Developing and integrating a student-researcher pedagogy within the geography curriculum

This chapter describes a ‘students as researchers’ pedagogy outlining teaching practices, the contexts in which it can be adopted, and levels of student engagement that can be achieved in terms of participation and ownership of the research process. Disseminating results is an integral part of the research process in which students should be involved. The chapter provides empirical data contrasting the student learning gains from writing for a national undergraduate research journal, GEOverse, with presenting and participating at student research conferences. This is the first time that the two research dissemination formats have been compared empirically. The chapter provides suggestions for linking and scaffolding research experiences and dissemination opportunities through a programme level approach. The chapter closes with a discussion of the academic staff (faculty) role in the supervision and mentoring of student research and begins to explore the characteristics of effective research mentors

Interdisciplinary enquiry into learning and teaching: Lessons from Geography

In this chapter we explore how research in the discipline of geography can help you to undertake productive enquiry into learning and teaching in higher education. We outline the characteristics that geographers in higher education possess and highlight how these relate to the broad and synthetic nature of research in the discipline. Rooted within its interdisciplinary imperative, educational enquiry in geography spans subject matter and approaches found across the spectrum of the humanities, and the social and natural sciences. We present four case studies of enquiry into teaching and learning carried out by geographers, selected to demonstrate analogies between disciplinary and educational enquiry across the research process. These examples highlight the range of questions that have been posed, the types of concepts in learning and teaching that geographers have engaged with, and the breadth of methodological approaches they have employed. We define the steps you might take if you wish to adopt new ways of researching your teaching and student learning. We finish by reflecting on some of the benefits of adopting a geography-specific approach to higher education enquiry

Ten Salient Practices for Mentoring Student Research in Schools: New Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development

This paper proposes ten salient practices of research mentoring activity in high school settings for teachers and technicians based upon survey and interview findings from 96 English and Scottish high school teachers from STEM disciplines, working in research collaborations with scientists. Mentoring high school research provides career development, with teachers identifying new aspects to their professional roles including ‘teacher researcher’, ‘teacher scientist’ and ‘teacher mentor’. This study suggests the potential for using the ten salient practices to initiate individual teacher reflection and wider professional development, and, a way of framing and disseminating effective practice across the school sector

Developing self-authorship through participation in student research conferences

Graduate attributes are a framework of skills, attitudes, values and knowledge that graduates should develop by the end of their degree programmes. Such attributes can be integrated into both curricular and extra-curricular activities. Adopting a largely qualitative approach and using semi-structured interviews, we outline the experiences of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science (GEES) students’ experiences at a national undergraduate research conference and provide evidence for the graduate attributes developed. The students demonstrated intellectual autonomy, repurposing their work for presentation to a multi-disciplinary audience through conversation with and benchmarking against their peers. They gained confidence in expressing their identity as researchers and moved towards self-authorship, consciously balancing the contextual nature of their disciplinary knowledge with intra-personally grounded goals and values. The undergraduate research conference thereby offers students an opportunity to begin to construct their professional identities during their studies, potentially helping them to navigate into their working and wider social lives

Effective research communication

This chapter begins by outlining the nature of research, identifying the key steps that both comprise the research process and help you to plan the presentation of your research. It highlights the advantages that can be gained as a geography student if you complete the research process right through to communication of your findings. The chapter makes explicit the principles of effective research communication in a variety of oral, visual and written formats, including checklists that you might use to help you prepare for and feel confident in presenting your research in specific settings. The increasing number of venues in which you can make your research public are identified, moving beyond your department and institution to a variety of public audiences. Delivering verbal presentations, defending posters, writing papers for publication and authoring web pages and blogs are examples of the diverse ways in which you can communicate your research. When dissemination is aimed at external multi-disciplinary audiences, you will develop a broad range of intellectual, organizational and inter-personal skills that can help you to gain relevant employment after graduation. The chapter is organised into the following sections: 1. What is research and why engage in research as a geography student? 2. What are the elements of the research process? 3. Who are the possible audiences for student research? 4. Communicating your research effectively to different audiences 5. What are the outcomes of effective research communication? 6. Conclusion

How does engaging in authentic research at undergraduate level contribute to student wellbeing?

