about invasive species and increased awareness about how their personal actions contribute to invasive species, compared to students enrolled in a traditional ecology course. At the conclusion of the final survey, we will be able to pair responses and track changes in the student perceptions about invasive species as the students are exposed to different subject information, teaching, and scientific experiences. Preliminarily, participating in a C.U.R.E. appears to improve student awareness to multifaceted ecological topics, especially when students have had little exposure to the topic previously. This is crucial to understand as educators because it reinforces the idea that using targeted C.U.R.E.’s can enhance undergraduate student education. C.U.R.E. courses may be a more suitable alternative to traditional course structure if the goal is to positively affect student perceptions and ideas regarding specific, yet complex, ecological topics.