Background/Question/Methods One of the primary goals of an educator is to encourage and facilitate critical thinking. A strong educator will provide a foundation for fundamental concepts but also develop new skills and foster enthusiasm and confidence. An ideal way to foster an engaged learning space for students, to give them a sense of confidence and agency, and encourage in depth critical thinking is to design active novel research laboratory experiences. Courses that have students working through novel research projects are designed to foster a growth mindset. Importantly, they utilize a formative learning model, which pushes students to try hard, forces them to experience moments of frustration and failure, and supports them as they try again, having learned from the experience. This hard iterative process helps students develop confidence in their abilities, learn to access the support they need, and begin to solidify their scientific identities. Self-efficacy and belonging are particularly important for people who identify with marginalized groups in science, like our neurodiverse, 1st generation, PEER (Persons Excluded due to Ethnicity or Race), and BIPOC students.
Results/Conclusions Here, I will discuss how I incorporate my disease ecology research into the classroom. These research experiences can span form a day to a semester depending on the learning objects and research questions and often create long lasting collaborative relationships. I will discuss how I build a course curriculum around the research that develops the learning experiences and gives strengths the research itself. I will discuss how I implement a formative learning model, essentially a try-learn and try again process, that uses small activities throughout the semester that underpin larger, summative, skill-building projects. Although students may initially resist leaving a more passive mode of learning, students engaged in an active-learning environment, where they are encouraged to problem-solve and think critically, have improved performance. Importantly, active learning benefits all students, but it is especially effective at closing gaps seen with marginalized learners. Incorporating active, novel research in the classroom increases equity as it provides a space for all students, not just those with the privilege to take on extracurriculars, to gain access to research experience. Research experiences create an intersection in the learning environment where students can gain knowledge, learn skills, develop confidence, and strengthen their identity as scientists.
