Embedding Research-Based Learning Early in the Undergraduate Geography Curriculum

Abstract

This article considers the rationale for embedding research and enquiry skills early in the undergraduate geography curriculum and for making these skills explicit to students. A survey of 52 international geography faculty identified critical thinking, framing research questions, reflectivity and creativity as the most challenging research skills to teach early in the undergraduate curriculum. This article provides a range of practical examples illustrating research skill teaching from geography courses internationally. The case studies demonstrate that by embedding research skill development early, scaffolding provided throughout a degree programme can support geography students as they become producers of knowledge.

Keywords:

• Research skills
• enquiry skills
• undergraduate research
• curriculum

Introduction

The Boyer Commission's (1998) call for greater undergraduate engagement in research has been heard by many university systems around the world. A body of literature has documented the advantages to students of engaging with research (McGuinness & Simm, 2003; Seymour et al., 2004; Healey, 2005a, 2005b; Healey & Jenkins, 2006, 2009; Findley et al., 2007; Garde-Hansen & Calvert, 2007; Hodge et al., 2007, 2008; Jenkins et al., 2007; Karukstis & Elgren, 2007; DeHaan, 2009; Elsen et al., 2009). There is a growing recognition that research skills are essential for all students because knowing how to critically evaluate information and to enquire is of increasing importance (Brew, 2006), and research skills are required for graduates to function effectively in an increasingly complex world (Bar-Yam, 2004; Harris, 2007; Mitchell, 2009). As Scott notes (2002, p. 13):

In a ‘knowledge society’ all students – certainly all graduates – have to be researchers. Not only are they engaged in the production of knowledge; they must also be educated to cope with the risks and uncertainties generated by the advance of science.

However, Harrison and Whalley (2008) have questioned the extent to which undergraduate students are equipped to engage in dissertation research as a result of their preceding years in undergraduate education, and Lovitts (2005) has even highlighted the lack of preparedness of postgraduate level students for thesis research. Students struggle with research when they do finally engage with it because no explicit attention was given in earlier years for developing the skills needed for success in research (Evans & Witkosky, 2004; DeHaan, 2009).

This article explores the skills which students need to become effective researchers, and provides case study examples of how skills teaching can be embedded into geography curricula before students are expected to engage in self-directed honours-level research. As the case studies we present highlight, research skills can take many forms and different universities have approached developing these skills in a range of ways, including building student skills in critiquing the research of others and communicating research findings to new audiences. These skills and practices are based on the broad definition of student research given by Willison and O'Regan (2007, p. 394) as:

a continuum of knowledge production, from knowledge new to the learner to knowledge new to humankind, moving from the commonly known, to the commonly not known, to the totally unknown.

This inclusive definition of research opens up pedagogic spaces to engage students in the research culture of our universities. Universities can offer transformative opportunities through increased student collaboration and dialogue (often enhanced by learning technologies), in the process of developing research skills.

For the purpose of integrating research and teaching, we advocate an alternative view of research as a lifelong-learning endeavour and as a continuum that ranges from developing research skills to the production of research (Willison & O'Regan, 2007). Awareness of the research process gained in undergraduate courses can enormously enhance student skills in critically evaluating the research of others. As one Australian student noted after undertaking field-based research in a second-year field course

I will never read a journal article with the same naivety I once had, learning first hand and having the opportunity to conduct such raw primary research will be a valued experience in my future academic career.

Undergraduate Research Skills

Research skills can be generic (such as communication and information handling) or discipline-specific (such as systems thinking and spatial analysis using GIS). Knight and Yorke (2004) argue that it is preferable to teach even the more generic skills by embedding them into the curriculum, rather than delivering them as a discrete module or course; in this way they can be delivered throughout a programme, over a longer period of time.

