Testing the Benefits of Undergraduate Research-Based Learning at Various Curricular Levels Using Authentic Research Questions in Hydrogeomorphology

Educational Objectives

The station also plays a critical role in training both future geoscientists and other students at Western. As part of their classes, students use the station to complete authentic research projects. This work is sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (TUES Award #1044623).  The objective of the grant is to assess the benefits of using research as a learning tool in classes throughout the geosciences curriculum, and the basic idea of the grant is outline in the project research questions. Although many of the benefits of undergraduate research done by individuals have been established by others, the NSF grant examines groups of students doing research projects of varied lengths in classes. As part of the grant, we are working on a group model of undergraduate research in classes, assessing student benefits of completing undergraduate projects, and examining the benefits of these experiences to undergraduate mentors or Research Fellows. Completed projects at the site are outlined here.