Freshman LEARN

F-LEARN™ is for students entering FAU from high school. F-LEARN™ students may have dual-enrollment courses and also just graduated from high school.

F-LEARN™ focuses on students’ academic success and fostering growth through undergraduate research. By working with on-campus partners, LEARN™ provides a select group of first-year students an inquiry-based/hands-on learning experience through an early research opportunity that is generally reserved for upper-level students.

Students in this program will:

1. Experience a small learning community at a large research university. We strive to provide opportunities for our LEARN™ students to build one-on-one relationships with faculty, staff, and other students on campus.
2. Receive personalized academic advising and priority registration.
3. Enroll in two Introduction to Research courses to produce a research proposal and poster presentation.
4. Engage in a 12-week research apprenticeship with a graduate student/faculty mentor team.
5. Participate in academic, social, and community service activities through FAU-sponsored events to build and strengthen their network of peers.
6. Acquire skills that will make them qualified and competitive to apply to upper-level undergraduate research programs and internships.

Academics

Academics are a strong component of the F-LEARN™ program. All accepted students will take two classes together. Part I, Fundamentals of Research and Inquiry, is taken in the fall semester and Part II, Introduction to Undergraduate Research Design, is taken in the spring semester. For more information, visit our Academics Page.

A main component of both courses is the participation in a weekly 3-hour mimimum research apprenticeship. Through this experience, students will work with a Graduate Student or Research Mentor in their discipline. The level of involvement in the project may vary depending on the field; however, the experience of actually doing research as a first-semester freshman is rare.

Mentoring

LEARN™ students will have various mentors during their time in the program. Each student will be assigned a Peer Mentor who is an upperclassman involved in research. For more information about mentoring in LEARN™, visit our Mentoring Page.

Community

The LEARN™ community component is built on a variety of experiences together. Throughout the semester, students will attend at least 6 academic and social events, and 1 community service event pre-scheduled by the program staff. For more information on the community component of LEARN™, visit our Community Page.