Cultivating a Culture of Undergraduate Research at a Public Comprehensive University

Abstract

Winthrop University is a public comprehensive university of about 6000 students, 5000 of whom are undergraduates. The Department of Mathematics offers a baccalaureate degree in mathematics, but has no graduate degree programs. As late as 2009, there was essentially no undergraduate research in the department. At this time, faculty made efforts to cultivate a research program that would motivate faculty to pursue more scholarly opportunities and include undergraduates in their scholarship. These efforts began with in-house-sponsored summer programs that lasted a few weeks and grew over the subsequent 5 year period to several externally funded undergraduate research programs, including a National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates program. In this paper, we discuss some lessons we learned in developing a culture of undergraduate research. We focus on the advantages and challenges of undergraduate research at primarily undergraduate universities, offer advice for starting or growing a research program, and provide resources for funding undergraduate research.     

Mindfulness and discussing “thorny” issues in the classroom

Being in the moment, showing compassion, being non-judgmental, acknowledging deep emotional challenges without getting stuck: these are mindfulness characteristics important to us as teachers, yet not often included in teacher preparation. These concerns become magnified when we focus on difficult knowledge and thorny issues, like topics related to gender and race. Using a sociocultural framework, we address how mindfulness, heuristics, and other contemplative practices can be adopted to create safe, supporting, and healing spaces for such complex, often emotionally painful discussions. Participant narratives are used extensively to provide a voice to those marginalized or hurt. Drawing from these narratives and their experience in discussing thorny issues, we put forth possible solutions and interventions that can create spaces that encourage and support critical discourse through mindful practices. The development of a heuristic for discussing thorny issues whose characteristics can be adopted by interested teachers and educators to help frame and mediate this type of difficult discussion is an outcome of this research.     

Evolution and adoption of contributor role ontologies and taxonomies

Contributor Role Ontologies and Taxonomies (CROTs) are standard vocabularies to describe individual contributions to a scholarly project or research output. Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) is one of the most widely used CROTs, and has been adopted by numerous journals to describe author's contributions, and recently formalized as a ANSI/NISO standard. Despite these developments, there is still much work left to be done to improve how CROTs are used across different research domains, research output types, and scholarly workflows. In this paper, we describe how CROTs could be extended to include roles from various disciplines in an ethical and inclusive manner. We explore potential approaches to apply CROTs to diverse research objects and various disciplines; as well as envision their integration into various scholarly workflows, such as promotion and tenure in academic institutions. Lastly, we discuss potential mechanisms for wide adoption and use. While acknowledging that improving current systems of attribution is a slow and iterative process, we believe that engaging the community in the evolution of CROTs will ultimately enhance the ethical attribution of credit and responsibilities in scholarly publications.     

‘Listen to the voice of reason’: the New Orleans Tribune as advocate for public,integrated education

The New Orleans Tribune (1864–1870), the first black daily newspaper in the United States, was the singular text in the public South at its time to staunchly advocate for public, integrated education, anticipating the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, and arguing that separate education would always be synonymous with unequal education and would reinforce the mark of inferiority already placed upon blacks by slavery. This article argues that the Tribune grounded its argument against segregated education in logos-centred rhetoric that focused specifically on combating the dominant discourse of white supremacy and black inferiority embedded in the emerging ideology of scientific racism. The Tribune defended against the divisive rhetoric of the newly forming eugenics movement and instead posed public, integrated education as a necessary prerequisite to rebuilding a nation destroyed by the Civil War.     

Context matters: increasing understanding with interactive Clicker Case studies

Although interactive technology is presumed to increase student understanding in large classes, no previous research studies have empirically explored the effects of Clicker Cases on students?? performance. A Clicker Case is a story (e.g., a problem someone is facing) that uses clickers (student response systems) to engage students in understanding the meaning of the science contained within the story. Using an experimental randomized Solomon design across 11 institutions, we found that Clicker Cases increased student understanding more than PowerPoint lectures in large introductory biology classrooms, although there was variation across institutions and topics. By examining student performance in conjunction with faculty experience, we found that strong Clicker Cases created dissonance, captured attention and involved students in interpreting data or making decisions. This study provides a model for collaborative research across multiple institutions and demonstrates the need for using multiple institutions and topics in research on education.     