Key research skills have been identified and categorized in previous work on the research process (Hackling & Fairbrother, 1996; National Research Council, 2006; Kuhn & Pease, 2008). In general, they align with the six facets of Willison & O'Regan's (2007) Research Skill Development Framework, which include generating and framing questions, collecting information/data, evaluating information, organizing information, analysing and synthesizing information and communicating results. Although this sequence of research skills mirrors the research process, research skill acquisition does not have to follow a linear progression. For example, students do not need to generate questions in order to collect data. Likewise, students can practise framing questions without any assumption that answers will be provided or pursued. Students often find their first experience of research a daunting process, so by mapping skills development across a degree programme, as well as by identifying the skills that will be taught, practised and assessed at the module/course level; student-learning goals are clarified and help to support self-reflection.

An International Network for Learning and Teaching Workshop, April 2010

A workshop organized by the International Network for Learning and Teaching (INLT) in Geography, held in Washington DC, during April 2010 on the theme ‘Changing Geography in Higher Education: Towards a Scholarship of Academic Practice’, was attended by the authors and provided the opportunity to gather data from 52 International workshop participants on the undergraduate research skills, which they as faculty found most challenging to teach early in the undergraduate curriculum and the barriers they encountered.

A world café format (Brown & Isaacs, 2005) was adopted to collect the data over 1 hour during which participants circulated and visited tables focused on different questions. Our table was covered with a paper tablecloth (for note-making) and dedicated to the following questions:

•	Which research skills do students need before they can successfully complete a capstone research project?
•	Which of these do you find most challenging to teach early in the curriculum?
•	Why are these skills the most challenging?

Members of our research team stayed at the table to record discussions on the tablecloth. Participants were, therefore, able to join in conversations and read notes left by previous participants and record their agreement, new ideas or make additional comments. In this way, a variety of perspectives are quickly developed around a set of questions. The method was used to elicit a range of ideas and to look for emerging patterns and consensus to inform our thinking. After the data collection, we grouped the skills into five sets collaboratively as a research team.

Table 1 categorizes the research skills identified by the INLT participants as those necessary for undergraduate success with research projects in their final year of undergraduate study. We also asked participants to identify the skills they found the most difficult to teach and to provide reasons for this. The skills consistently highlighted as most difficult to teach were critical thinking, asking and framing questions, reflectivity, creativity and understanding the research process. Interestingly, our discussions with participants revealed a link between the skills that are difficult to teach and those that are the most important for undergraduate students to develop.

Table 1. The skills described by 52 INLT 2010 workshop participants as those necessary for undergraduate students to become effective researchers

Skill sets	Component skills
Communication skills	Graphicacy; Present and communicate an argument
Understanding the research process (3)	Understanding that knowledge is constructed, understanding the value of a null result, acknowledging the work of others (avoiding plagiarism), health and safety issues related to research, understanding ethical research practice
Critical thinking (8)	Asking and framing questions (7), Developing an argument (2), choosing appropriate evidence, exploring evidence and critically evaluating information, problem-solving
Emotional intelligence (6)	Creativity (6), reflectivity (meta-cognition) (6), curiosity (2), adaptability (2), collaboration skills, ability to take on constructive criticism, self-belief and self-efficacy, self-authorship, patience
Analytical skills	Synthesizing information (2), information literacy; exploring evidence
Note: The component skills are presented within five broad skill sets. Numbers in brackets are based on participants highlighting these as particularly difficult to teach.

We suggest that the first two skill sets described in Table 1 (communication skills and understanding the research process) support students' development of the latter three (critical thinking, analytical skills and emotional intelligence). This is reflected by one participant noting:

Critical thinking is the most complex of [the] skills listed, hence most difficult to achieve.

The mastery of higher order skills (i.e. our skill sets) requires the ability to deploy a number of stand-alone research skills.

