Customizable Biospheres: A Course Based Undergraduate Research Experience

<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Participation in undergraduate research experiences has been shown to increase graduation rates and reduce equity gaps in STEM fields.  At a time when undergraduate research opportunities are increasingly competitive, providing such opportunities within our courses can help all students be better prepared for their academic and scientific futures.  A course based undergraduate research experience (CURE) is a teaching model wherein students participate in creative and original scientific inquiry within the structure of a class.  This shift from traditional classroom roles empowers students as they are the scientists, and the instructor serves as a mentor rather than the expert.  I have created a highly customizable framework using biospheres where students generate hypotheses, design an experiment to test those hypotheses, gather and analyze data, and formally communicate their scientific findings.  Although I developed these CURE materials for my Environmental Science students this approach could easily be adapted to most undergraduate science courses covering ecological concepts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Watch <a href="https://youtu.be/lULtUoWRhNg">this video</a> for an explanation of how I use biospheres to engage my Environmental Science students in authentic course based research experiences and how you can adapt this for your own course.</span></span></span></p>