Teaching the process of science with primary literature: Using the CREATE pedagogy in ecological courses

Abstract

There have been numerous calls for improved pedagogical practices in biological education, and there is a clear need for such improvements in ecology and related curricula. Most ecology-related texts lack pedagogy and are designed to be contentrich. National initiatives, such as Vision & Change, provide guidance on undergraduate biology education, including increasing use of evidence-based active learning, and taking a more conceptual and science practice skills approach. Biology education research is rich with evidence-based teaching practices, which reveal that active learning approaches implemented in thoughtful ways lead to strong learning gains relative to lecture-based course delivery. CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate the hypothesis, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) integrates evidence-based active pedagogical practices into one approach to STEM education that focuses heavily on the process of science and science practice skills rather than content delivery by replacing the textbook with selected journal articles. The approach focuses on deep reading and analysis of primary literature; immersing students in the literature is an advantage of the pedagogy. CREATE was developed and tested in other biological disciplines (genetics and molecular biology) that have long been at the forefront of pedagogical best practices in biology. We transformed two upper-level undergraduate ecological courses (Conservation Biology, and Biodiversity and Ecology) into CREATE courses. We provide examples of assignments, student work, and assessments of the approach, illustrating the various ways CREATE can be successfully implemented. The approach can be adopted in part, to ease into it and test it out, or in whole. We recommend that ecology teachers consider making their courses more active, if they have not already done so; adopting pedagogical practices embedded within CREATE can be a way to achieve active learning. The CREATE approach and other evidence-based pedagogical best practices lead to strong learning gains and more inclusive learning environments.

Teach different: The CREATE pedagogy for ecology and evolution

“…The concept maps and cartoon summary with novel questions as applications are well tested and enhance student metacognition, i.e., monitoring and control of reading and insights with a focus on process and procedure in addition to content (Soto et al, 2019 ). Predictive plotting and schematics also firmly support the analyze phase of CREATE and are also commonly reported (Beck, 2019 ; Smith & Paradise, 2022 ). The proposed best‐sentence competition is an exercise in evaluating the writing style of a paper alongside its content and messaging.…”

“…A recent paper here in Ecology and Evolution adapted the CREATE framework to both a “Conservation Biology & Biodiversity” and an “Ecology” course (Smith & Paradise, 2022 ). Students were provided opportunities to use concept maps, extensively annotate results including figures from the paper, draw a schematic of methods, label redacted figure axes, and develop summary tables of key points.…”

“…This is similar to the CREATE pedagogy lessons tested in other courses, but it is the most recent published in a series of implementations in numerous and varied disciplines (Table 1 ). Two assessment instruments were used, and one was novel and specifically developed for ecology and evolution courses—the Eco‐Evo MAPS (Measuring Achievement and Progress in STEM) tool (Smith & Paradise, 2022 ; Summers et al, 2018 ). The very first publication on CREATE proposed and tested this framework to apply active readings to the sciences in “Genetics” and “Cell Biology” with critical thinking as the primary assessment of its efficacy (Hoskins et al, 2007 ).…”

“…There are many other published reading pedagogy studies that similarly leverage active reading principles, but these studies explicitly identified and tested the CREATE framework in the sciences. The specific adaptations in “Conservation Biology & Biodiversity” and “Ecology” (Smith & Paradise, 2022 ) directly precipitated a deeper professional dive into the CREATE pedagogy and total redesign of two undergraduate course offerings at York University, “Experimental Design for Environmental and Evolutionary Biology” and the offering “Biology for Environmental Management” (Table 1 , final row). Success breeds success, and the call to innovate on academic practice in teaching ecology and evolution to promote a growth mindset (Smith & Paradise, 2022 ) was justified and energizing.…”

“…However, the CREATE pedagogy and its published proof‐of‐concept studies listed above suggest that the work students do in reading papers can easily include more active experimental design thinking. This synergy between reading some of the rich content and embracing more pedagogy‐rich teaching in our disciplines (Smith & Paradise, 2022 ) is a win‐win for students. The palette of CREATE‐infused pedagogical tools is much broader, and likely practiced, than the published instances to date.…”