Our conceptualization of research skills is that they exist along a continuum from simple to complex. Simpler research skills are less interdependent, whereas complex research skills are at the interface between three broad and overlapping skill sets: Critical thinking, analytical skills and emotional intelligence. Table 2 identifies the research skills and the extent to which they are interdependent under these broad skill sets. For example, the ability to take on board constructive criticism (point 8 in Table 2) requires emotional intelligence and critical thinking; in order to develop an argument (point 9), both critical thinking and analytical skills are required, and so forth. Some skills, such as framing and asking good geographical research questions, problem solving, reflectivity and self-authorship, require a combination of all three skill sets (points 13–16). Table 2, therefore, reveals how higher order skills, such as critical thinking, can be broken down into constituent skills, which can be developed in the curriculum.

Table 2. Research skills needed for independent research tabulated under three overlapping and complementary skill sets: Critical thinking, emotional intelligence and analytical skills

	Critical thinking	Emotional intelligence	Analytical skills	Example provided
1. Choosing appropriate evidence				(c) (d)
2. Curiosity				(a)
3. Collaboration skills				(b) (f) (g)
4. Self-belief/self-efficacy				(f)
5. Patience
6. Adaptability				(f)
7. Information literacy				(d)
8. Ability to take on constructive criticism				(b) (f) (g)
9. Develop an argument				(d)
10. Critically evaluating information and evidence				(c) (d)
11. Synthesizing information				(c) (d)
12. Creativity
13. Asking or framing questions				(a) (d) (g)
14. Problem solving				(c) (d) (f)
15. Reflectivity (meta-cognition)				(e) (f) (g)
16. Self-authorship				(f) (g)
Note: Shading indicates the skill set(s) to which each component research skill contributes, with the most interdependent at the bottom of the table. Lowercase letters refer to examples in the Case Studies section: (a) framing research questions, (b) developing constructive criticism, (c) critical thinking, (d) understanding the research process, (e) teaching reflective learning, (f) self authorship, (g) scaffolded research skills development.

The liquid café format provided us with a list of shared reasons that faculty gave for finding it challenging to teach research skills early in the curriculum. These were conceptualized as barriers and relate to challenges posed by students, faculty and institutional structures. The barriers were not quantified, as participants only added new ideas and notes to the discussion; however, there was general agreement that large class size was the most significant challenge (see also Kindon & Elwood, 2009). In addition, participants noted faculty disinterest, institutional time constraints, content assessment methods (particularly compulsory final exams), lack of confidence on the part of both faculty and students, and a loss of student curiosity because of passive student-learning approaches (Scheyvens et al., 2008). The discussions revealed that these barriers were often interrelated.

In terms of barriers relating to the specific skill set of critical thinking, participants noted that it is “Hard to explain explicitly to students what critical thinking is and how to do it” and that “Students often struggle with words like analysis, etc. but the challenge for us is how do you explain and illustrate what ‘analysis’ or the larger ‘critical thinking’ entails.” Related to this was the skill of exploring evidence where faculty noted that “Students tend to ‘believe’ everything they read.”

In terms of Creativity faculty suggested “You have it or you don't” and that “Creativity is stifled due to deadlines and timetable [which are] not fluid enough”, acknowledging also that it is “also hard to be transparent about creativity in assessment criteria.” Reflectivity caused similar problems for faculty “To be reflective on one's position in the world and to know oneself is an art.” The intangibility of research skills such as creativity and reflectivity was also related to adaptability, which was seen to be “part of ‘the person’” rather than something that can be taught.

Recognizing barriers is the first step in overcoming them. We were able to identify aspects of our own practice which addressed some of the barriers identified, and, therefore, offer our own examples in the case studies section that we have mapped on to specific skills in Table 2.

The experience of acquiring research skills can vary between individuals. For many geography students, fieldwork represents a time when a greater understanding of the research process begins to develop (Panelli & Welch, 2005). ‘Slow learning’ is often required for the development of complex understanding, and slowly learnt academic skills need rehearsal and practice throughout a programme (Knight & Yorke, 2004). This slow learning is best achieved through integrated and coherent progression based on the outcomes at the programme rather than the module or course level (Price et al., 2008). Hence, for some students, effective research skill development requires an iterative approach, based around the model of a spiral curriculum (Bruner, 1977). This approach requires scaffolding and by definition, must begin early in the degree programme.

