Mentoring Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Mathematics Research Students: Junior Faculty Experiences

Abstract

To be successful, junior faculty must properly manage their time in the face of expanding responsibilities. One such responsibility is supervising undergraduate research projects. Student research projects (either single or multi-student) can be undertaken as a full-time summer experience, or as a part-time academic year commitment. With many potential undergraduate research formats, and with different types of students, junior faculty may find challenges in forming their research group, establishing a structure that promotes student productivity, picking an appropriate project, or in effectively mentoring their students. This article draws from the authors’ experiences to help junior faculty navigate these complexities so that all parties reap the benefits of undergraduate research in interdisciplinary mathematical disciplines.     

激发大学生学习动机的课堂教学策略研究

学习动机影响着大学生的学习行为、学习效果,在其学习活动中具有举足轻重的作用。当前一部分大学生学习动机不足,有大学生本人的原因,也有来自课堂教学的因素,作者分五个方面对激发大学生学习动机的课堂教学策略进行了讨论。     

影响大陆学生到台湾就学动机探究

在高等教育国际化趋势及两岸交流日益频繁的形势下,台湾开放大陆学生到台就学政策,并于2011年正式向大陆招生。以质性研究法,对30名在台攻读学位的大陆学生进行深度访谈,通过大陆学生的真实经验与想法,了解、分析大陆学生到台就学的动机,并提出意见与建议。     

传统太极拳发展的制约因素与对策研究

运用文献资料法、专家访谈法、逻辑分析法等研究方法,通过分析传统太极拳发展的制约因素,并根据国家对保护传统文化的指导方针和基本原则,结合传统太极拳自身特点,提出了传统太极拳的发展对策。旨在促进太极拳的推广与普及,使之更好地造福人类。     

Intrinsic Motivation and Environmental Factors Affecting Research of Social Work Faculty on Aging

Within the context of Self-determination Theory, this research identifies intrinsic motivation and environmental factors that support social-work-faculty research in aging. Intrinsic factors include faculty's interest in gerontology as a field of practice, the desire to advance knowledge in the field of gerontology, including producing publications that disseminate information about their research, and the desire to make tenure and/or to advance their careers. Environmental factors include institutional supports such as release time to do research, reduced teaching loads, summer research support. Also included are mentoring relationships that complement the faculty's intrinsic motivation and create an environment supportive of research, grant writing, and publishing. Faculty motivation to work in the field of gerontology and institutional support for gerontological research are critical to sustain and expand the capacity of social work faculty to advance science in gerontology research. Such motivation is also needed to create vibrant academic environments that attract students at all levels into the field of gerontology, a field experiencing a rapidly expanding gap between service need and workforce capacity of social-work-faculty research in aging.     

Reframing Doctoral Programs: A Program of Human Inquiry for Doctoral Students and Faculty Advisors

The Program of Human Inquiry is proposed as a structure to support scholarly inquiry by graduate students and faculty advisors. The Program provides a foundation that acknowledges human experiences and connects them to program aims in ways that do not limit student and faculty options. It promotes communication among student, committee members, and committee chair, as well as dialogue with oneself. It consists of four components. The first component is an acknowledgment of what one brings to graduate studies. The second component includes a Plan of Study, a summary of coursework, field experiences, formal exam dates, and residency. A third component records rigorous, but negotiated, avenues of inquiry including coursework, readings, research, and conferences. Finally, the Program encourages an ongoing discussion of values and recording of appropriate experiences. This proposal will interest students who wish to get the most out of their graduate experience and faculty who desire to continually re-examine their advising, their graduate program, and their own learning.     

大学生学习动机的影响因素与提升对策研究

本文采用改编的大学生学习动机调查问卷,对河北工业大学173名大学生进行了有效调查.通过统计分析,得出了大学生学习动机由强到弱依次为:成绩目标型、报答型、求知型、就业与生活型、社会奉献型、消极回避型.消极回避型动机在性别、专业、年级上存在显著差异;成绩目标型动机在性别、是否为独生子女上存在显著差异;报答型动机在是否为独生子女上存在显著差异;求知型动机在不同家庭状况上存在显著差异.最后本文从教学方法和教学管理模式等方面提出了改进对策.     

