Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research in the Teacher Education Program

Abstract

Teacher candidates have lower participation in under-graduate research than students in other disciplines. To enable teacher candidates to develop skills for scholarly activities and to engage them in research activities, teacher education programs utilize diverse approaches. This article describes a strategy to promote undergraduate research among teacher candidates using a systematic course-based infusion of skills necessary for undergraduate scholar-ship. In addition, it reports on the undergraduate students’ performance in research skills such as critical thinking, information literacy, and written communication in scholarly products over a three-year period. The results show an uneven but steady growth in research skills. Also dis-cussed are the course and curricular modifications used by instructors to promote skill development for undergraduate research related to teaching.

Full text

20 Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Tunde Szecsi, Charles Gunnels, Jackie Greene, Florida Gulf Coast University
Vickie Johnston, Elia Vazquez-Montilla, Florida Gulf Coast University
Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research in
the Teacher Education Program
Abstract
Teacher candidates have lower participation in under-
graduate research than students in other disciplines. To
enable teacher candidates to develop skills for scholarly
activities and to engage them in research activities, teacher
education programs utilize diverse approaches. This article
describes a strategy to promote undergraduate research
among teacher candidates using a systematic course-based
infusion of skills necessary for undergraduate scholar-
ship. In addition, it reports on the undergraduate students’
performance in research skills such as critical thinking,
information literacy, and written communication in schol-
arly products over a three-year period. The results show
an uneven but steady growth in research skills. Also dis-
cussed are the course and curricular modifications used by
instructors to promote skill development for undergradu-
ate research related to teaching.
Keywords: critical thinking, teacher education, teacher
work sample, undergraduate research
doi: 10.18833/spur/3/1/5
To be effective, teachers must develop dynamic pedagogi-
cal strategies that are responsive to student’s needs. This
requires teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of different
approaches so that ineffective techniques are reformu-
lated or abandoned, whereas successful techniques are
maintained and promoted. As a result, it is expected that
teachers act as agents of change, becoming innovators in
their profession, continually open to growth, inquiry, and
research. One way to support inquiry and research skills is
the infusion of scholarly experiences into undergraduate
teacher education courses. Unfortunately, the research
experience for undergraduate students in education is less
prevalent than that offered in undergraduate study in other
disciplines, such as math and biology, chemistry, and other
natural sciences (Manak and Young 2014, 35).
Although undergraduate research in teacher education is
less common than in other fields, a growing number of
studies document faculty and student perceptions regard-
ing undergraduate research for teacher candidates and its
effectiveness in the United States and other countries (e.g.,
Dorner et al. 2017; Turner, Wuetherick, and Healey 2008;
Yancovic-Allen 2018). Many of these studies focus on the
benefits of future teachers’ engagement in undergradu-
ate research. These benefits include refined abilities for
connecting educational theory and pedagogical practices
to real-world implementation as well as the knowledge
and skills for designing and interpreting research, inquiry,
and collaboration (Madden et al. 2013, 16; White et al.
2016, 38). Despite the benefits of undergraduate research
for teacher candidates, numerous obstacles may limit full
implementation of undergraduate research in teacher edu-
cation programs. These obstacles include lack of time and
resources, the demands of education course content, and
scarcity of faculty with the required research experience
(Manak and Young 2014, 37; Munthe and Rogne 2015, 2;
Myers et al. 2018, 143).
Though numerous obstacles are acknowledged, the ben-
efits and learning gains seem to outweigh the challenges.
Both faculty and teacher candidates (TCs) recognize the
positive outcomes of scholarly activities; therefore, teach-
er educators pilot, implement, and document different
approaches for infusing undergraduate scholarship into
ASSESSMENT

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Tunde Szecsi, Charles Gunnels, Jackie Greene, Vickie Johnston & Elia Vazquez-Montilla
their programs (Myers et al. 2018). For example, Slobod-
zian and colleagues (2016) described a pragmatic model
in which TCs engaged in self-analytic research through
critical analysis of teaching practices that positively affect
student learning. Similarly, action research as an avenue of
combining teaching and research has the potential to foster
future teaching (Yan 2017). In addition, Vaughan, Baxley,
and Kervin (2017) found that the infusion of research
assignments into a course was effective for research skill
development.
Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) recently put a
five-year plan into practice with the purpose of fos-
tering and mentoring undergraduate scholarship for all
students, including teacher candidates. The university
faculty and administration initiated a university-wide edu-
cational reform as part of the institution’s reaccreditation
to improve transferable skills among students (i.e., written
communication, information literacy, and critical thinking)
through the integration of undergraduate research oppor-
tunities into the curriculum of every major. This reform,
called FGCUScholars: Think ~ Discover ~ Write, required
programmatic revisions to integrate skill-based lessons
that introduced students to discipline-specific scholarly
approaches. This design ensured that students would take
at least three courses that engaged them explicitly in
authentic course-based research experience, thereby pro-
moting the development of these transferable skills. Under
the FGCUScholars initiative, the teacher education faculty
selected courses at the beginning, middle, and end of the
teacher preparation program in which they could spe-
cifically target and evaluate the development of scholarly
skills (critical thinking, information literacy, and written
communication) that students could then use in research.
The purpose of this article is to describe the course-based
infusion of skill development for undergraduate scholar-
ship in teacher education and to share the undergraduate
students’ performance results related to critical thinking,
information literacy, and written communication in schol-
arly products over a three-year period. In addition, the
course and curricular modifications that instructors used to
promote skill development for undergraduate scholarship
related to teaching are examined. The article concludes
by describing how this effort has engaged more students
in undergraduate research experiences and provides addi-
tional recommendations based on these lived experiences
and findings.
Context
The College of Education (COE) at FGCU offers six teach-
ing certification programs, in which core courses are taken
by all students in the majors of elementary education, early
childhood education, special education, and secondary
education (the last composed of three disciplinary-specific
programs). To develop a scaffolded effort to master skills
for undergraduate scholarship, the following courses were
selected: (1) the beginning course (TSL 3080, Founda-
tions of English as a Second Language, or ESOL), (2) the
middle course, in the student’s major, (RED 4350, Literacy
Content and Processes), and (3) the capstone course (EDG
4937, Senior Seminar). In each course, a major assign-
ment, called an artifact, was identified to assess TC skills
(see Table 1).
Beginning Course
Upon entering the teacher education program, all TCs take
Foundations of ESOL (TSL 3080), which examines issues
of language and culture that are relevant for learners of
English as a second language. The course creates an initial
knowledge base in applied linguistics and cross-cultural
communication for future teachers of culturally and lin-
guistically diverse (CLD) students. The assignment Analy-
sis of Family and Student Learning Environment provided
opportunities for TCs to directly engage in research while
exploring the sociocultural environment of CLD students
via interviews and observations. This assignment required
TCs to practice basic research skills, such as developing
interview questions, analyzing and interpreting relevant
sources, and then conducting and using critical thinking to
analyze the interviews. Finally, TCs produced a research
paper that concluded with recommendations for future
teachers. In a scaffolded manner, the beginner TCs put
into practice essential content specific knowledge, skills
for conducting research, and dispositions to understand
CLD students.
Course identifier Title of course Course artifact/assignment
Beginning course TSL 3080, Foundations of ESOL Analysis of Family and Student
Learning Environment
Middle course RED 4350, Literacy Content and
Processes Strategy Application Project
Capstone course EDG 4937, Senior Seminar Teacher Work Sample
TABLE 1. Selected Courses and Artifacts
Note: ESOL = English for speakers of other languages

22 Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research
information literacy, and written communication. In addi-
tion, the instructors’ pedagogical decisions regarding the
course and assignment modifications were explored in an
effort to improve teaching of these skills to students. The
evaluation was guided by the following questions:
1. To what extent did the graduating teacher candidates’
performance in combined skills change between the
beginning, middle, and capstone courses over three
years?
2. How did the teacher candidates’ performance in critical
thinking, information literacy, and written communica-
tion change in the beginning course between 2016 and
2018?
3. How did the teacher candidates’ performance in critical
thinking, information literacy, and written communica-
tion change in the middle course in the major between
2016 and 2018?
