When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major

In response to the publication of Vision and Change, the biology department at Elmhurst College revised our curriculum to better prepare students for a career in science with the addition of various writing assignments in every course. One commonality among all of the assignments is the ability to c...

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Autores principales:	Tamara L. Marsh, Merrilee F. Guenther, Stacey L. Raimondi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2015
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1794460838474c94953189b2fa87f733
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1794460838474c94953189b2fa87f7332021-11-15T15:04:05ZWhen Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.8281935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/1794460838474c94953189b2fa87f7332015-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.828https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885In response to the publication of Vision and Change, the biology department at Elmhurst College revised our curriculum to better prepare students for a career in science with the addition of various writing assignments in every course. One commonality among all of the assignments is the ability to comprehend and critically evaluate scientific literature to determine relevancy and possible future research. Several previous reports have analyzed specific methodologies to improve student comprehension of scientific writing and critical thinking skills, yet none of these examined student growth over an undergraduate career. In this study, we hypothesized upper-level students would be better able to comprehend and critically analyze scientific literature than introductory biology majors. Biology students enrolled in an introductory (200-level), mid- (300-level), or late-career (400-level) course were tasked with reading and responding to questions regarding a common scientific article and rating their comfort and confidence in reading published literature. As predicted, upper-level (mid- and late-career) students showed increases in comprehension and critical analysis relative to their first-year peers. Interestingly, we observed that upper-level students read articles differently than introductory students, leading to significant gains in understanding and confidence. However, the observed gains were modest overall, indicating that further pedagogical change is necessary to improve student skills and confidence in reading scientific articles while fulfilling the Vision and Change recommendations.Tamara L. MarshMerrilee F. GuentherStacey L. RaimondiAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 16, Iss 1, Pp 13-20 (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Tamara L. Marsh Merrilee F. Guenther Stacey L. Raimondi When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
description	In response to the publication of Vision and Change, the biology department at Elmhurst College revised our curriculum to better prepare students for a career in science with the addition of various writing assignments in every course. One commonality among all of the assignments is the ability to comprehend and critically evaluate scientific literature to determine relevancy and possible future research. Several previous reports have analyzed specific methodologies to improve student comprehension of scientific writing and critical thinking skills, yet none of these examined student growth over an undergraduate career. In this study, we hypothesized upper-level students would be better able to comprehend and critically analyze scientific literature than introductory biology majors. Biology students enrolled in an introductory (200-level), mid- (300-level), or late-career (400-level) course were tasked with reading and responding to questions regarding a common scientific article and rating their comfort and confidence in reading published literature. As predicted, upper-level (mid- and late-career) students showed increases in comprehension and critical analysis relative to their first-year peers. Interestingly, we observed that upper-level students read articles differently than introductory students, leading to significant gains in understanding and confidence. However, the observed gains were modest overall, indicating that further pedagogical change is necessary to improve student skills and confidence in reading scientific articles while fulfilling the Vision and Change recommendations.
format	article
author	Tamara L. Marsh Merrilee F. Guenther Stacey L. Raimondi
author_facet	Tamara L. Marsh Merrilee F. Guenther Stacey L. Raimondi
author_sort	Tamara L. Marsh
title	When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
title_short	When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
title_full	When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
title_fullStr	When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
title_full_unstemmed	When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major
title_sort	when do students “learn-to-comprehend” scientific sources?: evaluation of a critical skill in undergraduates progressing through a science major
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/1794460838474c94953189b2fa87f733
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When Do Students “Learn-to-Comprehend” Scientific Sources?: Evaluation of a Critical Skill in Undergraduates Progressing through a Science Major

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