The physics chapter by Klaus Wendt, Andreas Pysik and Johannes Lhotzky aims at promoting deeper understanding of the complex phenomenon of the rainbow and encourages learners to demonstrate and share their understanding through a Wikipedia article. In this deeper learning episode, learners carry out a number of experiments on spectral colours and colour sequences. They organise the information gathered and explain the physics concepts and processes underlying the phenomenon. The authors use innovative ways of scaffolding academic language development to increase the meaning-making potential of younger learners.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) students may face unique opportunities and challenges in their journey to become psychologists. The increasing visibility of LGBTQ+ identities highlights the need for SGM identity-specific professional mentorship in the field of psychology. Yet, for some, this can be challenging to find. This chapter is intended to serve as a guide for SGM students navigating graduate school and early career milestones. We review a variety of common professional development issues for SGM psychology trainees: openness and privacy about your SGM identity in professional settings, considering priorities when identifying a primary mentor and school, connecting with additional mentors, identifying and fostering an inclusive environment on campus and in the community, self-care, navigating interpersonal relationships, advocacy, and providing mentorship to junior colleagues. We also include specific resources for SGM students and professionals. In addition to serving as a guide specifically for SGM students, we hope this chapter can benefit allies including mentors and colleagues with education about common SGM experiences.

The chapter provides guidance on course design and pedagogical practices that are essential, not only for effective teaching but also for making the case to hiring and promotion committees regarding your ability to reach to students and help them learn. The chapter introduces approaches that are inclusive and broad-minded in their choice and framing of content as well as in their classroom practices. Readers will also find guidance for practicing their craft on remote and hybrid teaching platforms.

Ten salient practices drawn from a large-scale literature review of mentoring practice over the last two decades are described. Then, the findings from interviews with 32 award-winning mentors from around the world are used to exemplify particular practices and highlight the characteristics and values of award-winning mentors. In so doing a database of award-winning mentors and the nature of the awards processes around the world is used to explore recognition and reward in relation to academic careers. Disciplinary differences in practices are discerned where possible at the broad subject level, e.g., in STEM the limitations for lab-based disciplines on facilitating open-ended inquiry with large classes, countered by excellent use of layered lab models for creating a sense of research community and vertical, peer and near-peer mentoring opportunities. In addition, the practices that mentors find particularly challenging are described. The implications of these findings for mentor training are outlined and a brief review of mentor training schemes provided. The way that mentors view the future of their mentoring practice concludes the chapter.

Undergraduate research in mathematics is growing and has become a standard practice in some countries. However, for a novice there is much to learn about mentoring students in mathematics research. In this chapter, we discuss the state of undergraduate research in mathematics and detail a set of best practices for successfully mentoring undergraduate students. Also, we explore some needs and future directions that would help improve undergraduate research in mathematics. Throughout the chapter, we include resources for more information on various topics.

Undergraduate research needs to be rooted in a specific disciplinary context, such as geography. Depending on the disciplinary tradition, training students as researchers requires a research-based curriculum that involves students in the research process instead of merely confronting them with the outcome of previous research. Walkington (2019) stresses that significant progress is already visible in the field, yet myriad aspects, such as mentoring, the role of research in teacher training, or research skills and employability require further attention. This chapter takea up Willison and O’Regan’s (2007) inclusive definition of student research as “[…] a continuum of knowledge production, from knowledge new to the learner to knowledge new to humankind, moving from the commonly known, to the commonly not known, to the totally unknown.” The chapter explores possible curricular architectures for geography undergraduate programs followed by a brief discussion of geography’s special formats to foster undergraduate research.

This is the general introduction to the Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research. It deals with the history of the university as an institution (which has been a research institution only since the nineteenth century); with the concept of undergraduate research and its dimesions (e.g., student- or staff-initiated research); with possible alternative concepts (e.g., critical thinking or lifelong learning); with research on undergraduate research (e.g., increased retention rate but necessary mentoring); and with implementation challenges (for universities and faculty). We see a new role for students: that in ever more differentiated modern societies, collaborative, cross-segmental knowledge production becomes a new necessity, the educational means to which might be undergraduate research.

In many undergraduate psychology programs, students gain research experience through intentional scaffolded experiences throughout the undergraduate curriculum and in some cases by joining a faculty member’s research program outside of the classroom. In sustained undergraduate research experiences, students benefit from developmentally appropriate mentoring as they gradually develop and master skills, an approach often compared to an apprenticeship model. Many psychology faculty use evidence-based mentoring practices, such as the Salient Practices Framework, which was developed by an international, multi-institutional research team. Examples include setting clear and incremental expectations and supporting students as they transfer more basic skills learned in the classroom to conducting community or field-based research. There are creative and evidence-based ways to improve access for all students by being more intentional about embedding research experiences in the psychology curricula, or by further considering ways to recruit and retain UR students from historically underserved groups.

Part II describes how undergraduate research is put into practice. The first five chapters present implementation models of undergraduate research programs at the curricular and co-curricular level that are common in European and US institutions. Subsequent chapters outline key characteristics of these models as they relate to student mentoring, phases of research-based learning, assessment of student learning, and dissemination of scholarly work.

The discipline of medicine advances through research. The medical education community worldwide recognizes that the evolving field of medicine and its progress requires that medical students participate in research. Undergraduate research during premedical and/or medical studies influences the practice of clinical medicine and facilitates the development of physician-scientists. The essential nature of the discipline, the structures and length of medical education worldwide, and the opportunities for research activity are important to understand. Implementation programs that use a competency-based medical education approach find that research is important for meeting medical board competencies. Curricular and research participation barriers exist, but models that integrate research and provide mentored experiences within the academic and training environment can decrease these barriers. Further growth of research preparation in medicine and enhancement of competencies is possible through assessment and continuous quality improvement.

“Humboldt reloaded” is a cross-faculty teaching program for undergraduate research experiences established in 2011 at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. The overall goal is to provide students with the opportunity to experience and conduct research at a very early stage in the undergraduate curriculum. The program is named after the educational reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, the founder of the modern German university, who advocated the unity of research and teaching and the development of critical thinking skills (the Humboldtian education ideal).