Course-based research experience boundary objects support disciplinary integration and authentic research networks¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r3 · q2 · i2 medium · n=96 students (62 undergraduate, 34 graduate) across 6 cohorts; 65 interviewed; 57 survey respondents
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Organizing an interdisciplinary Course-Based Research Experience around a shared scientific-paper boundary object — that shifts function from compelling, to concrete, to normative, to novel across the term — helped disciplinarily diverse students integrate disciplinary differences and connected them to authentic research networks beyond the classroom, though students used varied and sometimes divergent tactics to cope with unresolved disciplinary disagreements.

Subclaims¶

q2-q3 i2 Across six years and 96 students, tracing the scientific-paper boundary object through four functional moments (compelling → concrete → normative → novel) supported disciplinary integration, evidenced through interviews, fieldnotes, and student artifacts triangulated across the full data set. → Papendieck & Clarke 2024

q2 i2 Course participation connected students to authentic external research networks: of the 95 students who completed a paper, 37 listed a coauthor, and 85 of the resulting 95 coauthor relationships (89%) were with people outside the course, including practicing scientists. → Papendieck & Clarke 2024

q2-q2 i2 Students facing unresolved disciplinary disagreements about what a "good paper" looks like used distinct coping tactics rather than converging on one shared norm — e.g., writing separate papers for the class versus for an external disciplinary advisor ("separation"), or reframing disciplinary differences as minor, quantifiable rubric variations ("domestication"). → Papendieck & Clarke 2024

Evidence¶

Papendieck & Clarke 2024¶

Papendieck, A., & Clarke, J. A. (2024). Curiosity to Question: Tracing productive engagement in an interdisciplinary course-based research experience. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 33(2), 323-364. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2024.2347597

q2-q3 · mixed-methods case study across 6 iterations of one course with member checking, methodological triangulation across 5 data sources (fieldnotes, interviews, surveys, artifacts, network data), and prolonged engagement (6 years); no comparison group · i2 · clear qualitative pattern with real analytic weight plus concrete network/co-authorship counts, but no quantified pre/post learning-gain measure · n=96 students (62 undergraduate, 34 graduate) across 6 cohorts; 65 interviewed; 57 survey respondents · qualitative · r3

An undergraduate/graduate Course-Based Research Experience organized around writing a scientific paper as a shared object was studied across 6 annual iterations. Interaction and narrative analysis traced how the paper object shifted function across the term (from a broadly compelling shared goal, to concrete discipline-specific instances students brought in, to a collaboratively negotiated normative rubric, to individually authored novel papers refined through peer/mentor feedback). Network-survey and artifact data showed substantial connection to authentic external research: 38.9% of students who completed a paper listed a coauthor, and 89% of those coauthor relationships were with people outside the course. Two illustrative student cases (Masud, Sean) showed different but both productive ways of managing unresolved disciplinary disagreement about writing norms.

Discussion¶

This is a methodologically solid, well-triangulated qualitative case study (q2-q3) but rests on a single institution's course across multiple years, and the richest illustrative evidence (the "separation"/"domestication" coping-tactic finding) comes from close analysis of just two exemplar students rather than the full cohort, so its breadth across the whole class is less certain than the network/co-authorship counts, which are class-wide. The findings extend Engle & Conant's Productive Disciplinary Engagement framework into a "Productive Syncretic Engagement" variant for genuinely cross-disciplinary contexts, which the authors frame as their main theoretical contribution.

Learner Variables¶

• Domain Context — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it
• Social Supports — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

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