In the context of rapidly growing numbers of university students reporting that they have experienced mental health problems, this paper argues that doing research as an undergraduate can contribute to student wellbeing. Although the benefits of undergraduate research are well documented, underlying reasons for its efficacy on positive student outcomes require investigation. This paper uses Self-Determination theory, which has empirically shown that fulfilling one’s need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness fosters wellbeing. Using authenticity as a conceptual lens to understand undergraduate research experiences, and a novel connection to Self-Determination theory, the theoretical proposition that authenticity within undergraduate research contributes to wellbeing is elaborated. The paper suggests that authenticity within undergraduate research experiences offers a way to stimulate wellbeing among our students which hinges on effective curriculum design and mentoring. Two case studies, drawn from Medicine and Geography, explore the way in which curriculum design coupled with mentoring pedagogy can enhance authenticity in research, student motivation, and therefore wellbeing. The paper reveals how authentic research-based learning can form an entitlement for all students through an embedded curriculum-based approach. The paper advocates for research-based learning to begin early in the undergraduate curriculum, in order to establish a sense of belonging for students and healthy learner-centred pedagogy. In addition to the framework for authenticity adopted, this paper reveals the importance of attention to the quality of learning spaces (novelty, professionalism, inclusivity) and the practice-based elements of mentoring for effective relationships between learners and teachers to ensure the wellbeing of all involved

Evaluating undergraduate research conferences as vehicles for novice researchers and transferable skills development

Purpose - This paper focuses on the undergraduate research conference as its sphere of study and investigates the significance of participation and socialisation in such activities on student attitudes and professional development. Using situated learning to theoretically position the undergraduate research conference as an authentic learning context, connection is also made to the concept of graduate attributes.Design/methodology/approach - The Vitae (2014) Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is used to provide a template for charting the experiences and development of undergraduate students as researchers. This can be applied to short-term activities and programmes as well as to long-term career plans. The insights from 90 undergraduate students participating at three national undergraduate research conferences were obtained through interviews, and thematically analysed to map the students’ skills development against the RDF criteria.Findings - Three main aspects of undergraduate research conference participation were considered particularly important by the students: the value of paper presentations, the value of poster presentations, and the value of the overall conference experience. Within these themes, participants identified a wide range of skills and attributes they felt they had developed as a result of either preparing for or participating in the conferences. The majority of these skills and attributes were able to be mapped against the different domains of the RDF, using a public engagement lens for comparing actual with expected developmental areas.Research limitations/implications - This research helps undergraduate research conference organisers construct programme content and form in such a way that student skills development can be maximised prior to, and during, the course of an event. Learning Developers can also use these findings to help understand the support needs of students preparing to deliver papers at such conferences. So far, little empirical research has examined students’ skills development within the undergraduate research conference arena.Originality/value - The outcomes of this study show the diversity of skills students developed, and the value of the conference format to offer networking practice and to enhance the communication skills which employers value

Ten salient practices for mentoring student research in schools: New opportunities for teacher professional development

This paper proposes ten salient practices of research mentoring activity in high school settings for teachers and technicians based upon survey and interview findings from 96 English and Scottish high school teachers from STEM disciplines, working in research collaborations with scientists. Mentoring high school research provides career development with teachers identifying new aspects to their professional roles including ‘teacher researcher’, ‘teacher scientist’ and ‘teacher mentor’. This study suggests the potential for using the ten salient practices to initiate individual teacher reflection and wider professional development, and, a way of framing and disseminating effective practice across the school sector

Phytoremediation: Metal decontamination of soils after the sequential forestation of former opencast coal land

Phytoremediation through forestry may be an effective means for reducing the metal loading in lands reclaimed after surface-coal-mining in the UK. Planted with mixed woodland, the soil loading of 5 key metals (Zn, Cd, Mn, Pb and Cu) decreased, significantly and progressively, compared to soils left as grassland through a 14 year forestation chronosequence on land reclaimed from the former Varteg opencast coalmine, South Wales. Fourteen years after initial tree planting, soil metal loadings decreased by 52% for Cd (4.3 mg∙kg−1 per year), 48% for Cu (2.1 mg∙kg−1 per year), 47% for Zn (7.3 mg∙kg−1 per year), 44% for Pb. (7.1 mg∙kg−1 per year) and 35% for Mn (45 mg.kg-1 per year). Analysis of metal loadings in the leaves of Alnus glutinosa (L. Gaertn) (Common Alder) and Betula pendula (Roth) (Silver Birch) found both to be involved in metal uptake with birch taking up more Cd, Cu, Zn and Mn and Alder more Pb. Concentrations of Zn, Mn and Cd (Birch only) increased significantly in leaves from, but not in soils, under older plantings. Since different tree species take up metals at different rates, mixed plantings may be more effective in forest phytoremediation

Borderland spaces: Moving towards self-authorship

The borderland spaces concept offers a powerful means for representing and reframing educational discourses (Hill et al, 2016). It encourages a relational examination of pedagogic spaces, identities and practices, inter-weaving the three socio-spatial perspectives of Barnett (2011): physical and material, educational, and interior. Through exploration and exemplification of borderland spaces we demonstrate that learning is both situated and embodied (Boddington and Boys, 2011). Physical locations are used in different ways by a diversity of staff and students, and this can establish productive relationships between space and learning. In this chapter we present a case study of undergraduate students disseminating their research in a novel professional setting, exposing their experiences of learning in a borderland space