The Need to Start Research Education Early

By our mistakes we shall learn. If I had a nickel for each time I’ve tried to put this across to a student .... It seems as if academic courses aren’t always designed to foster making mistakes. Too often the emphasis is on getting the best grade possible, as opposed to simply learning something new. But, in the real world, there are no tests to take, no quizzes or exams to struggle through. There’s just the need to get the job done to the best of your ability. So, where in our curriculum do we provide students with an opportunity to fail? Where do we allow them to see that proving a hypothesis invalid is as beneficial as showing that it works? A truly successful education goes beyond mere memorization of facts. It engages students in seeing the connections among these facts and seeing the story behind the facts, and it asks them both to apply what they’ve started to learn and to evaluate their efforts. Please note, I didn’t say “evaluate their success.” That would have been misleading, for not all efforts lead to a successful outcome. Then again, it all depends on how you measure success. Let’s talk about research, original research conducted by undergraduate students. Immediately I can hear the naysayers declaring that undergraduates can’t be prepared to participate in original research until, perhaps, their final year of study. Balderdash! And that, dear friends, leads us to this essay’s heart. I believe that not only can all undergraduates perform original research but, where possible, they should.