Regenerative Medicine, A Vehicle to Infuse Laboratory-Bench Modules Into the Exercise Physiology Curriculum

Faculty #70
Discipline: Science & Mathematics Education
Subcategory: STEM Science and Mathematics Education
- Winston-Salem State University
Co-Author(s): Dawn X. Henderson, NC A&T State University, Greensboro, NC; Breonte S. Guy, C. Edward Ebert, Jill Keith and Jason M. Brown, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC

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Regenerative medicine is a novel discipline that both excites undergraduates and may be used as a vehicle to expose students to scientific concepts and opportunities. The goal of this communication is to describe the implementation of an NSF-funded Targeted Infusion Project (TIP) in which underrepresented minority undergraduates are exposed to laboratory-bench skills and summer research opportunities that they may not have encountered otherwise. A three-week infusion of lab-bench and data presentation skills, in the context of a regenerative medicine/ bioengineering project, aimed to engage students and expose them to opportunities as summer researchers and teaching assistants. The infusion aimed to assess the extent to which students improved 1) attitudes toward lab bench-based techniques, using attitudes toward science as a proxy, 2) perceptions of scientific inquiry, 3) intentions to engage in undergraduate research, and 4) intentions to persist in STEM-related fields. Results indicate that the three-week infusion had no effect on science attitudes, but transcribed responses to structured interviews administered after the summer research experience indicated that students who completed summer research projects had positive experiences. Differences in intentions to engage in research were detected between groups of students in different STEM majors, in addition to differences in intentions to pursue a career in science. We describe the implementation of the infusion and briefly discuss quantitative outcomes. We conclude that infusion of lab-bench modules in the context of a regenerative medicine/bioengineering project may play a small but important role in increasing (minority) participation and persistence in the STEM pipeline.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): NSF HBCU-UP TIP #1533476

Faculty Advisor: None Listed,