Faculty as Mentors in Undergraduate Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work: Motivating and Inhibiting Factors

In this study, we sought to contribute to research about the high-impact practice of undergraduate research from the understudied faculty perspective. We relied on focus group data from faculty members (N = 41) across five institutions to better understand the supporting and inhibiting factors that contribute to faculty members’ engagement in mentoring undergraduate research. We offer implications for research and practice.     

Faculty Entrepreneurialism and the Challenge to Undergraduate Education at Research Universities

This study attempts to unravel the complex relationships between faculty entrepreneurialism and teaching. Specifically, this study (1) compares the extent of entrepreneurial activities (i.e., using funds for research and consulting activity) across disciplinary fields and levels of teaching commitment and (2) examines the relative effects of faculty entrepreneurialism on commitment to teaching. Using a national database of four-year college faculty, research findings demonstrate variations of teaching commitment with respect to disciplinary fields and forms of entrepreneurial activities. More important, this study reveals rather strong negative relationships between using funds for research and teaching commitment. Such findings have important implications for policy makers, administrative leaders, and university faculty as they seek to balance the institution's instructional mission in light of the increasing trend toward entrepreneurialism.     

Motivation of Faculty Members at a Latin American University: A Case Study

The purpose of this study is to analyze the kind of motivation in academia at a university in Argentina, taken as an example of a Latin American country. The study used a questionnaire containing the same 37 attitudinal statements that At-Twaijri et al. used recently for a large university in the Arabian Gulf. Motivators in both universities are compared. Despite being two very different academic cultures, there are analogies between the responses of lecturers: financial rewards are the least motivator in both cases; the most important items affecting the university professors’ motivation deal with the internal reward along with a feeling of accomplishment in the Argentine, and self-achievement and social respect in the Arabian Gulf. This paper also serves to make the international academic community aware of the Spanish ‘Intercampus’ programme. This programme allows the interchange of a significant number of students and professors between universities of Spain and the Latin American community.     

民办大学生学习动机特点及其影响因素研究

通过与公办大学生学习动机的比较,以及对民办大学生学习动机在性别、年级、城乡和专业等方面的分析,得出以下结论:在内生学习动机和外生学习动机两个维度上,民办大学生与公办大学生总体一致.在外生学习动机的"选择简单任务"因素上,公办大学生比民办大学生更倾向选择简单的任务.女生的外生学习动机明显高于男生,她们比男生更"依赖他人评价",更"关注人际竞争";女生还比男生更"热衰"于学习.农村学生比城市学生的内生动机水平高,他们在学习的"热衷性"和"挑战性"上都强于城市学生.低年级学生的内生学习动机高于高年级学生.     

Curriculum Mapping: A Method to Assess and Refine Undergraduate Degree Programs

Over the past several decades, there has been increasing interest in program‐ and university‐level assessment and aligning learning outcomes to program content. Curriculum mapping is a tool that creates a visual map of all courses in the curriculum and how they relate to curriculum learning outcomes. Assessment tools/activities are often included in the curriculum map. The School of Food Science, a joint program between the Washington State Univ. and the Univ. of Idaho, recently completed a curriculum mapping and assessment exercise. The goal of this exercise was to determine the alignment of the undergraduate curriculum with program learning outcomes and the degree of student mastery of these outcomes. Curriculum learning outcomes were revised from existing learning outcomes to better align with university learning outcomes and the IFT Core Competencies. All undergraduate courses were mapped to the IFT Core Competencies, and several competencies were assessed to determine student mastery. The mapping and assessment activities revealed potential gaps and redundancies in course content, as well as student ability to meet standards for competency. The results of the mapping and assessment exercises will be used to refine the content delivered to undergraduate students in the School of Food Science, with the overall goal of increasing the quality of the education provided to these students and helping them to be more prepared for a successful career in food science.     

