Diving into a void : Student views of research

Author / Creator

AAPT SM20 (2020)

Conferences

AAPT SM20 PAR-C.06 PER Diverse Investigations (2020)

Available as

Online

Summary

The Applying Scientific Knowledge (ASK) program recruits science and math majors in their second year, who take a shared research methods class and then conduct research with faculty mentors for tw...

The Applying Scientific Knowledge (ASK) program recruits science and math majors in their second year, who take a shared research methods class and then conduct research with faculty mentors for two or more semesters. Assessment throughout the program studies students' experiences of research, their STEM community development, and their skill development and academic progress. The question guiding this portion of the analysis was: How do students define or describe the concept of research, and how does that change as they advance through the ASK program? Students were interviewed near the end of the methods class (prior to joining labs), then after one or more semesters of research experience. We will present a preliminary analysis of interview themes from the first two cohorts, focusing on the physics majors and their similarities or differences from other students. We find that students have a mix of career-oriented and personal motivations for pursuing research.

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