Incorporating Primary Literature Summary Projects into a First-Year Chemistry Curriculum

Forest, Kaya; Rayne, Sierra

doi:10.1021/ed086p592

Cited by 31 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Reading and analyzing primary literature boosts these two skills and the understanding of the process of science [3][4][5][6][7]. Many approaches for analyzing research papers in the sciences have been developed, tested, and published (e.g., [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]). However, reading primary literature is a time-consuming and complex task that demands focus and can cause students frustration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights on biology student motivations and challenges when reading and analyzing primary literature

Howard¹,

Stapleton²,

Nelms

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Reading primary literature is a popular classroom practice that exposes students to the process of science. However, the analysis of primary literature can be taxing and time-consuming for students. For this reason, it is important to determine the source of student challenges and what motivates them to read primary literature. To better understand students’ challenges, preferences, and motivations towards analyzing primary literature, we held focus groups with biology undergraduates where we asked them about their thoughts and perceptions on this practice. Students felt they struggle with understanding the big picture of an article, certain aspects of scientific literacy like data interpretation and experimental setup, and lack of knowledge of terms and techniques. Further analysis of the data using the achievement goal and expectancy-value theories of motivation revealed that students: 1) demonstrate mastery and performance approach goal orientations, which are typically associated with positive learning outcomes, 2) value the usefulness of reading primary literature, and 3) feel most engaged in the process of reading an article when the topic interests them. We provide pedagogical recommendations based on our findings.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights on biology student motivations and challenges when reading and analyzing primary literature

Howard¹,

Stapleton²,

Nelms

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many published strategies for incorporating primary research papers into taught curricula come from the biosciences (Hoskins et al, 2007;Kozeracki et al, 2006;Lie et al, 2016;Round & Campbell, 2013;Willmott et al, 2003), reflecting the centrality of literature use in these disciplines. However, approaches to incorporating research literature into undergraduate curricula have also been described for other disciplines (Bruehl et al, 2015;Carpenter & Pappenfus, 2009;Forest & Rayne, 2009;Locknar, Mitchell, Rankin, & Sadoway, 2012). Pedagogical strategies to developing disciplinary literacy can be applied across STEM disciplines (Stevens & Hoskins, 2014).…”

Section: Established Pedagogies For Developing Research-led Disciplinary Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Disciplinary literacies in STEM: what do undergraduates read, how do they read it, and can we teach scientific reading more effectively?

Hubbard

2021

Higher Education Pedagogies

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There have been calls for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to become more interdisciplinary, reflecting the reality of contemporary research. However, communicating across disciplines is challenging. In this article, I explore what and how students read in the STEM disciplines`. I provide an overview of key topics in literacy research, and discuss the disciplinary nature of literacy. I compare disciplinary literacy requirements in STEM through thematic analysis of UK quality subject benchmark statements, which identifies considerable variation in the expectations of undergraduates to engage with primary research literature. I explore implications this has for interdisciplinary teaching, and present some published pedagogical strategies for engaging students in research literature. I call on STEM educators to embed inclusive disciplinary literacy teaching within curricula to support students in their reading. I also highlight the need for clear understanding of disciplinary conventions and reading expectations when designing interdisciplinary educational programmes.

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“…Chemistry students are increasingly expected to engage with primary literature (see for example, Forest & Rayne, 2009;Ma, 2015;Shea et al, 2016) and tasks such as a literature review offer students a means to synthesise such reading. The 3-5 minute blended media presentation was to outline the literature review and answer the guiding question for a nonexpert audience, which gives the students the opportunity to work with additional representational forms (of their choosing) to recontextualise the information-a key element of multimodal learning and effective communication of complex information.…”

Section: Participants and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacology students’ perceptions of creating multimodal digital explanations

Nielsen

Hoban

Hyland

2017

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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Students can now digitally construct their own representations of scientific concepts using a variety of modes including writing, diagrams, 2-D and 3-D models, images or speech, all of which communicate meaning. In this study, final-year chemistry students studying a pharmacology subject created a “blended media” digital product as an assignment to summarize an independently prepared technical literature review on a current research topic in pharmacology for a non-expert audience. A blended media is a simplified way for students to combine a variety of modes to complement a narration to explain a concept to others. In this study, the students learned how to create a blended media during a one-hour workshop, and used the technique to create the representation as an assessment task. The research question that guided the study was, “What are the students’ perceptions of making a digital product such as blended media and how did these shape their multimodal awareness?” We draw from theoretical perspectives in multimodalities, representations and meaning making. Data included interviews at three points of the semester, the literature review and the digital media product. We present three case studies with volunteering students, who demonstrated a strong awareness of effective communications techniques as they attended to the audience. Making a blended media is a creative way for chemistry students to summarize complex scientific information and as a task may help to focus their multimodal awareness and developing communications skills.

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Incorporating Primary Literature Summary Projects into a First-Year Chemistry Curriculum

Cited by 31 publications

References 11 publications

Insights on biology student motivations and challenges when reading and analyzing primary literature

Insights on biology student motivations and challenges when reading and analyzing primary literature

Disciplinary literacies in STEM: what do undergraduates read, how do they read it, and can we teach scientific reading more effectively?

Pharmacology students’ perceptions of creating multimodal digital explanations

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