An Undergraduate Research Opportunity: Collaboration Between Undergraduate and Graduate Students

ABSTRACT: A research experience was made available to an undergraduate Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) student through collaboration with a Masters-level Nutrition graduate student. Both students were under the supervision of a graduate FSHN faculty member. Positive, self-identified aspects for the students included learning how to work collaboratively as a team member, gaining a better understanding of the process of field-based research, and successfully completing both projects. While caveats are noted, we suggest that this process is an untapped opportunity to offer a research experience to undergraduates. It could be applicable in departments/ units that maintain both an undergraduate and graduate program or across departments where disciplines are similar.     

大学生动机缺失状况的调查研究

本研究的主要目的是对大学生动机缺失状况进行描述统计分析。主要测量工具为动机缺失量表。被试取自北京市三所高校的大学生,共1339人。结果显示,报告轻度动机缺失的人数高于高度动机缺失的人数。男性目标缺乏性动机缺失程度明显高于女性。民办高校大学生的动机缺失程度明显高于公立高校的大学生,主要表现在知行脱节性动机缺失和认知歪曲性动机缺失。     

Faculty Engagement in Mentoring Undergraduate Students: How Institutional Environments Regulate and Promote Extra-Role Behavior

Faculty-student interaction is critical for quality undergraduate education. Faculty mentorship provides concrete benefits for students, faculty members, and institutions. However, little is known about the effect of institutional context on mentorship. Using data from interviews of 98 faculty at five different California State University institutions, we examined faculty motivations and institutional supports and barriers to mentoring as it occurs outside of formalized programs. We argue that this type of mentoring is distinct from advising and teaching and constitutes extra-role behavior. Further, institutional norms and the culture of the academic profession often hinder mentorship. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

The Python Project: A Unique Model for Extending Research Opportunities to Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate science education curricula are traditionally composed of didactic instruction with a small number of laboratory courses that provide introductory training in research techniques. Research on learning methodologies suggests this model is relatively ineffective, whereas participation in independent research projects promotes enhanced knowledge acquisition and improves retention of students in science. However, availability of faculty mentors and limited departmental budgets prevent the majority of students from participating in research. A need therefore exists for this important component in undergraduate education in both small and large university settings. A course was designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in a research project in a classroom setting. Importantly, the course collaborates with a sponsor''s laboratory, producing a symbiotic relationship between the classroom and the laboratory and an evolving course curriculum. Students conduct a novel gene expression study, with their collective data being relevant to the ongoing research project in the sponsor''s lab. The success of this course was assessed based on the quality of the data produced by the students, student perception data, student learning gains, and on whether the course promoted interest in and preparation for careers in science. In this paper, we describe the strategies and outcomes of this course, which represents a model for efficiently providing research opportunities to undergraduates.     

新建地方性本科院校学生科研策略研究

高校培养的大学生不应该只是理论性强或动手能力强,而应该分析研究能力也强.作为新建的地方性本科院校,应注重从学校层面去关注如何提高大学生的科研水平,充分发挥教师在学生科研方面的助推作用和学生在科研的主观能动作用,切实提高大学生的综合素质.     

大学生学习投入水平及相关因素研究

学习投入水平是指学生在学习活动过程中的投入时间和精力水平,包含生师互动、主动 合作学习、教育经验丰富度、学业挑战度以及校园环境支持度五大指标。本研究使用CCSS#2016 问卷对中国海洋大学大学生学习投入水平进行调查。研究发现大学生学习投入水平在年级和学科上均存在显著性差异。在个人背景层面,父母不同的教育程度、不同的成长地环境和就读环境、不同的升学途径、是否担任班干部以及不同校园满意度的学生,在学习投入水平上均存在显著性差异。     

影响非英语专业本科学生英语学习动机主要因素的探讨

英语学习动机是影响非英语专业本科学生学习英语的重要动因。本文通过对五个专业的部分本科学生进行典型问卷调查,确定并探讨目前自身英语水平;英语学习上哪方面具有优势;英语学习中哪方面不足;英语学习的兴趣;是否会坚持学习英语等9个因素对学生学习英语动机的影响大小,研究了主要因素对非英语专业学生学习英语的作用和影响,以实施具有针对性教学活动。