Undergraduate research, an acknowledged high impact practice, is often not initiated until the last two years of the undergraduate experience. However, we know undergraduate research has the potential to improve retention and persistence in STEM disciplines. Whittier College and Pepperdine University are partnering in an NSF IUSE funded program to introduce undergraduate research into the first semester of the first year. We predicted that: 1) Participation would excite students to pursue additional undergraduate research opportunities. 2) Participation would enable students to make connections to their other STEM classes. 3) Summer research opportunities would increase student excitement about pursuing majors in STEM 4) Spring mentoring prior to the summer research experience would enhance the summer experience. Since each seminar included peer mentors, we assessed how mentoring affected engagement with STEM disciplines and excitement about research. Our two institutions are very different in size, student body, and resource availability, and a goal of the grant is to see whether this model is transferable across different types of institutions
Results/Conclusions
Whittier College students and Pepperdine students report similar gains in before and after assessment having to do with interest in STEM and pursuing additional research opportunities. Assessment of summer research experiences suggests students at Pepperdine and Whittier both found summer research experiences valuable, and were planning to present the results of their research at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research. The assessment did reveal some inconsistency between the experiences of Whittier students and Pepperdine students. Pepperdine has a robust summer research experience program in the Biological Sciences and eight students participated in a coordinated summer program. Whittier College has a loosely organized summer research program with students working closely with faculty on and off campus, but at different times with no central coordination of activities. Whittier students had uneven experiences; one student commented that coordinating with the faculty mentor had been difficult. One interesting outcome of the assessment is the spring experience prior to summer research was uneven among participants, and did not necessarily influence the effectiveness of the summer program. Peer mentors reported their experiences enhanced their understanding of STEM disciplines, and their perception of themselves as scientists. These results suggest introducing research into the first year is an effective strategy to increase excitement and learning. Furthermore, using peer mentors in a research setting increased confidence and knowledge of the peer mentors while facilitating learning by the first year students