4. How did the teacher candidates’ performance in critical
thinking, information literacy, and written communica-
tion change in the capstone course between 2016 and
2018?
5. How did the instructors modify their pedagogical deci-
sions and actions based on the evaluation of critical
thinking, information literacy, and written communica-
tion skills to further foster teacher candidates’ ability to
complete high-quality undergraduate research?
Evaluation Process
As a complement to the instructor’s regular evaluation of
the course assignments, an additional evaluation process
focusing on the research skills of critical thinking, infor-
mation literacy, and written communication took place
every May. In this annual evaluation, TCs who took the
selected three courses between 2015–2016 and 2017–2018
served as the population for the evaluation. All TC arti-
facts in the selected three courses served as the pool from
which a given number of artifacts were randomly chosen
for evaluation (see Table 2).
Every May, a panel of education instructors completed the
evaluation of artifacts in the beginning course (TSL 3080)
and middle course (RED 4350), while a panel of instruc-
tors from other disciplines across the university conducted
the evaluation of artifacts in the capstone course. The
evaluation rubric had seven criteria, divided into three
categories, as follows (see Table 3):
Critical thinking
1. Content development
2. Evaluation of information
Information literacy
1. Identification of and ability to access information and
evidence
2. Effective use of information to accomplish a specific
purpose
Middle Course
In the course RED 4350, Literacy Content and Processes,
the course scholarly assignment Strategy Application Proj-
ect was piloted to explicitly develop the skills of critical
thinking, information literacy, and written communication.
The assignment required TCs to create a thematic unit plan
using a total of 10 teaching ideas, which were all activities
that employed a reading strategy to support a middle or
high school student’s comprehension of textual informa-
tion utilizing relevant high-quality resources (i.e., books
or articles). Consequently, the TC instructional decisions
were made based on current research literature, taking into
consideration the text structure in a content area (social
studies, science, etc.). In this artifact, TCs were also
required to use an evidence-based rationale for choosing
each specific teaching idea, citing research that supported
the reading strategy for improving comprehension.
Capstone Course
In this course, a Teacher Work Sample (TWS) was the
capstone project for graduation and to meet accreditation
and state approval requirements. This assignment also gave
TCs the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to conduct
research in teaching. The TWS is recognized as a tool for
helping TCs to bring together theory and practice and to
collect data to demonstrate their ability to positively impact
preK–12 student learning (Benton et al. 2012, 370). The
TWS represented the kind of planning, implementation,
and assessment that should be ongoing in every classroom.
It was a reflective narrative of a one- to four-week inte-
grated unit of instruction in one subject area for one class
rather than a typical research paper. The TWS included
seven sections, beginning with an inventory of situational
factors that impacted student learning in the student teach-
er’s placement classroom and ending with a reflection on
the entire teaching and learning process. With this artifact,
TCs participated in action research as they developed an
evidence-based documentation of teacher effectiveness.
These three courses and the selected artifacts served as
milestones for the process and product of skill development
for scholarship in teaching. The targeted skills were also
embedded in almost every course in the teacher education
program to ensure that TCs revisited and practiced these
skills on a regular basis. From the beginning of the program,
TCs were required to acquire and practice certain research
skills and to become more and more independent research
scholars as they progressed through the program. In addition
to the implementation of this sequence of courses, annual
evaluation of skill development and effectiveness for schol-
arship of TCs has been in place at the undergraduate level.
Evaluation
During the past three years, evaluation focused on the
impact of the courses and assignments that were designed
to enhance TCs’ research skills in critical thinking,

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Written communication
1. Context and purpose
2. Genre and disciplinary conventions
3. Control of syntax and mechanics
This rubric was created using a modified version of the
Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric of the Association of
American Colleges and Universities (Rhodes 2010). In
all cases, two instructors evaluated each artifact indepen-
dently with this rubric; if the difference in rubric scores
between the two evaluators was more than 4 points out of
28, additional evaluators scored the assignment to achieve
high inter-rater reliability.
