RESULTS FROM 10 YEARS OF INTEGRATING RESEARCH INTO A SMALL GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT'S CURRICULUM

During the past several decades there has been a growing awareness of the educational benefits to students who participate in undergraduate research experiences (e.g., National Science Foundation, 1996; Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University, 1998). These benefits include, among others, increased communication skills, ability to work as part of a research team, and enhanced self-confidence in individual problem-solving skills (e.g., Kardash, J. Ed. Psych., 2000; Seymour, Hunter, Laursen, Deantoni, Science Education, 2004). Ten years ago, however, many Pomona College geology students felt they could not get involved in research until a required thesis exercise in their final year. Department faculty recalled that few students conducted research outside of the thesis, and many students at the start of their senior year had little idea how to perform research. Given the benefits that can accrue when students conduct research, having them involved only during the senior year is detrimental to student learning and growth. Furthermore, students lacking involvement in research early on risk making decisions about their future without knowing what scientists actually do, and without experiencing the considerable joys associated with making an original scientific discovery.

Seeking to increase the opportunities for student-conducted research within our curriculum, and thus the associated benefits to our students' education, ten years ago we initiated changes to place student-conducted research at the core of our departmental curriculum. These changes – development of a course in Research Methods and incorporating research experiences in existing courses – have doubled the number of students performing research of a caliber suitable for conference presentation, including a more than threefold increase in those students who do so prior to their senior year, and coincided with the largest increase of majors in the history of our department. In this presentation we describe the challenges we faced and the changes we made, the outcomes, and future directions our efforts must take to sustain student-conducted research within our evolving curricular program.