National Collegiate Honors Council
Date of this Version
2001
Abstract
This chapter features different perspectives on integrating research into the curriculum. The series of papers describes programs, credit bearing as well as non-credit bearing, that include a significant research component.
The first four papers provide an excellent contrast of approaches to bringing research into the undergraduate curriculum. The Gemstone Program at the University of Maryland is a fouryear honors program that includes research methods courses and a four-year-long, team-based research project. The students identify the topic, propose the research question and are mentored by a faculty member. The next model describes the efforts in Muhlenberg College's Biology Department to include research via semester-long projects in four intermediate biology courses. The MARE program at the University of South Carolina, described by members of the student research team, is a student-driven, faculty-mentored research activity that does not carry any formal credits or research designation. Over the course of their four years of involvement, the students investigate marine and aquatic environments and the impact of human activities on those environments. The MASS program at Penn State provides a one-semester research environment with time spent studying mathematics courses, attending research seminars, and conducting mathematics or computational research. Finally an 'Issue Reaction' paper describes the unique challenges of integrating 'research' projects in the creative and performing arts.
Comments
Published in Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001, ed. Josephine M. Carubia & Renata S. Engel. Copyright © 2004 The National Collegiate Honors Council.