VIP: Students Shaping Science through Undergraduate Research Experiences
What is the overarching goal of this project?
- Have you ever wondered why undergraduate students are advised to get involved in research?
- What do people learn by participating in undergraduate research?
- How do undergraduate students actually shape the science of their undergraduate research project?
On this team, you will conduct research to answer these questions! We are interested in how people learn science by participating in science, whether through summer research experiences or course-based research experiences (like this Vertically Integrated Projects team)!
What experience will students gain?
Do you find humans fascinating - especially how they think, behave, and learn?
Do you enjoy social settings and working with a team to figure out important problems?
Do you like to hear people share stories about how they do their research?
Then join our VIP team to study how students shape their science during undergraduate research experiences!
You will gain the following research experience and transferable skills:
- thinking critically about how people learn science,
- conducting research with human subjects ethically and responsibly (receive a training certificate),
- searching, reviewing, and summarizing research literature,
- eliciting peoples' experiences through interviews,
- actively listening to how people describe their experiences,
- analyzing qualitative data collected through interviews, surveys, and observations,
- collaborating as a team to analyze data and consider multiple interpretations,
- applying theories of how people learn science to guide data analysis on science learning,
- building and evaluating conceptual models of how people learn science, and
- communicating about your research orally, in writing, and visually through poster presentations.
VIP Faculty Lead information
Dr. Anna Grinath
"As an undergraduate student, your experiences and perspectives are really important for the research this VIP team conducts on undergradaute students' science learning!"
Registration Process:
- Enrollment is by instructor permission. Students should reach out to Dr. Anna Grinath to discuss their interest in this VIP and their career goals. Reach out to Dr. Grinath via email or chat with her during the social in the GLS lobby every Thursday at 3:30pm.
- The VIP team will have a weekly 1-hour research team meeting to set weekly goals, discuss progress, and collaborate. We will determine a day and time for the weekly research team meeting after students enroll in the course. Students will spend additional time completing their weekly research tasks outside of the team meeting.
- Weekly time commitment depends on your credits: 1 credit = ~5 hours/week; 2 credits = ~10 hours/week
Curious? Unsure? Wondering what doing research on how other undergraduate students do research actually looks like? Check out our recent publication on how undergraduate students take up ownership of the research project during a VIP course.