Embedding Undergraduate Research in an Anthropology Curriculum

Abstract

We strive to provide our students with applied and transformational experiences to strengthen and crystallize the coursework within our disciplines and prepare students to conduct research in their later undergraduate years, graduate school, and careers. One of our greatest challenges as educators is training students to conduct research within the constraints of college and department-level requirements and subject to faculty teaching loads and the need for faculty buy-in. I have designed a system for embedding high-impact educational practices and transformational experiences in a stepwise process throughout an undergraduate anthropology curriculum. I support using community-based projects as the vehicle for training students to design and carry out collaborative research, after which they can mentor other students to further refine their training and/or take an upperlevel course that results in a proposal for a capstone research project. Materials for four courses are included, along with assessment tools for measuring student mastery/growth/development. The courses involved are a research design seminar, a methods seminar, a research proposal course, and a seminar on mentoring research design or methods. Suggestions for adjusting faculty workloads are offered. My hope is to (1) provide educators with a ready-made program; (2) demonstrate its feasibility to faculty and its value to students, faculty, and community; and (3) encourage departments to use the tools presented or design their own using these as a template.The value of undergraduate training in, and the conduct of, research has been reported by many educators, for many disciplines (Madan and Teitge 2013 for a review of particular disciplines; see also Russell et al. 2007; Kuh 2008;Lopatto 2010a;Craney et al. 2011). Benefits fall within the areas of personal and scholarly growth and career guidance. In terms of personal development, students report or demonstrate increased self-confidence, independence, creativity, discipline, cognitive development (e.g., analytical and synthetic skills), and feelings of accomplishment (Russell et al. 2007; Lopatto 2008Lopatto , 2010bWayment and Dickson 2008).Besides the obvious development of research skills (formulating research questions, conducting a literature review, designing a project and research methods, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting of results), students benefit scholastically in other direct and indirect ways. Applied and research experience help to crystallize what students learn in the foundational courses within their major, via "reallife" experience (https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/our/conduct/ models). As Madan and Teitge (2013, 1) state, "…only after forming one's own hypotheses does one truly understand the nuances of research designs and better conceptualize course material." Students begin to think like scientists, and the more they participate in research design, the better they become at tailoring methods to answer proposed questions (Russell et al. 2007; Lopatto 2008;Madan a...

Mentoring and engaging undergraduate students in authentic research in mammalogy

“…Effective mentoring is essential to the success of undergraduate research experiences (Wenzel 1997; Kuh 2008; Osborn and Karukstis 2009; Webber et al 2013). Undergraduate mentoring is a process whereby an undergraduate student is provided with training, guidance, and encouragement to promote and improve professional growth and development as well as personal growth (Hobson et al 2015).…”