Most undergraduates never have an opportunity to engage in the kind of research that their teachers practice. Researching a term paper in Davis Library for a sociology or history course bears only a superficial resemblance to the kind of research sociologists or historians actually perform. Nor does working the exercises in a laboratory manual have much in common with the laboratory work of a professional chemist, physicist, or biologist. Several UNC professors in the social sciences have structured their courses entirely around research projects in which students must develop hypotheses, gather and analyze data, and report upon their discoveries. Although the level of research is not as sophisticated as that performed by the faculty, it is sufficiently complex to give students a taste of the real thing.
Similar assignments are possible in the natural sciences as well.
For example, at the State University of New York at Cortland, beginning students in a general chemistry lab work in small groups to design lab procedures and experiments rather than repeat pre-structured exercises. Undergraduates at UNC are not often asked to assist faculty members in their research. Even if they play a relatively small part in that research, they gain a deeper appreciation of the nature of faculty research work and they learn the reasons why faculty perform research. Of course, students must be properly prepared to collaborate in such work and they need careful instructions about the nature of the research and the canons of scientific inquiry. But, given appropriate training, they can perform many research functions as effectively as graduate students.