Jones, Susan M.

Myatt, Paula M.

University of Queensland eSpace

Pedagogical Research in Higher Education (PRHE) 2010 
 
a corresponding author: p.myatt@uq.edu.au Page 1 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
Research informed curriculum initiatives: Findings from an Australian audit 
investigating the diversity and characteristics of undergraduate research opportunities. 
 
Paula Myatt
a
  
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 
And 
Susan M. Jones 
The University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia 
 
It has been established that student learning is greatly enhanced as a result of engagement 
through research and inquiry based learning. There is also a continuing emphasis on 
increasing the ways in which we link research and teaching within higher education. This 
project aimed to audit research opportunities available to students within the research- and 
teaching-active School of Zoology at the University of Tasmania, Australia. The project 
examined the questions – To what extent are undergraduate students exposed to research and 
inquiry experiences within the School of Zoology? And what are the student benefits? This 
paper will report on the findings from the first question, investigating the breadth and 
diversity of research opportunities available. To examine undergraduate research experiences 
(UREs), this research utilised a mixed methodology approach of qualitative interviews and 
surveys with research and teaching staff. The interviews identified specific URE activities 
and the survey tool (adapted from the CURE instrument of Lopatto, 2008) enabled 
quantitative data to be obtained on the characteristics of the student activities identified. 
 
Within the literature there is a wide diversity of what is or is not defined as undergraduate 
research. Much of the debate is centred on the nature of the student activity and about the 
“newness” of the knowledge discovered. For the purposes of this study we defined 
undergraduate research as: 
“An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student or group of students 
that makes an original contribution to the discipline or to the individuals involved.” (Adapted 
from Beckman & Hensel, 2009) 
This definition excluded research interactions where students were inactive or “passive” 
(Healey& Jenkins, 2009) such as in research seminars or research journal discussions, 
however it included active participation in research activities where the students were seeking 
the answers to research questions – whether in the laboratory, the field or the library. 
Importantly we also defined undergraduate research to include research activities where the 
students uncovered knowledge that was original (new) to them although not necessarily new 
to the discipline. This is an important distinction. We felt strongly that the student’s 
engagement was dependant on a combination of features - the scientific authenticity of the 
task, the student’s sense of ownership of the research project and the student’s independence 
in performing it. These features did not include the newness of the knowledge discovered. 
 
This project found that there existed within the School of Zoology a positive culture of 
integrating research into teaching and creating research opportunities for students. Eleven 
activities were identified and characterisation revealed a wide diversity of designs, with some 
activities voluntary but most embedded as compulsory assessment tasks within Zoology 
units.  
 
Pedagogical Research in Higher Education (PRHE) 2010 
 
a corresponding author: p.myatt@uq.edu.au Page 2 
 
An overarching characteristic of the UREs examined was the aim of researchers and teachers 
to capture an authentic experience for their students. The authenticity was either inherent in 
the activity or was crafted as part of the learning design to ensure authenticity and thereby 
increase the effectiveness of the learning environment. 
 
Further study within this School will examine identification by students of their perceived 
benefits resulting from participation in the specific UREs identified. 
 
 
References 
 
Beckman, M. & Hensel, N. (2009). “Making Explicit the Implicit: Defining Undergraduate 
Research” Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Quarterly, 29(4), 40-44. 
 
Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2009). Developing undergraduate research and inquiry. The 
Higher Education Academy. The Higher Education Academy. (149 pages) Available from: 
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/DevelopingUnde
rgraduate_Final.pdf 
 
Lopatto, D., et al. (2008). Genomics Education Partnership. Science, 322, 684-685.  
 


Research informed curriculum initiatives: findings from an Australian audit investigating the diversity and characteristics of undergraduate research opportunities.

http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:259094/Myatt_and_Jones_PRHE_Abstract_accepted.pdf

Research informed curriculum initiatives: findings from an Australian audit investigating the diversity and characteristics of undergraduate research opportunities.

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Queensland eSpace