The curriculum in Biology at Saint Michael’s College features student research experiences in the classroom laboratory as CUREs. This includes unique CUREs across 17 different courses from 100 to 400 levels. Among these, ecology students??? coursework may include three CUREs that both use Lake-in-a-Tube (LIAT) microcosms. LIAT is a system that first-year students use during a case study of lake algae blooms and use to conduct a CURE as a final project. Upper-level ecology students use LIAT to test a novel question about factors that affect exploitation competition within plankton assemblages in lakes. Data from a previous two-year assessment showed that student attitudes about conducting research and gaining skills increased with ???dosage??? of the number of CUREs completed over time. The implementation of LIAT in upper-level courses allowed a test of possible enhancement of this dosage effect when students use a familiar model system- a Cross-Curricular CURE. During the 2023 and 2024 fall semesters, I used this survey to test the hypothesis that a Cross-Curricular CURE experience enhanced student attitudes regarding research over those of students who experienced wholly independent CUREs with no common study systems. I predicted that in the Cross-Curricular CURE group would report higher Likert scores than students in the independent CURE group. My results indicated that Cross-Curricular CUREs participants report moderately increasing Likert scores of positive attitudes towards skills acquisition and conducting research with dosage with dosage of CURE experiences. Comparison between CURE types showed support for my hypothesis, with scores on questions regarding both student attitudes toward conducting research and for attitudes about research skill acquisition increasing with dosage only for Cross-Curricular CUREs. My results from LIAT-based CUREs suggest that Cross-Curricular CUREs hold unique benefits that should be considered when expanding CUREs within a Biology curriculum.
Keywords: biological model system, CURE, student research, student self-efficacy, curriculum
University of Manitoba (2025)
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