From the perspective of curriculum design, it is vital that research skills are made explicit to students, not least so that students can identify what they have learnt and reflect on their learning. The mapping of research skills at the programme level is seen as being increasingly important in order to ensure a progression in skills development (DeVries & Downie, 1999). Online tools to audit research skills in the curriculum have been trialled in the biosciences (Fraser et al., 2007), and such auditing is important to ensure adequate progression in those skills that are slowly developed and require practice.

By considering the way the skills are integrated with and build upon each other, it is possible to break down and model research skills early in an undergraduate degree programme. A learning approach that supports the acquisition of these skills should scaffold students as it is important for students to return to the same skills and practise them often as they become increasingly independent in their own enquiries. The more independence and autonomy the student has in making choices and interpretations, the closer to independent research the activity or course is perceived to be. In the following section, we provide some examples of how the development of several of the research skills we have discussed can be integrated into the undergraduate geography curriculum.

Case Studies

This section provides practitioners with several worked examples, and gives some insight into how to introduce and engage students with the research process through skills-based approaches. The sequence of the case studies starts from the lower level researcher skill development and progresses towards more complex higher-order researcher abilities.

Framing Research Questions

Research relies on the process of questioning. Framing questions was the second most frequent component skill mentioned by the INLT 2010 workshop participants as necessary for undergraduate students to become effective researchers. Usually, little time or attention is given to help students learn to frame questions. On the contrary, there are many forces at work at undergraduate level actively discouraging student questions (Brain, 1998).

Students in an introductory geography course at Texas A&M University, USA, are provided with a remotely sensed image of the USA–Mexico border towns of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico at night. In small groups, students were prompted to brainstorm questions related to the spatial pattern of light in the image, which displays obvious differences between the northeast and southwest sides of the border. This requires skills in identifying spatial patterns, making comparisons, being curious about the source of similarities and differences, and forming questions that may be feasibly explored. Tacit knowledge about what makes a ‘good’ research question is then shared through dialogue between the instructor and the students by considering ‘what information is needed to answer the question?’, ‘is the information available or collectable?’ and ‘could alternative explanations be limited?’

In a comparative study by Berry and Chew (2008), undergraduate students who generated a minimum of three questions per week related to course content produced higher grades in examinations than the comparison group who generated no questions. They found a significant positive correlation between the number of questions generated and students' test scores. In a similar study by Harper et al. (2003), a significant positive correlation was found between the conceptual depth of the student-generated questions and improvements in learning.

Developing Constructive Criticism

Second and third-year geography students in a large sports geography course (about 100 students) at the University of New South Wales-ADFA in Australia were pushed to develop their abilities to both give and receive constructive criticism (i.e. formative feedback) while working in editorial review groups. The course is centred on a collective class project that creates an ‘Atlas of Australian Sport’. In this project, each student compiles data on an aspect of Australian sport in which he/she is are interested and then designs a page for the atlas. The assessment of the student's contribution to the class project is broken into five parts: Topic proposal and data source identification, draft atlas page creation, work in editorial review groups to improve the page designs, reworking of draft pages to produce final page designs and writing an introduction to the review group's section of the atlas. The editorial review groups consist of four to six students, and are created by grouping students who have chosen similar topics to research. As groupings are based on atlas page topics, they typically include both second-and third-year students.

