Student Attitudes Contribute to the Effectiveness of a Genomics CURE

The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) engages students in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). To better understand the student attributes that support success in this CURE, we asked students about their attitudes using previously published scales that measure epistemic beliefs about work and science, interest in science, and grit. We found, in general, that the attitudes students bring with them into the classroom contribute to two outcome measures, namely, learning as assessed by a pre- and postquiz and perceived self-reported benefits. While the GEP CURE produces positive outcomes overall, the students with more positive attitudes toward science, particularly with respect to epistemic beliefs, showed greater gains. The findings indicate the importance of a student's epistemic beliefs to achieving positive learning outcomes.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of student attitudes on their success in a course-based undergraduate research experience. The findings suggest that students' attitudes, particularly their positive beliefs about science, play a significant role in achieving positive learning outcomes.