KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice

Minutes of the Meeting of Fri, 12/2/2022, 10:00am via Zoom

Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator

Present:  Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty),

Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty),  Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty)

Meeting began at 10:00am.

1. Mary welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming.
2. Mary shared how her BIO2100 students did on their Bird Research Project reports. Some struggled with the content and format.  Next time she will share a module with her students she wrote on Writing a Lab Report.  It may help the students.
3. We discussed how students often do not read prompts or understand what they are reading. Opportunities can be given to re-submit work.  Flexible deadlines are an option but that could mean too much work grading at the end of the semester.  Revision can be critical to learning.
4. We discussed students often do not read other students posts.
5. One thing we do not accept is cheating.
6. Christina sent Grace her Next Generation Sequencing Data for use in a research project in BIO5000 in the spring of 2023.
7. Grace mentioned the Information Literacy class that Jeffrey Delgado offers in the library and online for classes. The Bridges/CSTEP students attend this class each spring early in the semester to help them with their literature searches for their summer research projects.
8. Christina shared that her non-majors Bio class did a great job with the literature search this semester. She has her students use Google Scholar.  Students picked great sources.  She has students gather data.  She discussed the structure of her paper and gives a template.  She also has her students do Peer Review.  It helps them.  She also has her students do a Self-Evaluation by having them complete a rubric.
9. We discussed taking students outside on the campus to gather data in BIO3300 (Non-majors Bio) and BIO5300 (Ecology). Christina took her BIO5300 class on several field trips last semester to the NY Aquarium, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, and AMNH to gather data on organisms.  She gets permission and an approved release form before the semester starts for all the trips at once.  The students meet her at each location and use the SEEK app.  Grace shared that she uses the SEEK app to identify lichens.  Christina does the trips during class time (12:40-4pm).
10. Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting and the Post-Semester Survey.
11. The next meeting of our FIG will be in the Spring 2023 semester.

Meeting adjourned at 11:00am.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz

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