The evaluation process included the following steps: (1)
norming, (2) evaluating artifacts with the rubric, and (3)
note-taking concerning additional areas of strengths and/
or areas for improvement. During norming, instructors
developed a shared understanding of the rubric criteria and
how to increase the inter-rater reliability. Then, with the
rubric, they evaluated the artifacts with a numeric range of
1 to 4 and took notes about any significant issues regarding
the three skills—critical thinking, information literacy, and
written communication. These observational notes served
as qualitative data that deepened faculty’s understanding
of the courses’ strengths and areas for improvement.
Data Analysis
To determine how this curricular reform affected learning
gains among TCs (questions 1–4), ANOVA permutation
tests were used to compare assessment results of written
artifacts produced by students in the beginning, middle,
and capstone courses. All statistical analyses were run in
R (R Core Team 2017). ANOVA permutation tests with
a maximum of 5,000 iterations were run in the lmPerm
package of R (Wheeler and Torchiano 2016). Statisti-
cally significant patterns were described based on an
alpha of 0.05. The package ggplot2 was used to create all
figures (Wickman 2016). To answer question 5 regarding
the instructors’ pedagogical decisions and actions, the
courses’ syllabi, assignment descriptions, and instructors’
reflections were analyzed qualitatively, following the data
analysis spiral described by Creswell (2003).
Results
Graduating TCs showed significant improvements in the
development of transferable skills associated with under-
graduate scholarship across the three selected courses.
Graduating seniors performed significantly better than
lower-level students in the beginning and middle courses
(see Figure 1). Graduating seniors showed a 21-percent
improvement when scores were averaged across the seven
assessed criteria of critical thinking, information literacy,
and written communication. As would be expected by
the overall increase, the number of TCs who succeeded
in demonstrating the desired learning gains also changed
across the three courses. The percentage of students who
scored between a 3 and 4 on the rubric increased from 13
percent in the beginning course to 29 percent in the cap-
stone, whereas the percentage of students that performed
poorly, scoring between a 1 and 2, declined from 37 per-
cent of students in the beginning course to only 7 percent
in the capstone.
Overall, TCs showed better written communication skills
than either critical thinking and information literacy skills
(see Figure 2). However, students showed the greatest
improvement in their critical thinking skills, improving
by roughly 27 percent from the beginning to capstone
courses. TCs showed similar improvements in their writ-
ten communication and information literacy performance
between the beginning and capstone courses, with 17.7
percent and 17.4 percent improvement respectively.
TCs showed variable learning gains among the associated
courses during the three years of the program (see Figure
3). Graduating TCs made consistent learning gains in the
capstone course during each year of the program, perform-
ing 5 percent better in year 3 than in year 1 of the inter-
vention. In addition, students showed similar, although
variable, learning gains in the beginning course, earning
assessment scores that were 12 percent higher in the
third year relative to the first year. However, TCs showed
the highest learning gains during the second year of the
program, before dipping during the third year. Although
students performed better in the beginning and capstone
Courses 2015–2016 2016–2017 2017–2018
Beginning: TSL 3080
Foundations of ESOL 23 12 23
Middle: RED 4350
Literacy Content
and Processes
20 9 10
Capstone: EDG 4937
Senior Seminar 28 18 15
TABLE 2. Number of Assessed Artifacts by Course
Note: ESOL = English for speakers of other languages

24 Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research
Critical thinking Capstone 4 Milestone 3 Milestone 2 Benchmark 1
Content
development Uses appropriate, relevant,
and compelling content to
illustrate mastery of the
subject, critical analysis,
and synthesis skills that
convey the writer’s
understanding.
Uses appropriate, relevant,
and compelling content to
explore ideas using critical
thinking skills within the
context of the discipline.
Uses appropriate and rel-
evant content to develop
and explore ideas through
most of the work.
Uses appropriate and rel-
evant content to develop
simple ideas in some parts
of the work.
Evaluation of
information;
conclusion
Skillfully analyzes and
evaluates information and
evidence related to thesis;
conclusion is insightful,
logical, and justified based
on a skillful evaluation of
evidence.
Adequately analyzes and
evaluates information and
evidence related to thesis;
conclusion is logical and
justified based on evalua-
tion of evidence.
Attempts to analyze and
evaluate information and
evidence related to thesis
and use evidence in order
to justify conclusions.
Takes information at face
value (little or no attempt
to evaluate quality of
information or evidence,
relationship to thesis, or
support of conclusions).
Information Literacy Capstone 4 Milestone 3 Milestone 2 Benchmark 1
Identification and
access of information
and evidence
Demonstrates skillful iden-
tification and access of
high-quality, credible, rel-
evant sources to develop
ideas that are appropriate
for the discipline and
genre of the writing.
Demonstrates consistent
identification and access of
credible, relevant sources
to support ideas that are
situated within the
discipline and genre of the
writing.
Demonstrates an attempt
to identify and access
credible and/or relevant
sources to support ideas
that are appropriate for the
discipline and genre of the
writing.
Has difficulty identifying
and accessing sources to
support ideas in the
writing.
Effective use of
information to
accomplish a specific
purpose
Skillfully communicates,
organizes, and synthesizes
information from sources
to fully achieve a specific
purpose, with clarity and
depth.
Communicates, organizes,
and synthesizes informa-
tion from sources. Intended
purpose is achieved.
Communicates and orga-
nizes information from
sources. The information
is not yet synthesized, so
the intended purpose is not
fully achieved.
Communicates informa-
tion from sources. The
information is fragmented
and/or used inappropriately
(misquoted, taken out of
context, or incorrectly
paraphrased, etc.), so the
intended purpose is not
achieved.
Written
Communication Capstone 4 Milestone 3 Milestone 2 Benchmark 1
Context of and
purpose for writing
(Includes consider-
ations of audience,
purpose, and the
circumstances sur-
rounding the writing
task[s].)
Demonstrates a thorough
understanding of context,
audience, and purpose
that is responsive to the
assigned task(s) and
focuses all elements of
the work.
Demonstrates adequate
consideration of context,
audience, and purpose
and a clear focus on the
assigned task(s) (e.g., the
task aligns with audience,
purpose, and context).
Demonstrates awareness
of context, audience,
purpose, and the assigned
task(s) (e.g., begins to
show awareness of
audience’s perceptions
and assumptions).
Demonstrates minimal
attention to context,
audience, purpose, and to
the assigned task(s) (e.g.,
expectation of instructor
or self as audience).
Genre and disciplinary
conventions
(Formal and infor-
mal rules inherent in
the expectations for
writing in particular
forms and/or aca-
demic fields.)
Demonstrates detailed
attention to and successful
execution of a wide range
of conventions particular
to a specific discipline and/
or writing task(s) including
organization, content, pre-
sentation, formatting, and
stylistic choices.
Demonstrates consistent
use of important con-
ventions particular to a
specific discipline and/
or writing task(s), includ-
ing organization, content,
presentation, and stylistic
choices.
Follows expectations
appropriate to a specific
discipline and/or writing
task(s), including basic
organization, content, and
presentation.
Attempts to use a
consistent system for
basic organization and
presentation.
Control of syntax
and mechanics Uses eloquent language
that skillfully communi-
cates meaning to readers
with clarity and fluency,
and is virtually error free.
Uses straightforward
language that generally
conveys meaning to read-
ers. The language in the
portfolio has few errors.
Uses language that gener-
ally conveys meaning to
readers with clarity,
although writing may
include some errors.
Uses language that
sometimes impedes
meaning because of errors
in usage.
TABLE 3. Evaluation Rubric for Assessing Teacher Candidates’ Learning Gains
Note: This rubric is a modified version of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric (Rhodes 2010).

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Tunde Szecsi, Charles Gunnels, Jackie Greene, Vickie Johnston & Elia Vazquez-Montilla
Benchmark
FIGURE 1. Assessment Data Collected on Teacher Candidates (2015–2018)
3
4
2
1
Note: The data represent the average score of seven criteria used to evaluate development of three transferable
skills (critical thinking, information literacy, and written communication); individual student scores are rep-
resented by points. Students showed significant learning gains across the three scaffolded courses (ANOVA
permutation test: F = 47.5; df = 2, 432; p < 0.001).
