Challenge Episodes and Coping Strategies in Undergraduate Engineering Research

Paper in proceeding, 2021

Higher education institutions are increasingly placing importance on engaging undergraduate students in genuine research, known as undergraduate research experiences (UREs). While the professional and personal benefits that result from UREs have been theorized and researched, the potential challenges students experience when engaging in genuine research remain relatively underexplored. Drawing on a sociocultural understanding of learning, this paper details challenge episodes and coping strategies that engineering students at master level reported while carrying out a research project in biomedical engineering. Data consisted of reflective writing collected at the beginning, middle, and end of the research project.