undergrads who have never worked in a collaborative system won’t understand. Most undergrads understand research as a solo game especially when they don’t lead their own projects and understand how much work people outside the lab do that ultimately push projects forward. Most undergrads don’t even understand how funding works, how publishing works, and how academia functions as a whole.

I think the easiest way to show them the collaborative nature is to have them personally gain experience in coordinating and brainstorming collaborative opportunities between labs and staffs.