From CURE to CARE

The course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) model of STEM pedagogy has been successful in integrating authentic experimental research into the conventional undergraduate curriculum, making laboratory research experiences accessible to a wider range of students, with positive impacts on retention, persistence, and inclusivity especially for underrepresented students and those from first-generation backgrounds.

Drawing on the model of CUREs in STEM, this workshop seeks to apply some of the same structural models to the development of course-based undergraduate archival research experiences (CAREs).

Beginning from the framework of the five essential components of a CURE: use of scientific practices, discovery, relevance/broad impact, iteration, and collaboration (Auchincloss 2014), this workshop will develop a parallel pedagogical framework appropriate for CAREs, with an emphasis on equity and inclusive pedagogy. The goal will be to develop foundational principles, methodological roadmaps, and basic learning outcomes for course-integrated archival research projects that can be applied across a range of disciplinary and curricular contexts. Attention will be given to issues of access, inclusivity, finding aids, primary sources, digital archives, and curricular integration.

A working example will be provided for a CARE integrated into an undergraduate upper-division environmental management course for majors, focused on Oregon’s Beverage Container Act (“Bottle Bill”) enacted by the state’s legislative assembly in 1971. Students conduct research using archival letters, speeches, testimony, lobbying records, oral histories, and media accounts to unearth and identify underlying social and cultural values implicit in the original policymaking process. Students then compare the social and cultural context of the original legislation to current debates and revisions of this legislation half a century later, utilizing contemporary archival resources to gain an understanding of the influence of social and cultural capital and power on policymaking and legislation.

Participants are welcome to bring their own potential ideas and experience with course-based archival research projects in any discipline, or to join in brainstorming and refinement of the provided example.

Dr Lisa Weasel
Dr Lisa Weasel is currently Professor of Environmental Science and Management in the School of Earth, Environment and Society at Portland State University in Oregon where her scholarship focuses on feminist approaches to science, ethics and equity in the practice of STEM, and inclusive pedagogical approaches to STEM literacy. She has developed a pedagogical model of deliberative pedagogy which reshapes student learning around feminist and inclusive principles that integrate science with civic engagement in an interdisciplinary active learning context. She currently teaches two feminist informed course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) laboratory science courses, as well as environmental humanities and literacy courses for majors.