CURE Courses Foster Research Project Ownership, Autonomy, and Confidence in Research Abilities Regardless of High or Low Research Project Constraints

Course-based undergraduate research experiences benefit students in a multitude of ways, however the design and implementation challenges of creating a CURE can be a major obstacle to their implementation. As levels of student autonomy and input in their research projects increases, design of the CURE becomes increasingly complex. For faculty, there is a trade-off between ensuring students feel a sense of ownership and a freedom to design their own research projects and creating enough structure and boundaries for student research to be possible. This study tested if a more uncertain, student input-focused design in which students choose the focus of their course projects would lead to significantly more student engagement and ownership over their projects than a pre-planned course design. The results of our investigation suggest that, regardless of the amount of input in the course project, students will feel a personal connection to the research they do in class simply by participating in a CURE course.Bachelor of Scienc