Research and Education for Developing Scientific Attitude in

Research and Education for Developing Scientific Attitude in Science and Mathematics Abdullah Dolah Dalee Microbiology Program, Yala Rajabhat University, Yala, Thailand

The Heart of a University “The ecology of a university depends on a deep and abiding understanding that inquiry, investigation and discovery are at the heart of the enterprise, whether in funded research projects or in undergraduate classrooms or graduate apprenticeships. Everyone at a university should be a discoverer, a learner. ” (Boyer Commission, 1998, p. 9) “Undergraduate research is the pedagogy for the 21 st century” (Council on Undergraduate Research and National Conference on Undergraduate Research, 2005) “Research and inquiry is not just for those who choose to pursue an academic career. It is central to professional life in the twenty-first century. ” (Brew 2007, p. 7)

What is a ‘students as researchers’ approach? Views of students have changed and continue to change as the higher education context responds to external and internal drivers. Students have been described as consumers (Molesworth et. al. , 2010), clients (Bailey, 2000), producers (Neary and Winn, 2009), co-producers (Mc. Culloch, 2009), change agents (Kay, Dunne & Hutchinson, 2010 with QAA; Dunne and Zandstra, 2011), and pedagogical consultants (Healey, 2012).

Students as researchers was suggested by Jenkins & Healey (2009) Such a concept Makes university staff and students share an understanding norms in the discipline. Emphasizes process of UG research and inquiry. UG research may typically comprise of Ways of promoting research, Teaching linkages to developing their research appreciation, Involvement of teaching and learning approach to stimulate research processes, Using research or its elements as assignment Giving 1 st hand experience of research-based consultancy via live projects, Bringing research data into curriculum for their analysis and manipulation

Students as researchers With higher-level thinking skills developed in UG students, expectations include Ideas and beliefs is supported with evidence, Critical judgments made on the value of information, arguments, or methods, Gathered and interpreted data are examined, Validity and reliability of their conclusions is evaluated as a team, Ideas, information, or experiences are synthesized and organized into new, more complex interpretations and relationships, Projects that require integration of ideas from varied sources are able to work on.

Students as researchers Staff and students need more time and space in the curriculum and in class as they work with project, and make assessment. Students may select, or be allocated to, a supervisor for their dissertation or final year project on a one-to-one basis. Students may be selected for a paid-summer research project as a part of academic research/research group. Students may do research with PG supervising rather than academic staff. Students may work on research as a team that includes staff, PG, and UG students.

Benefits of involving students in research Students learn content and skills, develop cognitive abilities, affective domain, sense of self. Increase motivation for learning Capability in independent learning and problem-solving with creative and critical thinking Helping UG students decide on a career path Forming the mentoring relationships between students and Program/faculty Improving student performance in writing, speaking, and working individually or in team. All benefits are of return value, and shared by Program, Faculty, University, and communities.

What research offers students? Concrete demonstration of the principles and concepts covered in textbooks and lab sections. Motivation for learning, chance to pursue their individual interest, intellectual curiosity, and their own learning process. Research may be considered as academic credits, and reward for students toward their degrees, i. e. students may receive academic credit for the time they spend doing research. Students-Mentor interaction that last long, and a lifetime of personal connections and career guidance. Better references and recommendation required in applying job or graduate school.

What research offers students? Active learning process challenges that include framing questions, developing testing strategy, analyzing information, reporting results, making an arguments, and tolerating ambiguity. Working as a member of research team. Writing and presentation skills improvement. habit of sharing research with other scholars. Habit of appreciating and regular read published research.

Benefits of research to universities Students bring energy and enthusiasm to research teams. Students sometimes brings something new, and may effect change of ways in approaching research questions. UG research shapes interaction among UG and PG students, and faculty and students to even more closer. Research fund is also awarded on the basis of UG student active involvement.

Research and Teaching – mate? They are mate and co-supportive. Research gets resources and equipment supports from those of teaching ones. Interaction based on both research and teaching increases faculty success and drive students. With student involvement in research, many more specialized research interests can be coped with. Enriching educational experience and opportunities as research activity attracts constant flow of people and community among leaders from business, industry, government, and other universities.

Research-based approach of teaching Required re-managing of teaching content and times May readily be incorporated in courses with practical nature. In our Microbiology program, Current degree course (Version 3, 2016 Curriculum) is designed with more research-based nature. These are …

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High-Impact Practices for UG students 1 st year seminar and experiences basing on research Common intellectual experiences involve group research outside curriculum Learning communities constituting professor, junior staff, PG, and UG students Writing-intensive courses to support the writing-up students and staff research report Collaborative assignments and projects Diversity/global learning Service learning opportunities Internships with active role and contribute a mini research for placement provider. Capstone research-based courses/projects

Curriculum framework There are 4 curriculum frameworks of research-teaching linkages. These curricula are Research-led – learning current research in the discipline Research-tutored – engaging in research discussions, e. g. seminar-based courses Research-oriented – Developing research skills and techniques Research-based – undertaking research and inquiry

Levels of student participation

Source: Helen Walkington, Students as researchers: Supporting undergraduate research in the disciplines in higher education, The Higher Education Academy, Oxford Brookes University Press.

