Sponsor
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Common Fund and Office of Scientific Workforce Diversity under three linked awards, RL5GM118963, TL4GM118965, and UL1GM118964, administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
Published In
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-11-2025
Subjects
Biology -- Pedagogy
Abstract
Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are high-impact practices that enhance retention, motivation, and self-efficacy in science, particularly for students with limited prior exposure to scientific environments. However, many students-especially those from underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds-enter these experiences with low research self-efficacy, stemming from limited familiarity with academic language, scientific literature, and research communication. The Research Induction Curriculum (RIC) was designed to address this challenge by providing early, structured training in scientific literacy through scaffolded journal club discussions. The RIC introduces students to progressively more complex scientific articles, supports peer discussion, and builds confidence in reading, interpreting, and presenting scientific information. This study investigates two research questions: (i) how does students' self-perceived self-efficacy in scientific literacy change after completing the RIC? and (ii) are perceptions of these gains dependent on when the assessment is conducted? A total of 91 students in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Infrastructure and Training at Oregon (EXITO) program at Portland State University completed surveys either immediately before and after the RIC (prospective pre-post design) or nearly 1 year later (retrospective pre-post design), after participating in mentored research placements. While both groups demonstrated gains in their confidence after participating in the RIC, students assessed retrospectively reported significantly greater confidence gains than those assessed prospectively. This study highlights the benefits of a brief intervention in preparing students for UREs as well as the influence of evaluation timing and authentic research experience on students' perceptions of growth.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.1128/jmbe.00126-25
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44104
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Citation Details
Reddy, R., Ainsworth, O. M., Gray, M. J., Hildebrand, A., Waugh, J., Lindwall, J., Huerta, J., & Keller, T. E. (2025). Evaluating gains in student self-efficacy in scientific literacy associated with a brief curricular intervention. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.