Editorial review groups were provided with a series of initial questions (based on graphicacy skills developed in other parts of the course) for evaluating the design of the draft pages, and were encouraged to develop and ask additional questions. Individual groups operationalize the process of providing critiques in different ways. On submitting the final page, students were required to supply a description of how they responded to the critiques of their pages. At the end of the assessment, each group member rated each other group member's ability to both give and receive constructive criticism. The instructor compiles each student's average rating and returns this feedback to the student along with their final mark. The assessment provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in constructive criticism while enabling students in a large class to receive formative feedback on their work. Most students reported benefits from working in the editorial review groups. For example, one student noted:

Members were able to receive good honest constructive feedback, that wasn't judged or assessed. Members were also provided with a good opportunity to see their work from a different perspective, and therefore take the opportunity to make any necessary changes with which to improve it.

This student noted that the benefits from the editorial review groups may not be distributed evenly, another student saw at least some benefit from this, in that it encouraged deeper student engagement with the feedback received:

The review groups provided a different kind of feedback to what you usually get from the lecturer. What the review groups did was to really allow discussion of each student's work, and, I think, less of a tendency to uncritically adopt suggested improvements. With the lecturer's feedback, you pretty much just take it on board—they're the ones marking it, but with the peer review, you think more about whether the suggestion is a good one or not. It also helps you know that you can get help from your peers as well as from higher up.

This student noted that his undergraduate thesis work benefited from the skills he practiced in the editorial review group:

It helped me practice being critical of someone else's work – something I found valuable when reading research papers for my thesis, where critiquing the papers I read was an important part of the process.

Interestingly, this was an engineering student taking a geography course as an elective, indicating that the skills of giving and receiving constructive criticism were transferable to another discipline.

Spronken-Smith (2005) also reported using group work to provide students with formative feedback in a student-led research project. In her problem-based learning course, students provided feedback to group members on oral and poster presentations as part of a student research conference. This formative feedback could then be used to improve the quality of written group reports.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is developed when students examine a situation, ask questions, gather information, communicate their findings and derive a recommendation or explanation of the situation (Paul & Elder, 2008). Research-based learning is not the only means to develop critical thinking skills, but it does provide students with the opportunity to build and refine this skill. Seymour et al. (2004, p. 512) state that 43 per cent of their survey respondents gained critical thinking and problem-solving skills as a part of their undergraduate research experience. To develop this skill, students need practice, first starting with guided practice and moving to untethered enquiry. Students in the Economic Geography class at the University of North Alabama, USA, were guided into critical thinking through an assignment that requires them to develop a ‘continuum of development’ by choosing criteria to differentiate the level of development of selected countries. First, students were required to create a definition of development that is informed by relevant literature and to create a list of characteristics that define, explain or indicate some aspect of development. Next, students find numerical or categorical data that, when combined in a manner that the students themselves determine, allow them to place a set of countries they select into their personal ‘continuum of development’. The students learn that there is no definitive answer but that their continuum must be justified by the data, literature and their own explanation and interpretation. One undergraduate student noted:

The skills I learned have greatly helped me in other classes, as I now have been trained to see things from a new perspective. I can look at a set of data, determine which factors are most important, why they're important, and how they should be used and analysed. It is the difference in knowing how to do something and knowing how it works. This experience provided valuable skills that supported and strengthened my Capstone Project

Understanding the Research Process

Research skills development within the Geography programmes at the University of Chester, UK, is part of a continuum from first to final year, with a second-year module ‘Enquiry and Research Design’ providing undergraduates with a deeper understanding of research philosophies, methodologies, data collection, problem formation and design processes. This ultimately feeds forward into the student's final year optional dissertation module, where there is a concurrent support programme of researcher skills training. In the first term, with the assistance of the tutor, the students work in small self-selecting groups, for 8 weeks, on a project to develop research objectives and to collect primary data on a range of topics. This is supported through fieldwork and weekly methodological workshops or laboratory sessions. Students submit an individual 2000-word report, which demonstrates their understanding of the underpinning research philosophies and methodologies through the analysis of primary data.

In the second term, the research process is developed further, where students work individually with tutors on pre-defined or self-directed research topics. These are narrowed down to measurable research questions through the development of a literature review. Regular small group tutorials provide students with a mechanism to share and get feedback on their ideas and findings through annotated bibliographies and informal discussions. Ultimately, the students submit a 2000-word research proposal for a hypothetical dissertation topic, identifying specific research aims, activities, ethical considerations, health and safety issues, and a research question with associated literature.

A key to successful researcher skills development for students is an understanding of the research process, from thinking critically about research questions to taking a research proposal forward to a dissertation project. The Enquiry and Research Design module scaffolds this understanding for students so that they arrive at the final year dissertation as well prepared as possible. The students registered for the ‘Enquiry and Research Design’ module can elect to pursue a research-led dissertation or additional taught final-year modules. Over the last three years (see Table 3), the conversion rate for students selecting the geography dissertation option has increased from 83 to 100 per cent, suggesting the positive impact of engaging in the research design process. End of module feedback typically highlights this:

I liked how the research projects involved new research techniques and helped me with my dissertation planning.

Table 3. The conversion rate of combined honours students opting for the geography dissertation at Chester University, UK

Academic year	Students enrolled on the module ‘Enquiry and Research Design’	Dissertation conversion rate (%)
2007–2008	18	83
2008–2009	14	100
2009–2010	13	100
Note: The conversion rate is the percentage of students registered on the course ‘Enquiry and Research Design’ who subsequently enrolled for the optional final-year geography dissertation module.

Teaching Reflective Learning

To be effective lifelong learners, students need to have well-developed skills in self-reflection. Such skills are essential to give our graduates the capacity to ‘learn by doing’ to deal with the increasingly complex world around us (Bar-Yam, 2004). Such learning is much more than just learning from our mistakes, it is about keeping an open mind to how we can learn from our interactions with the world around us and in so doing have the skills to learn from every situation we find ourselves in.

The Viet Nam Field School at Australian National University takes 20–25 Australian students on an 18-day field course. A reflective learning journal is a key assessment item for the course. As a new form of assessment for the majority of the students, the instructors spend a lot of time modelling reflective practice in the course by summing up discussions in the form of hypothetical learning portfolio entries. Students are encouraged to read examples of learning portfolios from previous courses, which are available on the course website (http://fennerschool-people.anu.edu.au/richard_baker/ENVS2017/students work/learningportfolios.html)

An important means of establishing the overall ethos in the course on reflection is the detailed Internet resource, produced by former students, and updated each year by that year's class on how to carry out group research. A key requirement of the learning portfolio reflects on the interconnections between different parts of the course and on what they have learnt from their peers' research presentations at the end. There is a strong focus on developing research skills and thinking critically about what research is. Students at the beginning of the course are required to produce an individual introductory-learning statement where they give a personal definition of what research is, and then throughout the course are encouraged to reflect on their changing understandings of the nature of research. A key final task is to reflect on what they have learnt about doing research.

Self-Authorship

Providing students with an opportunity for self-authorship, as first discussed by Kegan (1994), is critical to their preparation for the future. Numerous universities in the USA sponsor a day to showcase student research, such as ‘Scholar's Day’ at SUNY Cortland and ‘Research Day’ at the University of North Alabama. Many Geography departments have dedicated annual events for their own students during Geography Awareness Week. Students are encouraged to display their research in poster format and interact with an audience composed of their peers, professors, deans and the public about their work. Some students present projects developed in the classroom, their independent-study projects, and some even create new work specifically for the event. As discussed in Walkington & Jenkins (2008), displaying work in a public domain is equivalent to publication in the broadest sense. Student researchers recognize the importance of these events and strive to present high-quality relevant work.

Instructors at SUNY Cortland have extended the poster session model for use with in-class research projects. Student work is displayed throughout the semester in the geography department hallway, a frequently visited area. This often puts additional pressure on the student because their friends and other professors will see their work and often comment on it. Students and professors can be seen looking at the maps in the hallway every day and sometimes enter the geography department to enquire about the projects they were viewing. Several students in every semester receive e-mails from professors enquiring about getting a copy of the maps they viewed or the corresponding data set for use in a different classroom. Other students have self-reported that they have enrolled in courses based on interest in student projects they saw in the hallway.

As a result of this public display, the quality of student work improved. For one assignment, students submitted maps and were then told that they would be displayed in the hallway. When given the option to create a second draft without any instructor feedback, all students in the course chose to further edit their maps before they were displayed. Both their first and second drafts of the assignment were graded based on established criteria. All students improved their grade, 84 per cent improved their grade by one letter grade or more, 8 per cent improved by two-thirds of a letter grade (B to A − for example) and the remaining 8 per cent improved by one-third of a latter grade (B to B+ for example).

Interestingly, students asked whether their work could be displayed for future assignments and they often spent extra time working on those projects outside of class time because of the public display element. Student comments on course evaluations have also noted the significance and importance of the public display of their work and how that causes them to strive to submit higher quality work. An added benefit of this practice is that the research projects are often improved and extended based on feedback the original author receives or because a different student wants to continue with the topic. This provides evidence to support a more formalized feedback mechanism for campus events, such as Scholar's Day, as well as for the informal display of student work. This feedback could be in the form of verbal comments or written evaluations. Bringing in local experts to provide feedback for students could not only help students improve their work, but could also lead to community partnerships.

Scaffolded Research Skills Development

The commitment to thoroughly preparing students for independent research work in their final year can be built into programme level skill requirements in a holistic way. At Oxford Brookes University, UK, an institutional commitment has been developed to embed undergraduate research pathways through all degree programmes (Huggins et al., 2007). As a result of the restructuring process, the geography programme now includes a carefully scaffolded progression of activities to develop research skills incrementally. Starting in year 1, students begin with desktop research to try to answer provided research questions before they engage in framing their own questions for team-based data collection in the field in year 2. Student teams present their preliminary findings to a panel of faculty as a formative feedback exercise. This precedes the summative assessment several weeks later in a conference style event. There is sufficient time for critical reflection on feedback and the refinement of communication skills. Early in year 3, the individual authoring of journal articles based on the collected field data is then mentored by a tutor. Table 4 shows quotes highlighting the skills that students from one cohort perceived they had learnt as a result of writing for a real journal. The best work is published in ‘GEOverse’ an online journal (Walkington, 2008). All these activities take place before students complete their dissertations. An extra curricula departmental research conference to showcase student research findings is attended by students from all year groups, helping to create a sense of identity as geography researchers (McGuinness & Simm, 2003; Walkington & Rushton, 2008). Indeed, enquiry-based learning can help to draw students into a community of practice, both within the discipline, within the classroom itself and within the broader university, by providing a shared experience upon which students can draw (Garde-Hansen & Calvert, 2007).

Table 4. A representative selection of the skills which students reported they had developed in 2008 as a result of writing a journal article for an undergraduate research journal in module U21180 at Oxford Brookes University

“Individual work: by taking this research module, it was up to me to go out there and make what I wanted of it. I think that by doing this it showed that I can work on my own, develop my own ideas and complete my own research to a high standard.

Communication: constantly met with my tutor, discussing ideas for my paper.

Researching: I think that because this was your own piece of work, it was therefore down to you to go to the library/WWW and find what was relevant. This wasn't easy and was time consuming.”

“The fact I was writing for a publication did raise the standards I used when writing the article. I spent more time checking spelling, punctuation and making sure the research was sound. I think the skills I developed mostly revolved around self-checking and research skills.”

“I have developed my written skills and having to write for a different audience.”

“I have learnt to be critical not only of others' work, but also my own work. I learnt also to take my time researching, not only before I started writing, but I found myself doing ongoing research, and finding things not only relevant to the specific publication, but for other work that may link in.”

“The ability to spend more time thinking about important decisions (although I'm still not able to make them)”

“Keeping to strict guidelines [for a journal article]. Writing that is more academic although that comes with practice.”

“This paper has definitely helped me understand the layout I should use, which is helping as I am currently writing my dissertation. It was also a good refresher of statistical analysis and I think it helped develop my research skills further.”

“Analytical skills have received the most benefit from this module. Critically evaluating every aspect of mine.”

“Objectivity, looking at both sides of the argument and writing it up in a legible manner.”

“Ability to express and expand new ideas/theories. Capability of drawing on other researchers' work and applying their findings to my own ideas (seeing where they agree/disagree!)

Structuring a large content of research into the allocated word limit.”

Conclusions

An overwhelming amount of literature argues that embedding research skills at undergraduate level is beneficial for the student-learning experience. However, there are many different curriculum models capable of producing good graduates. This article clarifies the skills which can be achieved by embedding research opportunities much earlier in the curriculum than the traditional final year project or dissertation. It has also acknowledged the challenges that arise as institutions engage with transforming their curricula. It has reported data from 52 international geography faculty members who identified critical thinking and asking and framing questions as the research skills that are most difficult to teach because of the interrelated challenges posed by institutional structures such as large class sizes, passive modes of student engagement and assessment models based solely on examinations. We have gone on to provide examples of tried and tested cases where these skills are addressed in our own institutions and to demonstrate the progression of skills teaching that can provide a scaffolded approach to the curriculum for student researchers. The case studies reveal that a dialogic and collaborative approach seems to characterize teaching that embeds research skills. This collaboration is one way to deal with large classes, but also the dialogic approaches support students as they become researchers.

We have argued that all undergraduate students will benefit from being exposed to early attempts to develop skills in enquiry and research which are embedded into geography curricula. Many of the skills required for research are complex, and the evidence from our evaluations suggests that students feel better prepared for undertaking the independent research that is required as part of undergraduate theses, dissertations and capstone courses if given the opportunity to practice research skills in advance. By developing embedded opportunities for practising research skills, we hope that students will be able to take greater responsibility for their learning on the way to becoming independent researchers, valued employees and lifelong learners.

We have provided an example of the way in which some of the skills needed for undertaking independent research (as noted by Willison & O'Regan (2007) and by INLT participants in 2010) can be broken down into their component parts and mapped for curriculum planning purposes. Case studies of component research skills have demonstrated the potential for scaffolding student exposure to research, and include implementations that can be carried out in courses at different levels (first-year, large classes, at the departmental/school level or throughout an entire institution). Although the best results may come from curricula for which faculty have mapped out and carefully planned student opportunities to develop research skills, we would encourage faculty at all levels to adapt and evaluate the strategies we have suggested in their own courses.

By embedding undergraduate research and enquiry into the geography curriculum, the student-learning experience is enhanced in a number of ways. First, the curriculum takes on a sense of ‘real world’ research and a relevance to the student and their learning community. Second, it develops a critical approach to the literature and a much deeper understanding, through experiential learning, about the way in which data are generated, analysed and interpreted. In an information age, this is a vitally important graduate attribute. Third, where research results in dissemination of findings through making them public, whether to the study group, cohort or more widely available, the skills learnt in ‘publishing’ and representing research are central to employability in the workforce. Finally, the sense of self-esteem as a result of a student becoming a producer rather than simply a consumer of knowledge can engender a sense of lifelong learning and becoming a self-sustainable learner.

The benefits of undergraduate research and enquiry transcend the discipline of geography in many ways. However, identifying oneself as a geographer often results from an engagement with research because of the geographical perspective that is developed through engaging critically with spatial patterns and processes. By embedding sufficient support in the curriculum for discovery-based learning and stressing the value that students themselves bring to the curriculum, as producers of knowledge, a genuine learning community can be created. Geography has a crucial role to play in disseminating this learning community approach to other discipline areas.