What Experiences Help Students Become Scientists? A Comparative Study of Research and Other Sources of Personal and Professional Gains for STEM Undergraduates.

EXPERIENTIAL learning; SCIENCE education (Higher); SCIENCE students; STEM education; VOCATIONAL guidance; COLLEGE students; EDUCATIONAL benefits; COLLEGE majors

Experiential education has long been emphasized as a part of undergraduate education in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Singer, Hilton, & Schweingruber, 2005), through laboratory and project-based coursework, as well as out-of-class participation in internships, co-ops, and research. In fact, however, the value of experiential education is largely presumed: evidence from well-designed research and evaluation studies is fairly sparse about the educational value of either course-based lab work (Hofstein & Lunetta, 2004; Nakhleh, Polles, & Malina, 2003) or more in-depth experiential education in STEM. Only recently, for example, have the benefits to students of undergraduate research been explored (for a review of recent literature, see Hunter, Laursen, & Seymour,2007; Seymour, Hunter, Laursen, & DeAntoni, 2004). The value of internships and other professional opportunities has been even less well demonstrated (Anakwe & Greenhaus, 2000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Higher Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)