Research skills development

Source: Helen Walkington, Students as researchers: Supporting undergraduate research in the disciplines in higher education, The Higher Education Academy, Oxford Brookes University Press

Dimensions for framing UG research contexts

Source: Helen Walkington, Students as researchers: Supporting undergraduate research in the disciplines in higher education, The Higher Education Academy, Oxford Brookes University Press

Self-authorship Is the central goal of higher education in the 21 st century. Is an ability to put a balance of external influences and internally-generated beliefs and goals. Is an educational aim which strives to allow students to develop a sense of self through interaction with learning relationships and hinges upon intense reflection so individuals can express how they know something. As a high-level skill, so not all students will necessarily attain it during their undergraduate education. However, a ‘students as researchers’ pedagogy can use this approach to help develop this attribute by developing the ability to frame enquiry, and to justify opinions and evidence as well as to develop a commitment to share research findings.

Dissemination of UG research “Every university graduate should understand that no idea is fully formed until it can be communicated, and that the organization required for writing and speaking is part of the thought process that enables one to understand material fully. Dissemination of results is an essential and integral part of the research process. ” (Boyer Commission, 1998, p. 24)

Research dissemination formats

Widening engagement in research dissemination activities

Microbiology initiative in enhancing UG research engagement New (Version 3) YRU Microbiology curriculum of 2016 has taken steps towards more engagement in UG research opportunity and practice via Theory-related courses have included ‘case study’, which are research-related Setting practical or laboratory content into independent course carrying 1 -2 credit(s) A number of specialized course content has ‘case study’, which is believed to be research-approach. ‘Workshop’ has become independent courses to be taken concomitantly with research and/or seminar. Make publication as course and program as well as senior UG project (aka research) requirement.

Microbiology courses with researchapproached

Overcoming barriers to participation Cause of UG research dissemination activities is their lack of confidence. Confidence comes as result of constant and continual trains and practices. So, students therefore require structured experiences to ‘scaffold’ their learning, so that they have the confidence to share their research findings. A range of activities for students to practice their skills within the curriculum, and these stepwise are to present a poster in class to a group of students as an assessment task to prepare a poster for an undergraduate conference within the department or faculty to submit an abstract to the local or national conference of UG research to present their research findings as either a poster or paper The starting point within the curriculum therefore relates to creating authentic assessment tasks and supporting students to routinely engage in self-assessment and peer-assessment activities.

Framework for research dissemination UG research findings may be disseminated within a module through to international exposure, e. g. publication or presentation in conferences either locally, nationally or internationally. Other frameworks are the uses of digital technology, like photo sharing, via links to social media, wikis, film, editing and burning DVDs, and storing materials in a virtual learning environment or institutional repository. With their continual improvements and refinements, the final work as per publication standard will be achieved.

Benefits of engaging with UG journals Journals were designed to share the same author guidelines, and a module in the UG curriculum at senior level should be aligned to these author guidelines, besides making the resulting journal article as the assessed work. Publication in those journals should not deem mandatory, though. However, students who are willing to pursue this as outside to the module should be assisted and supported. Being involved in writing articles as per the journal author guidelines is valuable, regardless of whether their work was eventually published or not. UG students will get direct benefits of writing skill development, which might be translated into indirect reading skill acquisition.

Forms of scaffolding the writing process Group/team writing (wikis and other collaborative writing technologies may further support this process). Individual writing with the help of a peer mentor In-class teaching of writing skills including discuss of reviewing criteria, article reviews, and modelling the writing process to give feedback on draft work Reviewing paper, book, journals prior to generating product from UG students’ own data Encouraging UG students using format of journal articles in writing assignments

Recommendations for good practice using UG research journals Use journal articles in the curriculum Use other forms of research dissemination, e. g. poster conferences Making clear about how the journal processes are, by having academics’ talk about their experience of rejection, rewriting, and redrafting. Develop and embed writing opportunities in the curriculum e. g. embedding article writing, prior to or in place of writing dissertations or essays

UG research conferences Setting of UG research conferences can take many different formats, e. g. poster-style conference and paper sessions video presentations, demonstrations of interactive websites, performances, etc UG research conferences may be set up according to the disciplinary or thematic focus and the scale of the event, i. e. from poster sessions within modules, to departmental conferences, faculty or institutional conferences. National conferences can be hosted by disciplinary societies or academics forming national networks combining many disciplines.

