Embedding Team Science Practices in Undergraduate Chemistry Lab Courses

Abstract

This study examines how structured team-science interventions influence student collaboration, trust, and learning across multiple instructional styles in undergraduate chemistry laboratories. Using a mixed-methods design, this dissertation compares Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI), and Expository Laboratory Instruction (ELI) to evaluate the effects of communication and research planning, targeted workshops, and team artifacts on team competencies. Social Network Analysis (SNA), qualitative focus groups, and artifact analysis are combined to map trust and learning networks, assess knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), and triangulate findings across data sources. Different teams are analyzed to assess how team science is implemented. Findings indicate that explicit team-science practices strengthen network connectivity and reciprocity—particularly in CURE settings—and that trust ties are a strong predictor of learning ties. Teams that iteratively used communication and research plans demonstrated more robust learning networks and clearer demonstrations of KSAs. The dissertation concludes with practical recommendations to improve these methods and enhance team science, as well as other measures SNA can provide to assess team science.