Improving undergraduate research with a student progress tracker

This paper presents a new tool for helping college students navigate their first research lab experiences: the “Star Chart”, a simple, low-cost, high-impact visual tool for tracking progress. This approach scaffolds the research experience and highlights key research milestones, thereby making success visible, tangible, and celebrated. By making progress both visible and rewarding, the Star Chart empowers students to recognize their own growth, build confidence, foster a sense of belonging within the lab, and advance students toward becoming independent researchers.We share this teaching innovation openly on EdArXiv to support adoption and adaptation by other faculty. An expanded study of the Star Chart is in preparation for peer-reviewed publication.