Development of interdisciplinary project-based scientific research course for STEM departments

Abstract

The Project-Based Scientific Research is a new interdisciplinary course developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF-IUSE) funded STEM center team at Sam Houston State University. The implementation of this new course was one of the major three goals for this five-year grant to strengthen the STEM undergraduate research community at Sam Houston State University by helping undergraduates who are interested in hands-on and/or scientific research. The course is designed to introduce undergraduate sophomore and junior science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) students to the vibrant world of real research; to build foundational skills for research; to help STEM students meet potential mentors whose research labs they might join with the goal of gaining experimental research experience while on campus. The aims of the course were to (1) help undergraduate students who are interested in research connect with faculty partners who are committed to mentoring undergraduates in research, (2) to guide students in reading through papers that introduce the type of research being carried out in a faculty partners lab, (3) to guide students in drafting a mini-review of 5 papers relevant to that research, (4) to guide students in identifying and writing up a research proposal which they will complete in the lab of the faculty partner. In the first year, six academic departments out of eight participated in this new course by offering a cross-listed course for their students under one major course taught by one of the PIs at the STEM Center. Due to institutional constraints only two departments contributed students to the course. After thoughtful conversations with stake holder's broad support was found for the goals of the course, but not for the mechanism of using an interdisciplinary course to meet those goals. Currently, we are transitioning from a course-based approach to a non-course-based approach for supporting more effective ramps into research.