Engineering Commons^™

Ford (2015) argues for viewing “scientific practice” not as a list of particular skills, but rather, more

holistically as “sets of regularities of behaviors and social interactions” among scientists. This

conceptualization of scientific practices foregrounds how they meaningfully connect to one another and are

purposefully employed in order to explain nature. We apply this framework in the context of undergraduate

research experiences (UREs) to understand the early forms of student engagement in scientific practices,

and how these specific forms of engagement may be consequential for students’ future participation. Using

video from interviews with students and research mentors, we argue that …

Undergraduate research can support students’ more central participation in physics. We present analysis of one way this participation may shift: changes in their beliefs about the Nature of Science coupled to changes in a sense of ability to contribute to authentic research. Students in the study worked with faculty and graduate student research mentors on research projects and also participated in a seminar where they learned about research and reflected on their experiences. In videotaped interviews, we asked students to describe their experiences in research. Students developed nuanced views about how the research process works coupled to shifts in their …