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Beck CW, Cole MF, Gerardo NM. Can We Quantify If It's a CURE? JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION 2023; 24:00210-22. [PMID: 37089237 PMCID: PMC10117072 DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.00210-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) rapidly have become more common in biology laboratory courses. The effort to implement CUREs has stimulated attempts to differentiate CUREs from other types of laboratory teaching. The Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (LCAS) was developed to measure students' perceptions of how frequently they participate in activities related to iteration, discovery, broader relevance, and collaboration in their laboratory courses. The LCAS has been proposed as an instrument that can be used to define whether a laboratory course fits the criteria for a CURE or not. However, the threshold LCAS scores needed to define a course as a CURE are unclear. As a result, we examined variation in published LCAS scores among different laboratory course types. In addition, we examined the distribution of LCAS scores for students enrolled in our research-for-credit course. Overall, we found substantial variation in scores among CUREs and broad overlap among course types in scores related to all three scales measured by the LCAS. Furthermore, the mean LCAS scores for all course types fell within the main part of the distribution of scores for our mentored research students. These results suggest that the LCAS cannot be used to easily quantify whether a course is a CURE or not. We propose that the biology education community needs to move beyond trying to quantitatively identify whether a course is a CURE. Instead, we should use tools like the LCAS to investigate what students are actually doing in their laboratory courses and how those activities impact student outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Megan F. Cole
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Gao L, Guo M. A course-based undergraduate research experience for bioinformatics education in undergraduate students. BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION : A BIMONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2023; 51:189-199. [PMID: 36779350 DOI: 10.1002/bmb.21710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
With rapid development of sequencing technology and the continuous accumulation of biological big data, people who are capable of using bioinformatic skills to analyze omics data and work out biological problems are urgently needed in the workforce, which highlights the importance of developing bioinformatics skills early in the undergraduate curriculum. Meanwhile, course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) courses have been proved to be an effective teaching format that have many advantages over traditional labs and lectures. Here we introduced an implementation of CURE course of bioinformatics data analysis and visualization for undergraduate students in major of bioinformatics and evaluated the learning outcomes. We were able to address 10 out of 15 core competencies identified by Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education. Besides, results evaluated by Laboratory Course Assessment Survey demonstrated the goals of collaboration, discovery and relevance, and iteration were accomplished in our course. Meanwhile, a significant increase in scores of final examinations and a long-term improvement on students' research ability on bioinformatics data analysis and visualization were also observed. In summary, this CURE course is useful for undergraduate students learning related knowledge and participate in authentic research in the field of bioinformatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Gao
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, China
| | - Miao Guo
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, China
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Sun E, König SG, Cirstea M, Hallam SJ, Graves ML, Oliver DC. Development of a data science CURE in microbiology using publicly available microbiome datasets. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:1018237. [PMID: 36312919 PMCID: PMC9597637 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1018237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Scientific and technological advances within the life sciences have enabled the generation of very large datasets that must be processed, stored, and managed computationally. Researchers increasingly require data science skills to work with these datasets at scale in order to convert information into actionable insights, and undergraduate educators have started to adapt pedagogies to fulfill this need. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a leading model for providing large numbers of students with authentic research experiences including data science. Originally designed around wet-lab research experiences, CURE models have proliferated and diversified globally to accommodate a broad range of academic disciplines. Within microbiology, diversity metrics derived from microbiome sequence information have become standard data products in research. In some cases, researchers have deposited data in publicly accessible repositories, providing opportunities for reproducibility and comparative analysis. In 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant shift to remote learning, the University of British Columbia set out to develop an online data science CURE in microbiology. A team of faculty with collective domain expertise in microbiome research and CUREs developed and implemented a data science CURE in which teams of students learn to work with large publicly available datasets, develop and execute a novel scientific research project, and disseminate their findings in the online Undergraduate Journal of Experimental Microbiology and Immunology. Analysis of the resulting student-authored research articles, including comments from peer reviews conducted by subject matter experts, demonstrate high levels of learning effectiveness. Here, we describe core insights from course development and implementation based on a reverse course design model. Our approach to course design may be applicable to the development of other data science CUREs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn Sun
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Stephan G. König
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Mihai Cirstea
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Steven J. Hallam
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Genome Science and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- ECOSCOPE Training Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Marcia L. Graves
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - David C. Oliver
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- *Correspondence: David C. Oliver,
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