Research and development of human skill

1. Dr John Willison
Centre for Learning and
Professional Development
University of Adelaide
'Igniting the fire: how we help
students to initiate research’
A webinar for CUR, September 30, 2010.
Sophie Karanicolas
& Cathy Snelling
School of Dentistry
University of Adelaide

2. Program
13.00 Eastern Time: connectivity and
introductions
• Mentored UGR outcomes
• Research Skill Development outcomes
• RSD in brief: Embarks and Curiosity
• Oral Health Examples of ‘igniting the fire’
• Further possibilities
13.55 goodbyes.

3. A few instructions that may help
Q1. Did you go to CUR National Conference in 2010?
Q2. Did you go to a session run by Cathy or John?
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4. In mentored UGR experiences in Science
Hunter, et ,al (2007):
• Students (n=76) and faculty (n=80)
interviewed
• 2% of faculty members observed that their
students gained a capacity to identify,
frame, and refine new research questions
• 9% of Students estimated this ability to be at
a slightly higher level.

5. In your discipline/context, there are barriers to
UGR students framing researchable questions
or initiating research.
Q. What are some barriers to students
framing researchable questions in
mentored UGR?
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6. There are substantial downsides if students are
not learning to frame questions or initiate
research in UGR.
Q. What are potential downsides if UGR
students are not framing research questions/
initiating projects?
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7. Students initiating research- what do you do to
facilitate this?

8. In regular courses that explicitly developed
discipline-specific research skills
Willison, Le Lievre and Lee, 2010
• Pre-post course Q’naires
• Statistically and educationally significant
changes, from beginning of semester compared
to end of semester
• Q3 ‘I am able to frame research questions in
[discipline name]’
(in 8/8 undergraduate courses in Science, Health
Science, Business, total of 550 students)
• explicit research skill development enabled
students to clarify given questions, and to initiate
research by posing questions.

10. In regular courses that explicitly
developed student research skills (cont)
Willison, Le Lievre and Lee, 2010
• Year-later interviews
• Students asked about advantages of explicit
development and assessment of research skills
• 14/46 (~30%) stated that the experience had
developed their ability to initiate research
• ‘… you need to go out there and figure out what
you want to research, how you are going to
research it, what you need to do to find that
information’
Rachel, Second Year student, reflecting on First Year

12. The facets of student research
In researching, students:
1. embark on an inquiry and so determine a need for
knowledge/understanding
2. find/generate needed information using appropriate
methodology
3. critically evaluate information/data and the process
to find/generate
4. organise information collected/generated and
manage research processes
5. synthesise and analyse and apply new knowledge
6. communicate knowledge and the processes used
to generate it, with an awareness of ethical, social
and cultural issues.
(Willison & O’Regan, 2007)

13. Human Biology Student, interviewed in 2008 about
development of research skills in First Year 2007
“I felt they [assessment tasks] were definitely
progressive… we could analyse what someone else did
and see where they went wrong, to then researching
our own topic, sort of. We were given a broad field, but
we could narrow it down.
Then this one [Open field-based research] here was a
bit more independent. You had to figure out your own
hypothesis and base your research on that. I definitely
liked the progression.”
Rachel, Second Year Student

14. Oral Health Examples of
Igniting the flame
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15. 15
1st Year Oral
Health:
students
embark on
inquiry

16. 1St year Human Biology – group online activity

17. 2nd year Clinical Practice - essay

18. Oral Health Student Interviewed in 2009 about
First year 2008
“The assignment I’m doing currently for General
Health Science, that would be like level 4, level 5,
and that’s obvious, because we’ve come up with
everything, like, what we wanted to do, how we
want to do it, what’s our aim, what’s our objectives,
what research we’re trying to do .” Alex, 2nd year
student.

19. Final Year Oral Health Students Interviewed in
2010 about development of research skills
"In first year our assignment was like a baptism of
fire giving us the experience to research a topic we
were never taught before. This was a very important
step for our major assignment this year [final year]
where we pick our own project and spend all year
with our own group, researching our own
information..." Nick, final year Bachelor of Oral
Health student.
" In our final year we are setting our own objectives
and aims, parameters; what you want to get out of
your research...we can draw our own conclusions
and results." Emma, final year Bachelor of Oral
Health student.

20. Other disciplines’ descriptors of ‘embarking’
•recognizes key ideas
•recognises gaps in the literature
•specifies the purpose of the laboratory
•research hypothesis is clear and innovative
•research question guides the inquiry

21. Questions & Comments

22. Discussion
Explicit development of question framing/initiating in
regular classes would be of benefit to students before
they engage in UGR
A. Not at all
B. For some UGR students
C. For all UGR students
D. For UGR students, but also good for all students
What might you do in regular classes to incrementally
develop student ability to frame questions?
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23. Discussion
‘When you get that skill of being able to research, I
think it sort of inspires something in you that makes
you want to find out things or learn more.’
Lauren, Second year Student
What do you do to promote student curiosity?

24. Facets of research worth discussing at future
webinars? (Don’t worry about voting if you are not
interested in subsequent webinar)
A. Find information/generate data
B. Evaluate information/data/process
C. Organise/manage
D. Analyse, synthesise, apply
E. Communicate
Day/Date/times?
+ feel free to contact us by email
john.willison@adelaide.edu.au
sophia.karanicolas@adelaide.edu.au
catherine.snelling@adelaide.edu.au

25. References
Hunter, A-B, Laursen, S.L., and Seymour, E. (2007).
Becoming a scientist: The role of undergraduate research
in students’ cognitive, personal and professional
development. Science Education 91 (36-74).
Willison, J., Le Lievre, K. and Lee. I. (2010). Making
Research Skill Development Explicit in Coursework: five
universities’ adaptation of a model to numerous disciplines.
Final Report for the Australian Learning and Teaching
Council. Available at http://www.altc.edu.au/system/files/resources/CG7-
497%20Adelaide%20Willison%20Final%20Report%202010.pdf
Willison, J. and O’Regan, K. (2007). Commonly known,
commonly not known, totally unknown: A framework for
students becoming researchers. Higher Education
Research and Development 26: 393-409. Available at
www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/rsd/links/RSD%20article%20web.doc

26. Farewells
When all have said goodbye, exit by unclicking the
‘seat belt’, bottom left-hand corner.
Thanks for ‘coming’ and contributing. Hope to ‘see’
you at another webinar.
Feel free to contact us by email: