From Classroom to Research Lab: Reimagining Teacher Education

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have increasingly been recognized as a high-impact educational practice that deepens students’ disciplinary understanding, professional identity, and academic engagement. Within teacher education, UREs offer distinctive opportunities for pre-service teachers (PSTs) to bridge theory and practice, develop critical inquiry skills, and position themselves as producers of knowledge rather than mere consumers. A growing body of research highlights how participation in undergraduate research enhances pre-service teachers’ research identities, pedagogical capacities, and reflective practices. Engagement in research helps students reconceptualize research as accessible, valuable, and directly relevant to K–12 teaching. Rather than viewing research as laboratory-based or detached from classroom life, PSTs who engage in inquiry-based projects learn to interpret data, communicate findings effectively, and see themselves as contributors to educational improvement. Despite the established benefits of undergraduate research participation, few studies have systematically examined how research engagement influences pre-service teachers’ development within HBCU contexts, particularly within colleges of education. In this presentation, we will present our preliminary data from a study comparing the experiences of pre-service teachers with and without undergraduate research experience. Using the Larrivee tool (2008) for assessing reflective practice, we surveyed ~100 pre-service teachers and then subsequently conducted two focus group interviews (UREs and non-UREs) to determine the impact of undergraduate research experiences on reflective practice. By examining differences in their confidence, teaching orientation, research identity, and professional self-concept, our research seeks to clarify the role that undergraduate research plays in preparing critically reflective teachers. The comparative design helps illuminate whether and how undergraduate research serves as a pathway to deeper reflective practice among HBCU pre-service teachers.