Figure 5.—

Educational results of introductory URCFG students. (A) Results from standard course evaluations of 223 introductory students when asked about their interest in the subject (research) before and after the course. (B) Eighty-eight students, consisting of students from all four years of our program, voluntarily participated in the SURE II survey (Lopatto 2004) in 2006. The survey has a number of questions measuring gains of knowledge in areas related to scientific research. A five-point scale was used to measure the level of gain: no gain or very small gain, small gain, moderate gain, large gain, and very large gain. All students reported moderate gains or greater from the URCFG program and their average benefit for each subject is plotted on the graph vs. the results from 532 students from across the nation at multiple universities and colleges that had participated in a summer research program in 2006. The full-subject descriptions for the x-axis are as follows: clarification of a career path, skill in the interpretation of results, understanding of the research process in your field, ability to integrate theory and practice, ability to analyze data and other information, understanding science, learning ethical conduct in your field, skill in science writing, self-confidence, understanding of how scientists think, and learning to work independently. The mean scores are graphed ± 95% confidence intervals. T-tests were performed for each question to determine significant differences; P-values are as follows: *<0.05, **<0.01, and ***<0.001.