Undergraduate Research as Collaborative Pedagogy and Research - Collaborative Research: Practical Implementation and Student Benefits |
Page 2 of 3
Collaborative undergraduate research (UR) requires faculty to be adept at dividing research projects into various components that are learner specific or malleable enough so as to invite co-teacher/learner development of specific and concise projects that may be attainable within a semester. In short, it means that a research project requires teacher and student to be in active communication with each other about the nature of the overall project and to have a capacity to determine together what the student can actually undertake as part of the overall work. Careful arrangement of plans for the overall project, determination of what might be needed for it, and outlining of specific goals and action steps toward completion of the project can contribute to the success or failure of the UR project. One of the challenges faculty face in UR projects involves assessing the level of a student’s capability to engage in collaborative work. The idea that knowledge is constructed, discovered, and transformed by students is not new. However, the notion that faculty and students can develop UR learning environments where undergraduate students can contribute specific insights to an overall research project is. It requires an ability on the part of the teacher to diagnose what a student can accomplish in one or multiple terms of study. The collaboration could be compared to the work of building a house. Not all carpenters or skilled tradesmen will work on all facets of the project; they will use the skill they have to provide what the house needs. For example, plumbers focus on all aspects of plumbing. They do not attempt to do the wiring or roofing. So students might also be regarded as skilled workers who can contribute in significant ways to UR projects. Matching student skill and aptitude with discrete learning goals can achieve significant results and expand student learning overall. According to Brandon Cornett, a Wabash College student who worked with me on a recent UR project:
The collaborative work involved analysis of gorget designs and astronomical maps, geographical maps of Mississippian sites showing locations of mounds and other geoform structures, archival work, and reading remnant tribal stories. The research is ongoing and may eventuate in a publishable paper about Mississippian cosmology written in correlations between gorget designs, astronomical movements, traditional stories, and mound alignments. |