Comparison of three generations of ActiGraph™ activity monitors in children and adolescents

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated agreement among three generations of ActiGraph? accelerometers in children and adolescents. Twenty-nine participants (mean age = 14.2 ± 3.0 years) completed two laboratory-based activity sessions, each lasting 60 min. During each session, participants concurrently wore three different models of the ActiGraph? accelerometers (GT1M, GT3X, GT3X+). Agreement among the three models for vertical axis counts, vector magnitude counts, and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise (MVPA) was evaluated by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots. The intraclass correlation coefficient for total vertical axis counts, total vector magnitude counts, and estimated MVPA was 0.994 (95% CI = 0.989–0.996), 0.981 (95% CI = 0.969–0.989), and 0.996 (95% CI = 0.989–0.998), respectively. Inter-monitor differences for total vertical axis and vector magnitude counts ranged from 0.3% to 1.5%, while inter-monitor differences for estimated MVPA were equal to or close to zero. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that there is strong agreement between the GT1M, GT3X, and GT3X+ activity monitors, thus making it acceptable for researchers and practitioners to use different ActiGraph? models within a given study.     

Metacomprehension effects situated within an anchoring and adjustment framework

Low accuracy levels are often obtained when readers are asked to predict test performance over reading materials. Three investigations further explore the information readers use to make predictions during metacomprehension. Our results show that readers’ estimates are influenced by factors such as their initial impression of the reading task, based in part on their perceptions surrounding text genre and test item type. To explain these and other published results, a new framework for investigating metacomprehension using Tversky and Kahneman’s (Science, 185:1124–1131, 1974) anchoring and adjustment heuristic as a guide is proposed. We argue that readers anchor comprehension test performance on factors such as self-perceptions of reading ability and/or perceptions of the reading task and then insufficiently adjust their predictions to reflect the demands of the specific reading task at hand such as text difficulty.     

Firm utilization of university scientific research

This study investigates the assumption that scientific research taking place in universities trickles down to industry. Publication characteristics are used to examine the collaboration and utilization behavior of scientists employed in the computer equipment and aircraft industries. The data indicate that these industries are using research generated by university scientists and that collaboration between sectors is occurring. Four sets of factors (article, firm, industry, and university characteristics) are used to explain research utilization and publication practices. Logistical regression results confirm that university/firm proximity is associated with increased collaboration and that collaborative relationships promote firm utilization of university research. These results indicate that university policymakers should consider ways to encourage collaborative relationships between sectors to promote information transfer. Further, the result linking proximity and collaboration suggests support for academic scientific activities should be encouraged at the local level.     

Implementing New York's Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program: An Exploratory Study of Systemic Impacts

This exploratory study examined the impacts of New York's Universal Pre-kindergarten (UPK) program as perceived by directors at child care centers and preschools not receiving state funds. Although only partially implemented, UPK's mixed-delivery system grants monies to a substantial number of qualifying community-based early care and education centers, resulting in a funding imbalance between participating and nonparticipating centers. Phone interviews were conducted with the directors of non-UPK programs across New York State (N = 46). Quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest perceived decreases in 4-year-old and total enrollment and increased teacher recruitment difficulty and competition for teachers since UPK was introduced. Larger centers and those offering full-day programming more often reported changes in teacher recruitment and retention than smaller centers and those offering part-day programming only. Implications for state pre-K policy are discussed.     

A mixed‐method efficacy and fidelity study of Check and Connect

The effectiveness of the Check and Connect dropout prevention program was examined, over the course of 2 ½ years, with 54 middle school students from diverse backgrounds experiencing one or more conditions of risk for dropout. Participants were randomly assigned to receive the Check and Connect intervention or business as usual (i.e., control) in sixth grade. Students in the treatment group had significantly better eighth grade attendance than the control. There were no significant differences between the two groups in eighth grade cumulative grade point average or office disciplinary referrals. An in‐depth analysis of the quality and quantity of the intervention delivered to the students in the treatment group identified conditions that were associated with higher treatment integrity and better student outcomes.