Figure 1. The Fly-CURE is a modular course-embedded research project.

(A) Students enrolled in the Fly-CURE took an initial survey in which students reported their perceived self-efficacy in research and sense of belonging in science. The pre-course survey was also used to collect student demographic information. An FRT/Flp-based approach was used to create mitotic clones in Drosophila eye tissue where tissue homozygous for an EMS-induced mutation was marked by red pigment and wild-type tissue was marked by the absence of eye pigment. The growth ability of tissue homozygous for the EMS mutation was assessed by comparing the amount of red (mutant) to white (wild type) tissue within the adult fly eye. In parallel, the genomic locus of the mutation on chromosome 2R was then determined by complementation mapping with defined chromosome deletions. Once this initial “discovery” phase was completed, students initiated a more hypothesis-driven “inquiry” phase of the project. Bioinformatics and molecular approaches were used to design PCR primers and then amplify and sequence a portion of the chromosomal region that fails to complement the mutation. Finally, a post-course survey was implemented to measure the impact of the Fly-CURE on students’ perceived self-efficacy in research, sense of belonging in science, and intent to pursue additional research experiences or scientific careers. (B) Different combinations of the Fly-CURE components can be combined in a modular format, depending on the learning objectives of the course where the Fly-CURE was implemented (also see Appendix 1). (C) While most courses implementing the Fly-CURE were genetics courses with a lab or a stand-alone genetics lab course, the Fly-CURE was incorporated into a variety of other undergraduate Biology courses (Appendix 1). (D) 53% of Fly-CURE instructors (8 out of 15) had previously worked in a research setting using Drosophila melanogaster.