CBE—Life Sciences Education A High-Enrollment Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience Improves Student Conceptions of Scientific Thinking and Ability to Interpret Data

We present an innovative course-based undergraduate research experience curriculum focused on the characterization of single point mutations in p53, a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in more than 50 % of human cancers. This course is required of all introductory biology students, so all biology majors engage in a research project as part of their training. Using a set of open-ended written prompts, we found that the course shifts student conceptions of what it means to think like a scientist from novice to more expert-like. Students at the end of the course identified experimental repetition, data analysis, and collaboration as important elements of thinking like a scientist. Course exams revealed that students showed gains in their ability to analyze and interpret data. These data indicate that this course-embedded research experience has a positive impact on the development of students ’ conceptions and practice of scientific thinking. Article Research involving undergraduate students has been called the “purest form of teaching ” (NRC, 2003, p. 87), and research experiences for undergraduates have been identified as “an integral component of biology education for all students” (AAAS, 2011, p. xiv). Despite these recommendations, the practical implications of involving students in research re-main daunting. Historically, the integration of research into the undergraduate biology curriculum has primarily been in the form of research apprenticeships in faculty research labs (Russell et al., 2007), but there are not enough of these posi-tions available at most institutions to give all students the opportunity to participate in authentic research. One solution to this problem is to integrate research experiences into traditional high-enrollment lab course