Chapman students presenting physical geologyresearch projects to AP Environmental Scienceclass, Orange High School

Bringing Research into Your Classroom

Chris KimSchmid College of Science and

Techology

Why have your students do research in the classroom?

Considerations:What types of projects lend themselves well to

classroom research?How much time will it take?How much time do you have?What are your students capable of doing?What resources do you need?

What aspects of your own research can you bring into the classroom?

Can your students help you advance your research?

Tips for structuring a project for effective

learningSet well-defined goals – Make sure students see

value in the project

Have students complete project in stages

Provide regular/frequent feedback

Anticipate setbacks

Incorporate some aspect of peer review or collaboration

Student-Initiated Research Projects in the Classroom

What are some characteristics/considerations of student-initiated research projects?

Student-Initiated Research Projects in the Classroom

Can range from: Intro to advanced/capstone levelFew weeks to full semester Individual to group to full-class projects

Primarily student-initiated and designed

Greatly benefit from:Multiple deadlinesPeer, professor feedbackClear rubrics, templates and evaluation forms

Timeframes and DeadlinesInclude in syllabus (with % grade allocation)

Clearly indicate timeframe of project

Provide multiple deadlines (with point allocations):Project proposal/outline (suggesting >1 idea gives

more flexibility)Detailed experimental method Initial resultsFull draftFinal report/presentationAdditional updates as necessaryTEMPLATES can help considerably!

The value (and effort) of revisions

Students’ experience with writing (reports) ≠

the real academic writing process

Revisions:Reflect the actual writing processProvide a more sophisticated, higher quality

resultTake proportionally much more timeCan leverage peer evaluations to lessen faculty

time

Classroom research examples

Physical geology (General Education class):“Work in groups of no more than 4 to develop and

conduct a geologically-relevant experiment using techniques and concepts covered in ENV 111.”

Inorganic chemistry (majors course):“You will be sampling water sources around Chapman

University and analyzing them for dissolved metal content as a function of selected variables.”

Environmental science and policy capstone (senior project): See CURQuarterly online, Summer 2014“The goal of this senior capstone course will involve the

design, research, analysis, presentation, and publication of Chapman University's first campus environmental audit.”

Presenting results: discussion

Oral vs. poster vs. paper

Peer evaluation vs. faculty evaluation

Internal presentations vs. to other groups (student research day, local high schools)

Individually vs. as a group

Chapman students present physical geologyresearch projects to AP Environmental Scienceclass, Orange High School

Chapman students present physical geologyresearch projects to AP Environmental Scienceclass, Orange High School

Inorganic Chemistry research poster

1st env. science senior capstone course Spring

2013

Audit launch, Chapman Univ.,May 2013

Audit presentation, CA Higher Education

Sustainability Conference, UCSB,

June 2013