Course
Beginning Middle Capstone
n=153 n=96 n=186
Benchmark
FIGURE 2. Average Results of Assessment Data Collected from Teacher Candidates (2015–2018)
3
4
2
1
Note: Scores represent the average score for a student’s critical thinking, information literacy, and written
communication skills. Individual student scores are represented by points. Overall, education students showed
significantly higher written communication skills than critical thinking and information literacy skills (ANOVA
permutation test: F = 47.5; df = 2, 432; p < 0.001). However, students showed the greatest improvement in
critical thinking skills, increasing by 27 percent between the beginning and capstone courses.
Course
Beginning Middle Capstone
n=153 n=96 n=186
Skill
Critical Thinking
Information Literacy
Written Communication

26 Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research
Middle Course
The faculty teaching this course recommended modifying
the pilot assignment, which resulted in the creation of a
separate assignment in the form of a literature review. This
change was determined to be a more effective approach to
using literature and preparing TCs for the Teacher Work
Sample in the capstone course. Furthermore, this new
literature review was broken down into two parts: (1) the
teaching idea or instructional routine, and (2) descrip-
tion and rationale of the research supporting the reading
strategy utilized for the teaching idea, or explanation of
how research had shown it to improve comprehension. By
focusing on only two parts of this unit assignment, TCs
developed their writing, critical thinking, and information
literacy to foster discipline-specific comprehension. Addi-
tional instruction in specific writing competencies, citing
research in APA style, and evaluating and synthesizing
scholarly information was infused.
Capstone Course
The first-year evaluators of the Teacher Work Sample had a
challenging time recognizing the presence of critical think-
ing within the large document of 60–100 pages produced in
the capstone course. Although each TWS relied on a rich
variety of resources, the artifacts did not reflect the informa-
tion literacy typically found in a research paper. Therefore,
the TWS was modified to enhance the TCs’ ability to make
courses, they showed consistent learning declines in the
middle course; these students performed 13 percent worse
in year 3 than in year 1 of the program.
Modifications
The yearly assessment results were shared and discussed
with the instructors; based on the results they made peda-
gogical decisions to strengthen TCs in the targeted areas of
critical thinking, information literacy, and written commu-
nication. The following modifications were implemented
to address the areas needing improvement.
Beginning Course
In this course, additional instruction and guidance in
proper research procedures, such as generating research
questions, interviewing skills, and analyzing qualitative
data, and increased scaffolding of academic writing were
implemented. Relevant topics embedded in class content
included a grammar review series, the use of exemplary
articles from scholarly research papers using APA style,
a workshop on how to navigate the library and locate
articles in refereed journals, and information on develop-
ing research questions. As a result, the course expanded
TCs’ cross-cultural understanding and added more depth
to the inquiry related to perceptions, beliefs, and framing
of education from diverse perspectives, as generated by
research questions.
Benchmark
FIGURE 3. Changes in Teacher Candidates’ Learning Gains (2015–2018)
3
4
2
1
Note: These data represent the average scores of assessed artifacts for seven criteria for critical thinking,
information literacy, and written communication. Individual student scores are represented by points. Teacher
candidates showed variable learning gains among the associated courses during the three years of the program
(interaction between course and year: F = 9.79; df = 4, 426; p < 0.001).
Year
2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018
n=192 n=120 n=123
Course
Beginning
Middle
Capstone

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effective use of the literature in this action research. TCs
embarked upon a typical research-paper project investigat-
ing evaluation of teacher effectiveness in US schools. For
candidates’ future success as classroom practitioners, under-
standing teacher evaluation processes, its components, and
the forces affecting evaluation processes was relevant and
increased essential knowledge. To gain information about
and understanding of the evaluation of teacher effective-
ness, TCs read a series of articles by Darling-Hammond
(2010, 2014), Goe (2013), and Minnici (2014). Seminar
discussions on the measurement of teacher effectiveness
and background information from the articles helped TCs
identify their research topic and formulate research ques-
tions. Teacher candidates then embarked upon individual
explorations of evaluating teacher effectiveness. A part of
this exploration was a concise literature review to support
their thesis and provide information to answer research
questions and discuss their findings. Their explorations of
effectiveness led to a deeper understanding of the impor-
tance of being proactive participants in their professional
development and evaluation of their classroom practice.
