This qualitative study examined how university
students learn to engage in the practices of scientific inquiry via research
apprenticeships and how such experiences prepare them to be STEM literate.
Surveys and interviews addressed two primary research questions: 1. What is the
nature of interaction between student participant and faculty mentor?
Subsidiary question: What is the role of technology in the mentoring
relationship? 2. How do students and faculty describe the development of STEM
literacies in the undergraduate research experience? Subsidiary question: How
does the mentoring process contribute to the development of STEM literacies? Results
demonstrated the importance of learning by engaging in authentic activity under
the guidance of mentor experts, the undergraduate research experience helps
enable acquisition of STEM literacies but mere participation in research
experiences does not always lead to high quality learning, mentoring relationships
are not all the same, and the use of technology in undergraduate research
experiences varies. Overall the study concludes that students find
undergraduate research experiences beneficial as compared to other experiences.
Research afforded them the opportunity to understand how research can be
applied and gain knowledge that they would not have gained in the classroom.