Exemplar Content
General Card #3165
How to Get Students Involved in Undergraduate Research
Summary
Instructor guides, strategies, and videos to excite first-year students about getting involved in research.
Description
Undergraduate students can greatly benefit from being involved in research. How can you get them involved?
We developed this suite of videos, instructor guides, and other resources to help faculty and students understand how research can impact their career and service – and connect the power of entrepreneurial mindset to the experience.
Background:
Many instructors across KEEN and beyond have been involving students in their research for years. They came together to develop this package of resources to help first-year students get excited about the opportunity and garner more involvement from them.
This card is part of a larger package of resources and focuses on early engagement of students.
Card 3583 provides resources to educate faculty on ways to engage undergraduate students in research.
Card 3619 provides additional videos and instructor guides to be used within classes to help explain different elements of the undergraduate research journey.
All of these cards are open to adaptation and adoption.
What’s in this card:
There is a playlist of videos created for this content, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/
The following are five modules designed to introduce undergrad students to what research is and how the entrepreneurial mindset plays a role in research. Each module comes with at least one activity to be paired with the viewing of a video exploring the following questions:
What is Research?
Why Should I Get Involved in Research?
What is the Entrepreneurial Mindset?
How Does Research Get Done?
How Can I Get Involved In Research?
View implementation strategies in the Instructor Tips section.
How the resources are currently being used:
Modules from this card are being implemented at Baylor University, Lawrence Technological University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in introductory engineering courses and research seminars.
Youtube Video Link
Learning Objectives
These modules have three main categories of desired outcomes for students:
Knowledge Outcomes
- Awareness of basic facts about research and demystifying the research experience
Mindset Outcomes
- Understanding the value of an entrepreneurial mindset in the research context
- Embracing curiosity as a cornerstone of research
- Understanding the the value of a broader outlook and interdisciplinary toolkit for tackling research questions
- Seeing opportunities to create value with impactful research
Motivation Outcomes
- Lowering barriers to entry through knowledge of ways to engage in undergraduate research
- Identifying themselves as potential contributors to the research enterprise
- Seeing research as a rewarding challenge
- Seeing undergraduate research as an opportunity for personal and professional growth alongside building relationships and community
Instructor Tips
If you are an instructor, read through the instructor guides and compare to some of your current assignments to see if there are any potential substitutions or methods to integrate these materials into your current course structure. Each module has different tips and variations for implementation that can be found inside the instructor guides. If you have your own feedback or instructor tips, please leave a comment on the card below to share with others!
If you are part of a center for undergraduate research, review these modules and consider their applicability for an undergraduate research orientation workshop. The "What is Research?" and "How Does Research Get Done?" videos are especially helpful for broad introductions or general audiences.
Implementation Strategies
Identifying appropriate venues for these modules is key to their effectiveness. All of these modules were designed to be implemented inside of a first year engineering experience (FYEE) but are also applicable to freshman- and sophomore-level domain-specific courses (such as an Intro to Biomedical Engineering or Foundations of Mechanical Engineering course).
We will continue to update this section with new implementation strategies and updates from faculty as they deploy these modules.
Assessment
Students were surveyed using a model adapted from the retrospective gains model used by the Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment (URSSA). A copy of the survey questions and preliminary results of these surveys published in an ASSE Conference paper can both be found in the Overview folder below.
Curiosity
- Demonstrate constant curiosity about our changing world
Engaging in research is all about asking questions and exploring nature and the world of ideas.
Connections
- Integrate information from many sources to gain insight
Research often involves interdisciplinary engagements and novel applications of previous discoveries to emerging fields.
Creating Value
- Identify unexpected opportunities to create extraordinary value
The aim of all research is to make an impact on the world, to make discoveries and innovations that can change the world.
Categories & Tags
- Classroom & Courses
- Co-Curricular & Extra Curricular
- Research
- Undergraduate Research
- First Year Engineering
- first year programs
- first year
- videos
- All Engineering Disciplines
Groups
Folders
Description
Below there is a cover letter to explain to instructors the purpose of the overall approach to introducing EM in the context of research to their students. There is also a "one-stop" file that combines the cover letter, instructor guides, and handouts for this entire card.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EM in Research 101 YouTube Playlist | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| EM in Research 101 Cover Letter.pdf | Other | 10/5/2023 | 75.3 KB | 123 | ||
| EM in Research 101 Cover Letter.docx | Other | .docx | 10/5/2023 | 16.3 KB | 111 | |
| EM in Research 101 FULL PDF v2.docx | Other | .docx | 10/5/2023 | 52.6 KB | 114 | |
| EM in Research 101 FULL PDF v2.pdf | Other | 10/5/2023 | 344.7 KB | 124 | ||
| Work-In-Progress_ Early Student Exposure to an Entrepreneurial Mindset in Engineering Research.pdf | Journal / Article | 11/17/2023 | 856.2 KB | 122 | ||
| Early Exposure Survey.docx | Assessment / Rubric | .docx | 11/28/2023 | 34.3 KB | 117 |
Description
These activities are to complement the "What is Research?" video. They are focused on answering basic questions about the nature of research.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is Research? - YouTube Video | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| Research Reflection Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 16.2 KB | 103 | |
| Research Reflection Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 10/17/2023 | 116.4 KB | 114 | ||
| Research Reflection Instructor Guide - Without Video.pdf | Instructor Notes | 10/17/2023 | 113.9 KB | 110 | ||
| Minute Paper Research Reflection Handout.pdf | Activity / Handout | 10/17/2023 | 78.6 KB | 110 | ||
| Minute Paper Research Reflection Handout.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 13.3 KB | 107 | |
| Researcher Interviews Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 16.5 KB | 101 | |
| Researcher Interviews Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 10/17/2023 | 114.2 KB | 106 | ||
| Researcher Interview Sample Handout.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 17 KB | 101 | |
| Researcher Interview Sample Handout.pdf | Activity / Handout | 10/17/2023 | 141 KB | 109 |
Description
This activity complement the video "Why Should I Do Research?". It is focused on trying to pinpoint the motivation behind getting involved in research.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why Should I Do Research? - YouTube Video | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| Why Do Research Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 16.7 KB | 101 | |
| Why Do Research Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 6/9/2023 | 115.1 KB | 107 | ||
| Why Do Research Reflection Activity.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 8.9 KB | 98 | |
| Why Do Research Reflection Activity.pdf | Activity / Handout | 6/9/2023 | 64.7 KB | 107 |
Description
These activities are to complement the "What is the Entrepreneurial Mindset?" video. They are focused on exploring an entrepreneurial mindset inside of research and seeing how research impacts the world.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What Is The Entrepreneurial Mindset? - YouTube Video | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| Explore Opportunities Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 15.9 KB | 83 | |
| Explore Opportunities Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 6/9/2023 | 124.9 KB | 89 | ||
| Explore Opportunities Instructor Guide - Without Video.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 15.8 KB | 84 | |
| Explore Opportunities Instructor Guide - Without Video.pdf | Instructor Notes | 6/9/2023 | 122.1 KB | 88 | ||
| Explore Opportunites Handout.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 13.8 KB | 86 | |
| Explore Opportunites Handout.pdf | Activity / Handout | 6/9/2023 | 70.5 KB | 87 | ||
| Technology in Daily Life Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 15.6 KB | 82 | |
| Technology in Daily Life Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 6/9/2023 | 121.8 KB | 93 | ||
| Technology in Daily Life Instructor Guide - Without Video.pdf | Instructor Notes | 6/9/2023 | 120.9 KB | 90 | ||
| Technology in Daily Life (Presentation) Handout.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 13.9 KB | 81 | |
| Technology in Daily Life (Presentation) Handout.pdf | Activity / Handout | 6/9/2023 | 70.1 KB | 89 | ||
| Technology in Daily Life (Written) Handout.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 14.1 KB | 83 | |
| Technology in Daily Life (Written) Handout.pdf | Activity / Handout | 6/9/2023 | 70.5 KB | 87 |
Description
This activity complements the "How Does Research Get Done?" video. It is focused on demystifying the process of funding and conducting research.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How Does Research Get Done? - YouTube Video | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| Find a Grant Program Handout v2.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 16.6 KB | 96 | |
| Find a Grant Program Handout v2.pdf | Activity / Handout | 10/17/2023 | 99.8 KB | 99 | ||
| Find a Grant Program Instructor Guide v2.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 10/17/2023 | 17.3 KB | 96 | |
| Find a Grant Program Instructor Guide v2.pdf | Instructor Notes | 10/17/2023 | 122.9 KB | 102 |
Description
This activity complements the "How Can I Get Involved in Research?" video. It is focused on exposing students to a variety of touch points in the networks around them that can provide different opportunities to get involved in research.
| Title | Type | Ext | Date | Size | Download All | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How Can I Get Involved In Research? | Video | 10/17/2023 | - | |||
| bingo_card_sample.docx | Activity / Handout | .docx | 6/9/2023 | 15 KB | 88 | |
| BINGO card template | Activity / Handout | 4/17/2024 | - | |||
| Research Opportunity Bingo Card.pdf | Activity / Handout | 4/17/2024 | 93.9 KB | 98 | ||
| Research Opportunity Bingo Instructor Guide.docx | Instructor Notes | .docx | 4/17/2024 | 20.1 KB | 84 | |
| Research Opportunity Bingo Instructor Guide.pdf | Instructor Notes | 4/17/2024 | 155.9 KB | 93 |