Overall, modifications in the three courses targeted a grad-
ual progression of skill development through which TCs
became increasingly independent in the research process.
Conclusions
Research-based teacher education is an emerging trend
in the United States and worldwide as part of strengthen-
ing teacher preparation in the twenty-first century (Afdal
and Spernes 2018, 216). These research-based teacher
education programs focus on learning experiences that
foster skills such as critical thinking, analysis, and critical
reflection skills (Cochran-Smith and Fries 2005). When
teachers possess these transferable skills, they are able to
continuously renew their pedagogical approaches and act
as creators of knowledge rather than as solely recipients or
transmitters of knowledge (Darling-Hammond 2017, 294).
The teacher education program in this study is currently
completing the fourth year of the five-year educational
reform, using the prior years’ evaluation data for con-
tinuous improvement. In this study, the systematic yearly
evaluation of teacher candidates’ skill development has
indicated that the course-based scholarly activities infused
throughout the teacher preparation program impact TCs’
skills and competency in conducting research. These find-
ings substantiate the results of the study by Vaughan,
Baxley, and Kervin (2017), in which they found posi-
tive outcomes that included increased research skills and
emerging teaching dispositions because of the course-
based infusion of research skills. Through these experienc-
es, teacher candidates gradually transform from consumers
of research to producers of research that offers insights
into critical issues emerging from their teaching practices
(Yancovic-Allen 2018, 490).
By the completion of the capstone course, teacher candi-
dates showed an increase in research skills, although there
was some fluctuation in performance across the courses.
The lack of clear linear increase in evaluated skills from the
beginning to the middle courses can be explained by the dif-
ferent nature of the course artifacts: a research paper (first
year) versus a literature review (second year). Such variation
among courses across different years may also be partially
explained by the use of a single assessment instrument that
aligned with some assignments better than others. Evolving
assignments, particularly in the beginning and middle cours-
es, may explain some of the differences observed in years 2
and 3 of the program, during which students appeared to per-
form better in the beginning course than the middle course.
Overall, these findings indicated that teacher candidates had
better research skill performance when engaged in the com-
plete research process, rather than only a literature review.
However, there is improvement in skills demonstrated in the
capstone project, likely the outcome of extensive practice
in the development of the literature review required in the
middle course. The positive change that was documented in
the capstone project reinforces the need for a program-wide
infusion of scholarly skills for undergraduate research, start-
ing at the beginning of the program and continuing to and
through the capstone course.
Eventually, these course-based scholarly activities allowed
the TCs to share their research experiences beyond the
classroom and disseminate their studies to a wider audi-
ence. These research events were the result of the five-year
university-wide educational initiative that shed light on the
importance of undergraduate research and generated more
scholarly activities conducted by undergraduate students.
For TCs, a recently established COE research sympo-
sium hosted numerous scholarly presentations delivered
by undergraduate researchers. Other examples included
but were not limited to a community-engaged research
project with the Wonders Garden in Bonita Springs, a
faculty-student publication on a family literacy program
for immigrants, a joint publication on games as assessment
tools, and research presentations at regional conferences.
These outcomes of the infusion of research skill develop-
ment in courses are notable when it has been uncommon
for teacher candidates to share their research experiences
within the university community and beyond (Manak and
Young 2014, 37).
The infusion of research skills into courses and their
systematic evaluation have the potential for positively
impacting the overall teacher education program. The
education faculty’s participation in the evaluation at the
undergraduate level allows them to reflect on the courses
and assignments that target and document scholarly skill
development. Furthermore, the faculty’s pedagogical deci-
sions regarding the courses, skills, and assignments are
based on the yearly evaluation data, which generates

28 Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Teaching and Evaluating Skills for Undergraduate Research
Thoughtful Teachers through Inquiry-Based Learning.” CUR
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Where We Stand—and Where We Need to Go.” American Edu-
cator 38(1): 22–26. Accessed September 26, 2019. https://files.
eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1023882.pdf
Munthe, Elaine, and Magne Rogne. 2015. “Research-Based
Teacher Education.” Teaching and Teacher Education 46: 17–24.
doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2014.10.006
Myers, Joy, Amanda G. Sawyer, Katie Dredger, Susan K. Barnes,
and Reece Wilson. 2018. “Examining Perspectives of Faculty
and Students Engaging in Undergraduate Research.” Journal of
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 18(1): 136–149.
