Tracking Information Literacy in Science Students: A Longitudinal Case Study of Skill Retention from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

Abstract

Does early exposure to information literacy promote long-term student success? This paper describes a longitudinal case study testing the hypothesis that students who engage with scientific literature and develop information literacy early in their undergraduate studies will achieve higher grades on literature-based assignments in future coursework. We reasoned that students with previous experience in the scientific literature will develop more efficient and effective strategies to search and evaluate the literature and will ultimately favor higher-quality journals. To test these hypotheses, student performance data were collected during scientific literature-based assignments in two upper-division undergraduate lecture courses, Biochemistry 1 and Biochemistry 2. Data were analyzed from two student populations: students with prior information literacy instruction and critical practice from an Honors General Chemistry course sequence, and those students who had not undergone this training. The results indicate that, in Biochemistry 1, students with this prior information literacy training tend to use more professional, expert-like tools for exploring scientific literature and earn statistically higher scores on literature-based projects. However, by Biochemistry 2, the gaps close in both the exploration of the scientific literature and grade performance. This indicates that once students develop a foundation in information literacy, their sophistication in finding information and their performance on subsequent literature-based tasks improve. There was a small and statistically insignificant tendency for groups containing more students with prior information literacy training to cite more articles from the primary literature. However, the quality of the citations, as measured by journal impact factors, did not differ between the populations. The results of this interdisciplinary case study suggest that teaching information literacy to science students has both immediate and longlasting benefits.

A Paired Set of Biochemistry Writing Assignments Combining Core Threshold Concepts, Information Literacy, and Real-World Applications

“…These students were not simply stronger overall, as average scores on other Biochemistry 2 coursework were identical between the two populations (Figure ). This result complements our data in the companion article, which indicate that students with prior information literacy instruction tend to perform better on the Biochemistry 1 mini-review project . Anecdotal feedback from former students suggests that the skills they learn during these projects continue to be useful to them years later, as they interact with scientific literature in medical, dental, or graduate school.…”

“…As groups work to choose a topic, they explore review articles to gain a sense of the field and find a topic that matches their interest. Throughout project work, they locate and retrieve articles on their chosen topic and document their methods in a research process template (RPT) documentation assignment (described in the companion article) . As they write, they evaluate and organize information from the articles into their own words.…”

“…To our knowledge, this is the first report of paired mini-review writing assignments for a 2-semester biochemistry sequence interweaving core concepts, medical and technological applications, and explicit information literacy instruction. In a companion article, we assess how student performance on these assignments correlates with their prior instruction in information literacy in a first-year undergraduate course …”

The Scientific Method as a Scaffold to Enhance Communication Skills in Chemistry

“…The literature surrounding chemical communication pedagogy is diverse. However, efforts to improve written and oral communication skills have followed four general and broad approaches, which are sometimes presented in a hybrid form: (1) the incorporation of technical writing with chemical literacy, − in first-year courses, ,,,− stand-alone classes, ,,,,− and/or discipline specific courses; ,− (2) laboratory experiments; ,,,,,,− (3) critical thinking exercises; ,,,,− and (4) research experiences.…”

“…At the end, students splice the knowledge generated from each phase into a single cohesive and meaningful scientific story, which is communicated both orally and in writing. In this report, we specify how we have leveraged the scientific method along with the community’s reports on technical writing for chemical literacy, ,,,− , laboratory experiments, ,,,,,− ,− critical thinking exercises, ,,,,− and research experiences − …”