Benefits of engaging in UG research conferences Getting immediate depth dialogic feedback Applying critical thinking on site in response to questions Getting recognition as a researcher Having potential to become experts while staff become the audience Making students practicing their communication skills Adopting critical self-awareness Gaining confidence Gaining employability skills Get budding professionals as UG students take part in multi-institutional conference

Recommendations for good practice in the preparation of students for UG research conferences Scaffolding within the curriculum to prepare students for co-curricular conferences (e. g. how to create an academic poster, in-class poster sessions/presentations, how to structure a paper presentation). Encourage students to create a digital legacy from the conference (even students who have not presented their work can be involved in the conference process, e. g. year 1 students). Help students to understand how their research ‘maps’ within the global picture. Allow students practice communicating their research to an audience who will provide constructive feedback (during class hours)

Senior UG research Project Is a 15 -week research project with 3 -credit hours. Supervised by mentor(s), student(s) designing projects, collected data, and presented their results in the form of mini thesis. In the process, most students required extra 2 -month summer semester to complete the task, or even more. For solution, a 2 -semester research was put in place. Students learn research methodology, develop their research projects in 1 semester, and data is collected, analyzed, and presented during the second semester. The capstone assignments for the research projects include a journal-style manuscript, a poster presentation, and an oral presentation given to the faculty and staff of the department. Additionally, all students are required to present their research at local or state conferences.

Transformation of Applied Biology, Yala Rajabhat University UG courses in Biology and Microbiology were previously a course of Applied Biology. Senior research projects was a semester duration. Each year, almost half of UG students did their senior projects on microbes. In 2008, transformation took place, and as result, Applied Biology has 2 majors; Biology and Microbiology. Teaching and lab resources were shared. Each major courses carried only 25 -30 credit-hours. In 2012, transform was again set up, and 2 different UG courses formed; Biology and Microbiology were established.

Transformation of Applied Biology, Yala Rajabhat University Teaching and lab resources were still shared but additional materials and equipment were started brought in. Senior UG research has been transformed into 2 -semester duration. Research projects have become more biology- or microbiology-related. For Microbiology, despites limitation of lab and research resources and facilities, research projects are well managed by the Program teaching members. At earlier stage, Microbiology research is totally primary basis, i. e. on microbial isolation, and distribution in variety of environment, as well as microbiological quality assessment.

UG research topics: student-generated Topics is either a student generated or a mentor generated. Students with self-generated topics perform a thorough literature review prior to the development of the project to ensure the project is novel. Their own methodology assisted by mentor is developed to answer the setting research question. As a result, students get experiences but their projects are less sophisticated.

UG research topics: mentor-generated This type of topics provides students opportunity for greater exposure to advanced lab techniques. Students get less input into research design and methodology, however. Excellent research experience to students are equal. Decision to choose topics depends on each students’ future interest. Students with interest in graduate or professional school tend to migrate towards mentor generated projects.

Mentor’s Roles in UG research and Funding Quality of instruction and mentoring provided to UG research students influence their research experience and results in total. Limitation of UG research is the supporting fund, and research fund granted on behalf of mentor(s) may support UG research, especially those of mentor-generated. Universities may establish an Undergraduate Research Fund to provide small stipends for UG students research. Program study may also allocate some fund for UG research and dissemination. Funding includes those for presenting at regional or national conferences likes travel, registration fee, and professional membership. Thus, if we desire our students to gain the valuable experience of presenting at larger conferences (other than state or local), the financial burden lies with the student and/or the department.

Funding UG research External donations from community who are committed to the development of future scientists provide the stimulus for increased research activity by making available stipends for students as well as for their mentors. Increase in the quality of the research projects, and thus support for students to present their data at larger conferences is often achieved by efficient UG research funding.

Engagement of Academic Adviser(s) Academic advisers need to be aware of their students’ potential interest in research as a career, as a work-experience opportunity, or in the classroom. Research interest among UG students may be assessed students’ meetings, and when necessary, provide the right guidance about getting involved. Advising services by academic advisors should expand to research connections, in addition to general course/degree advice. Advisors should open the idea of doing research to students at earliest possible, and this will change the students’ mindset, thus making them know how to start involvement in research.

UG research for junior students Juniors almost do not know what the research process is. Incorporating primary research into their junior courses, and highlight research conducted at their own universities are among ways to get junior exposure to research. Junior may get some guidance on getting involved in research from research professors themselves. Junior involvement comes from incorporating research in a short lecture, addressing research in academic courses, and organizing events of research. Recruiting senior helping mentor their junior to their research is also effectively useful.

Positive impacts thru UG research experiences Understanding the research process Understanding how scientists work on problems Learning lab techniques Developing skills in the interpretation of results The ability to analyze data The ability to integrate theory and practice

Positive side effects of UG research Having tolerance for obstacles Learning to work independently Understanding how knowledge is constructed Self confidence Understanding that assertions require supporting evidence Clarification of a career path

Mentors benefits of UG research Continuity of productive research agenda despites an intensive teaching Teaching enhanced by the use of the scientific process as a class objective and by incorporating lab skills into the research process. Increase of the university visibility in the scientific community via publications, abstracts, and local, regional, national, or international presentations. Funding of UG research is more likely available and approved.

THANK YOU Suggestions rather than questions are welcomed.