Cultivating scientific literacy and a sense of place through course-based urban ecology research

Undergraduate research experiences have been shown to increase engagement, improve learning outcomes, and enhance career development for students in ecology. However, these opportunities may not be accessible to all students, and incorporating inquiry-based research directly into undergraduate curricula may help overcome barriers to participation and improve representation and inclusion in the discipline. The shift to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed even greater challenges for providing students with authentic research experiences, but the pandemic may also provide a unique opportunity for creative projects conducted remotely. In this paper, I describe a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) designed for an upper-level ecology course at California State University, Dominguez Hills during remote learning. The primary focus of student-led research activities was to explore the potential impacts of the depopulation of campus during the pandemic o...