This is something many have been trying to do. Two basic questions. 1. How much does their curriculum provide for research based work? Usually the focus at Bach.level is on implementation and practical experience. 2. How much of research guidance is included in the curriculum and otherwise?

One model which I have advocated to colleges around is a pyramid with a professor at the top, a few PhD students next, a larger set of Masters students and a pool of BE students at the bottom. This provides for easier management, and grooming of students into research from Bach to PhD level.

In my experience the easiest way to involve undergrads in research is the same way we get any young adults involved in anything: By making them feel valuable.

For the last two years I have being trying to create a research group in the university I work. We do not have any research grad program so I had to work with undergrads. The first "issue"I had to deal was that they were told undergrads can't do research. The second was to get the space for them to work and finally to manage (spend time) them.

By assigning lab space, proving they can do it (between a few of my coworkers and I) and using my (according to them) precious time with them I got them interested in research. After that is just a question of clear objectives that make sense for a undergrad (No PhD thesis please)

Thank you Ignacio. It is interesting to know whether students prefer to work in groups or otherwise. Which way is of more interest according to your experience?

Sasikumar, your model requires students at undergraduate and graduate levels. How about situations where graduate level students are very few if at all?

I started doing research as an undergraduate in a group of about 20, with 1 post-doc, 1-2 masters and the rest were undergraduates. Key is to get them motivated about the research by letting them know the value of their contribution, potential benefits (building up a resume, getting better job offers etc) and taking them to conferences so they can start getting to know the business of doing research. Also very important is to teach them lab safety first, have proper training, best practices, and allow them to make mistakes. Holding them accountable for a specific project is great way to get them to commit and generate quality results. Since its early in their studies, they (I did) will lack background but get them concentrated on producing quality results. The theory can be discussed in 1 on 1 meetings in parallel with the experiments. Its best to have 1 - 2 masters students in the lab because they can oversee the undergraduates and be available as 1st contact for questions because hopefully there will be many.

Thank you, Rogelio. Do you have any information about an average number of research projects an undergraduate is usually participating in? Is it semester based or per year or something else?

As Rogelio says, make them feel like they're part of the team - not hired help doing grunt work (though it might be grunt work that they are actually doing). If they perceive that they are doing something of value, then they will generally respond in kind. Depending on the size of the team, definitely a mention in any presentation made about the work at a conference.

As for your how many, or for how long question - one would assume that if it was done with an Independent Study course, then you could get them for a semester. If you could convince them of the benefit of doing it outside of classwork, you might be able to get them for a full year (or more), but expectations would have be lowered on what they produced - just because of the time constraints of their classwork.

Jerry pointed out great point about time constraints, since this should be primary area of focus for undergraduates and must be managed to allow other extracurricular activities. I should note as well that most/all were paid RAs, so this ups the level of expectations. Most projects were funded projects so they were ongoing but not all of us were assigned a particular project. Those whose excelled at a particular skill/equipment were assigned to lead those tasks, while others prefferred to get their hands on any equipment they could, so responsability was given based on drive and results. There were also some activites that required several students to work together. The mix interactions are essential so that all students feel integral part of a team as well as being able to be challenged individually.

@Jerry and @Rogelio, thank you for very interesting responses. I am looking for new ways to involve undergraduates in research and at the same checking to which degree my understanding of that is shared by the research community.

As some of the answers address, UG students can be involved in research based on their strengths and be in touch with the PG students for initial doubts and then in touch with the supervisor

Train the students first, after that , give them a small "tiny" projects to create some confidence. Next step, involve the students in a practical research or project and make an activity responsibility actions according to the skill of each student. In doing so, we gain a research team under the supervision of the instructor with some PG students. Perhaps, the best way to accomplish this by 2-years Lecturing/ Laboratory.

The undergraduate students usually have a set of subjects and number of hours to be spent in learning that. The difficulty is, the student is more occupied in these, and shifting his focus to research needs lot of focused effort, which until and unless is awarded few credits/marks he might find it difficult to involve himself how much ever interesting the project is.

Yes, it is not that simple to involve undergraduates in research. At the same time, the earlier they are exposed to research the better.

Dear All, some modern style is highly desired. For instance, most of UG student spend at least 1 hour per day in Facebook. I suggest to make a group and discuss the research question. Alternatively, ask the student to join the research communities like Research Gate to start the research activities earlier.

One important point is to ensure that the school has all the necessary resources, so that these students can conduct research that you would suggest within a framework of reality and application in the study area . Should not ignore , that maybe some of these young just want to finish college and start a working life. It is therefore crucial research to know what the personal goals of these students are the future .

But if it is pre- graduation degree level , then , this activity becomes an area of ​​opportunity for the teacher , who must search and research by publications or articles , which are in agreement with the educational level . The teacher should also motivate students steadily. I recommend you investigate topics such as leading the upper class , so you can develop the skills : persuasive , motivational and emotional , which are holistic education.

I suggest you see about my experience in two publications:

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1806-11172013000400013&script=sci_arttext&tlng=p

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=18709095&AN=90496891&h=9Xc%2f3lhjIDar%2fCc9HArYyk7abZBJPYWpe%2f8txyYpV74lJpkTS51DNP2ICLa33GIYu5pyCuBE%2fkoKccd3VScQ1Q%3d%3d&crl=c

I had few Under-grad students from MS Ramiah and RV College at Bangalore India... To kindle research Interests, I have guided them to review literature and guided them to write an article during their 2nd/3rd Year BTecch... that helped them pick-up lots of interests in analysing reasons and before their final year each one them had min 3 papers including reprints in IEEE Scholar... Not only that they also guided their friends / peers... all of them are doing their MS in US / Europe.

So, kindle interests in students by facilitating them in literature survey and guide them to write few review articles.