This session will focus on the design and implementation of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), with particular focus on a CURE I have developed in my 300- level environmental science course (ENV 310-Environmental Soil Science). A CURE is a learning experience in which whole classes of students address a research question or problem with unknown outcomes or solutions that are of interest to external stakeholders. CUREs afford students opportunities to make discoveries that are of interest to the broader scientific community or other stakeholders outside the classroom. In this session I will discuss the history of CUREs, including their features and how they are different from other types of lab experiences, the benefits of a CURE to students and faculty, and how my ENV 310 CURE, called the “What’s In Your Soil?”, has transformed my pedagogy.
James Montgomery (DePaul University)