Opening pathways to undergraduate research for community college students: Outcomes from a course-embedded research initiative and multi-institutional partnership

Abstract

Undergraduate research is a high impact practice (HIP) (Kuh, 2008) that provides students with meaningful learning opportunities to develop research-based skills, connects them with faculty and peers, and prepares them for future engagement in independent research, among other outcomes (Linn et al., 2015; Lopatto, 2010). Among the many positive outcomes of HIPs is that they have been shown to minimize or eliminate achievement gaps among marginalized populations (Kuh et al., 2017; Linn et al., 2015; Sweat et al., 2013). Among the populations with less access to HIPs, like undergraduate research, are community college and transfer students, when compared to traditional first-year students (Chamely-Wiik et al., 2021). Moreover, because pathways to research opportunities are not always open to community college students, they are disadvantaged when seeking to engage in undergraduate research compared to their peers who start as first-year students.