Unpacking the Experience: Tracing Undergraduate Participation in a Field-Based Research Community of Practice

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Higher Education

Abstract

This study explores a summer field-based research internship program designed to support underrepresented minorities and financially disadvantaged students. Using a phenomenological approach, we aim to trace the role the field and research experiences play in participants' self-efficacy, identity as a scientist, and membership in a field-based research community of practice. We found that key experiences that supported embodied learning, recognition of contribution to the scientific community goals, and examples of pathways to a career in science were important in shaping participant outcomes.

Authors

• Alexandra Isla Race, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Roxanne Beltran, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Doris B. Ash, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Erika Zavaleta, University of California - Santa Cruz