R Core Team. 2017. R: A Language and Environment for Sta-
tistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical
Computing.
Rhodes, Terrel. 2010. Assessing Outcomes and Improving
Achievement: Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics. Washington,
DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Slobodzian, Jean, Nadya Pancsofar, Matthew Hall, and Anne
Peel. 2016. “A Closer Look at the Pragmatic Model of Mentored
Undergraduate Research in a School of Education.” CUR Quar-
terly 37(1): 41–45.
Turner, Nancy, Brad Wuetherick, and Mick Healey. 2008. “Inter-
national Perspectives on Student Awareness, Experiences and
Perceptions of Research: Implications for Academic Develop-
ers in Implementing Research-Based Teaching and Learning.”
International Journal for Academic Development 13: 199–211.
Vaughan, Michelle, Traci P. Baxley, and Cole Kervin. 2017.
“Connecting the Dots: A Scaffolded Model for Undergradu-
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27(3): 1–12. Accessed September 26, 2019. http://www.nation-
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18, 2018. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lmPerm
White, Sonia, Erika Hepple, Donna Tangen, Marlana Comelli,
Amyzar Alwi, and Zaira Abu Hassan Shaari. 2016. “An Intro-
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Yan, Chunmei. (2017). “You Never Know What Research Is Like
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intentional curricular modifications for further program
improvement. Overall, these efforts serve as ongoing
professional renewal for faculty (White et al. 2016, 47).
Therefore, it is argued that the efforts to create and main-
tain research-based teacher education programs can gener-
ate benefits for both teacher candidates and teacher educa-
tion faculty. These positive outcomes will ultimately serve
students in preK–12 classrooms as new teachers enter the
profession with a more scholarly mind-set.
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Fall 2019
|
Volume 3
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Number 1 29
Tunde Szecsi, Charles Gunnels, Jackie Greene, Vickie Johnston & Elia Vazquez-Montilla
Tunde Szecsi
Florida Gulf Coast University,
tszecsi@fgcu.edu
Tunde Szecsi is a professor and the coordinator for the
elementary education programs at Florida Gulf Coast
University (FGCU) in Fort Myers, FL. She earned her
master’s degrees in Hungarian, Russian, and English lan-
guage and literature in Hungary. She obtained her PhD
in early childhood education at the University at Buffalo–
SUNY. She has taught courses on elementary and early
education and English for speakers of other languages
(ESOL). Her research interests include multicultural edu-
cation, culturally responsive teacher preparation, humane
education, and heritage language maintenance.
Charles (billY) Gunnels is an associate professor of biol-
ogy and director of FGCUScholars: Think ~ Discover ~
Write and the Office of Undergraduate Scholarship (for
research, creative, and other scholarly work). His cur-
rent research focuses on student learning, undergraduate
research, animal behavior, and historical zoology. He
teaches courses in biological statistics, behavioral biology,
and environmental sustainability.
Jackie Greene is a faculty member of the College of
Education at FGCU, where she coordinates the New
Teacher Support Program. She also serves as assistant
director of FGCU’s Lucas Center for Faculty Development
and as director of the National Writing Project. Her
research interests focus on teacher preparation, profes-
sional development, and writing as inquiry.
Vickie Johnston is the program coordinator for FGCU’s
curriculum and instruction MEd program and teaches
literacy and teacher education classes in the College of
Education. Her research interests and published work
include literacy, students with exceptionalities, diversity,
and emerging technology integration in teacher education.
Elia Vázquez-Montilla, professor, is the former chair of FGCU
College of Education Undergraduate Studies. She teaches
graduate and undergraduate courses in ESOL as well as cur-
riculum and instruction. She completed her BA and MEd in
education at the University of Puerto Rico and received her
PhD from the University of Florida, with majors in elemen-
tary education and multicultural bilingual education. Her
research interests include teacher education, families, and
the academic performance of English-language learners.