Assessment of student learning outcomes from Squirrel-Net CUREs

Background/Question/Methods

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to benefit students in a multitude of ways, including increasing equity, science self-efficacy, science identity, and the likelihood of pursuing careers in science or research. Students who participated in CUREs also increased their science process skills in areas such as science communication, hypothesis formulation, and data analysis. However, most CUREs tend to be based in the laboratory and many are designed for lower-division undergraduate classes. It is likely that these results are transferable to CUREs in field settings and different institutional contexts, but the dearth of networked, field-based CUREs has made this question difficult to address until now. The assessment of Squirrel-Net modules and network gives us the ability to do so. Squirrel-Net modules were implemented in ~48 courses in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Institutional contexts ranged from R1 universities through regional comprehensive universities, and small liberal arts colleges across the United States. Student learning outcomes and attitudes toward science were or are being assessed through surveys and focus groups. The pre-semester and post-semester surveys ask students to self-report their content-knowledge, motivation, science self-efficacy, and science process skills. Focus groups asking students about their experiences with the Squirrel-Net modules and attitudes toward science will be conducted during Spring 2021. Instructor experiences with the modules will be assessed using interviews in Spring 2021.

Results/Conclusions

Data collection and analyses are currently ongoing, so I am unable to report results at this time. I will update this abstract with preliminary results in April. I will report on the survey, focus group, and interview results.