Building Research Competence in Undergraduate Students.

Hegde, Smitha; Karunasagar, Indrani

Higher education in India is currently challenged by the expansion of the system to cater to the needs of her large youth population. In this process of rapid expansion, India is battling equity of educational opportunities and maintenance of the quality of teaching and research. Research-based pedagogy is one of the approaches that ensure a quality teaching-learning experience. In the current study, we have attempted to undertake a research-based pedagogy program that can aid undergraduate teachers to guide and conduct research projects. As a part of the curriculum, a six-step pedagogy was drawn up, which comprises: inspiring, ideating, action, refining, reporting, and rewarding. One hundred and sixty five undergraduate biology students participated in this program. A questionnaire was framed to collect both quantitative as well as qualitative data from the participants. Research skill development, research supervision, infrastructure and funding, self-learning capacity, time management, and the presence of research environment was assessed. Our findings indicate that learning through research-based pedagogy program improves students' confidence towards problem-solving and self-learning. A significant number of students expressed improvement in communication skills and their capacity to work in a team. The grounds of dissatisfaction were placed on the lack of availability of time, supervisor competence, technical support, and adequate funding to purchase chemicals and avail services. We hope this pedagogy based study and the student feedback will enable undergraduate teachers to plan, conduct and get quality output in research-based learning at the undergraduate level.

INDIA; UNDERGRADUATES; EDUCATIONAL equalization; PERFORMANCE; BIOLOGY students; CHEMICAL laboratories; INFRASTRUCTURE funds

Resonance: Journal of Science Education, 2021, Vol 26, Issue 3, p415

0971-8044

Academic Journal

10.1007/s12045-021-1139-7