Creating and Using the Malate Dehydrogenase CURE Community to Explore Critical Aspects of Sustainable Protein Centric CUREs
Authors: Bell Jessica Kay , Provost Joseph , Bell Ellis 
Published: June 2021

The Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC) project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, involves protein‐centric, Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences, CUREs, focusing on a variety of research areas related to Malate Dehydrogenase, suitable for introductory to advanced level courses in diverse institutions. MCC is developing, and making available, a variety of resources to facilitate incorporation of these CUREs into the curriculum as well as conducting pedagogical research on effective components of CUREs. All CUREs implemented by MCC contain the same elements: Scientific Background, Hypothesis Development, Proposal, Experiments/Teamwork to test hypothesis, Data Analysis and Conclusions, and Presentation, but differ in the extent of each between mCURE and cCURE The two main goals the grant are to (1) Develop a protein‐centric CURE community to facilitate adoption and sustainability of CURE incorporation into the curriculum; and (2) Assess two key dimensions (length and collaboration) of CUREs that will impact efficient and effective pedagogical development to address institutional and student needs. In external evaluation, conducted by Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc., for goal 1 participating faculty have implemented with high quality and fidelity the consortium plans and student survey data indicate that CURE courses possessed greater levels of key CURE elements (i.e., discovery, collaboration, iteration) than control courses, suggesting that CURE courses were implemented with fidelity. These activities have been supported by both physical and written resources documented on the MCC web site (https://mdh‐cures‐community.squarespace.com/). With regard to goal 2, students reported that developing their own research experiment could be frustrating at times; however, the process of trial and error helped them to cultivate their research skills and think critically about the research process. Although student scores on the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) were similar across condition, students in CURE courses reported significantly greater learning gains on research‐related skills from pretest to posttest compared with students in control courses, especially on skills related to conducting student‐led research projects. Furthermore, data indicate that students in CURE courses had significantly more positive views about STEM importance and STEM career interest compared to students in control courses. Overall, students reported that participating in the CURE helped to reaffirm their desire to pursue a degree, and ultimately, a career in STEM. Preliminary analyses found no difference between CURES taught over the course of a module (mCUREs) or a full course (cCUREs), which suggests that key CURE components are equally present regardless of the length of the CURE course. This finding suggests that students can receive a high‐quality CURE experience in either a full course or a more feasible module CURE if time and/or resources are limited.

Support or Funding Information

This work is supported by NSF Award # 1726932

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.