Open Inquiry versus Broadly Relevant Short-Term Research Experiences for Non-Biology Majors †
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Authors:
Sadie Hebert1,#,*,
Jessamina E. Blum1,#,
Deena Wassenberg1,
David Marks2,
Kate Barry1,
Sehoya Cotner1
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Received 22 May 2020 Accepted 16 November 2020 Published 29 January 2021
- ©2021 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology
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[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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†Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
- *Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Minnesota, 3-154 MCB, 420 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: [email protected].
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# These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract:
Undergraduate student participation in course-based research experiences results in many positive outcomes, but there is a lack of evidence demonstrating which elements of a research experience are necessary, especially for non-biology majors. Broad relevance is one element that can be logistically challenging to incorporate into research experiences in large-enrollment courses. We investigated the impacts of broad relevance in a short-term research experience in an introductory biology course for non-majors. Students either participated in an open-inquiry research experience (OI-RE), where they developed their own research question, or a broadly relevant research experience (BR-RE), where they investigated a question assigned to them that was relevant to an ongoing research project. We found a significant association between the type of research project experienced and students’ preference for an experience, with half of the students in the OI-RE group and nearly all students in the BR-RE group preferring a broadly relevant research experience. However, since science confidence increased over the course for both groups, these findings indicate that while students who participated in a BR-RE valued it, broadly relevant research experiences may not be necessary for positive outcomes for non-majors.
References & Citations
Supplemental Material
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Appendix 1 Survey items, Appendix 2 Science confidence Cronbach’s alpha, Appendix 3 Qualitative analysis coding categories
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Abstract:
Undergraduate student participation in course-based research experiences results in many positive outcomes, but there is a lack of evidence demonstrating which elements of a research experience are necessary, especially for non-biology majors. Broad relevance is one element that can be logistically challenging to incorporate into research experiences in large-enrollment courses. We investigated the impacts of broad relevance in a short-term research experience in an introductory biology course for non-majors. Students either participated in an open-inquiry research experience (OI-RE), where they developed their own research question, or a broadly relevant research experience (BR-RE), where they investigated a question assigned to them that was relevant to an ongoing research project. We found a significant association between the type of research project experienced and students’ preference for an experience, with half of the students in the OI-RE group and nearly all students in the BR-RE group preferring a broadly relevant research experience. However, since science confidence increased over the course for both groups, these findings indicate that while students who participated in a BR-RE valued it, broadly relevant research experiences may not be necessary for positive outcomes for non-majors.

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Author and Article Information
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Received 22 May 2020 Accepted 16 November 2020 Published 29 January 2021
- ©2021 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology
-
[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
-
†Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
- *Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Minnesota, 3-154 MCB, 420 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: [email protected].
-
# These authors contributed equally to this work.
Figures

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FIGURE 1
(A to D) Box plots of project ownership survey items showing students’ level of agreement (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). (E) Box plots of project ownership survey items showing students’ level of investment (1 = not at all invested, 2 = minimally invested, 3 = somewhat invested, 4 = very invested, 5 = extremely invested). **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001.

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FIGURE 2
Percentages of students who prefer an open inquiry or broadly relevant research experience. Students who participated in an OI-RE or BR-RE are represented by blue and green bars, respectively.