Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T00:36:30.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Undergraduate Research in Physics

from Part III.1 - STEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

By
Neal Broadus Abraham ,
Janice Hudgings ,
Michael Jackson  and
Warren F. Rogers
Edited by
Harald A. Mieg ,
Elizabeth Ambos ,
Angela Brew ,
Dominique Galli  and
Judith Lehmann
Harald A. Mieg
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Elizabeth Ambos
Affiliation:
Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington DC
Angela Brew
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Dominique Galli
Affiliation:
Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
Judith Lehmann
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Get access

Summary

Undergraduate research experiences have been identified as a high-impact practice in higher education.Within the physics community, research experiences were cited as a critical educational experience for undergraduate students by many thriving physics programs. Furthermore, the discipline has, for many years, supported undergraduate research experiences by advocating for and funding such programs as well as providing opportunities for undergraduate students to present their research at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed professional journals. In this chapter, the authors briefly highlight the benefits of research experiences to undergraduate physics students along with some of the known or community-accepted best practices for engaging undergraduate students in research. The authors also discuss the challenges faced by the community surrounding equity and our ability to engage all students in this meaningful professional and educational experience. While challenges exist, there are opportunities for the physics community to successfully address them through hard work, creativity, and innovation.

Keywords

physicsastronomyundergraduate researchresearch trainingbest practicesresearch curriculum
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research , pp. 191 - 198
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bougie, J., Gangopadhyaya, A., Moses, S. L., Polak, R. D., Ramsey, G. P., & Walkosz, W. (2020). A first-year research experience: The Freshman Project in Physics at Loyola University Chicago. American Journal of Physics, 88, 734–730.Google Scholar
Chang, M. J., Sharkness, J., Hurtado, S., & Newman, C. B. (2014). What matters in college for retaining aspiring scientists and engineers from underrepresented racial groups. Journal of Research in Science and Teaching, 41(5), 555–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolan, E. L. (2017). Undergraduate research as curriculum. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 45(4), 287–369.Google Scholar
Hensel, N. (Ed.). (2012). Characteristics of excellence in undergraduate research. Council on Undergraduate Research.Google Scholar
Hilborn, R. C., Howes, R. H., & Krane, K. S. (Eds.). (2003). Strategic programs for innovations in undergraduate physics: Project report. American Association of Physics Teachers.Google Scholar
Holmes, N. G., & Wieman, C. E. (2016). Examining and contrasting the cognitive activities engaged in undergraduate research experiences and lab courses. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12, 020103.Google Scholar
James, M., & Bertschinger, E. (2020). The time is now: Systematic changes to increase African Americans with bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy. American Institute of Physics.Google Scholar
Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Association of American Colleges and Universities.Google Scholar
Laursen, S. L. (2015). Challenges and opportunities for measuring student outcomes of undergraduate research. In Churukian, A. D., Jones, D. L., & Ding, L. (Eds.), PERC proceedings (pp. 18–21). American Physical Society.Google Scholar
McKagan, S., Craig, D. A., Jackson, M., & Hodapp, T. (Eds.) (2021). Undergraduate research. In American Physical Society, Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3). https://ep3guide.org/guide-overview/undergraduate-research.Google Scholar
NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). (2017). Undergraduate research experiences for STEM students: Successes, challenges, and opportunities. The National Academies Press.Google Scholar
NASEM. (2019). The science of effective mentorship in STEM. The National Academies Press.Google Scholar
National Education Association. (2010). Preparing 21st century students for a global society: An educator’s guide to the “four Cs.” National Education Association.Google Scholar
Rector, T. A., Puckett, A. W., Wooten, M. M., Vogt, N. P., Coble, K., & Pilachowski, C. A. (2019). Authentic research experiences in astronomy to teach the process of Science. In Impey, C. & Buxner, S. (Eds.), Astronomy education: Evidence-based instruction for introductory courses (Vol. 1, Chapter 7, pp. 1–10). IOP Publishing.Google Scholar
Thiry, H. (2019). What enables persistence? In Seymour, E. & Hunter, A.-B. (Eds.), Talking about leaving revisited: Persistence, relocation, and loss in Undergraduate STEM education. Springer Nature.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×