Using real‐world examples of the COVID‐19 pandemic to increase student confidence in their scientific literacy skills

Abstract

Over the last few decades, there has been a shift in the classroom from lecturebased to active learning settings with the argument that students retain more information when they are involved in the learning process. This correlation is even stronger when the active learning setting incorporates a real-world or personal connection. Using active learning activities that develop students' ability to comprehend primary scientific literature is particularly important in the field of immunology, due to the rapid expansion of information in the field, which has been further accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By nature, immunology is interdisciplinary, requiring an integrated knowledge of concepts from several scientific disciplines to understand complex immune processes. Engaging undergraduate students through the use of primary literature can improve scientific literacy, develop critical thinking, and enhance understanding of complex topics. To explore this, we utilized a group learning activity in an introductory immunology course that incorporated both a coronavirus-related review and COVID-19 clinical research article. We found that this learning activity significantly enhanced student confidence in key scientific literacy skills: reading scientific literature, clearly explaining relevant points, and describing conclusions generated from the data. Moreover, all students reported that they enjoyed the activity and that it helped them understand more about the current COVID-19 pandemic in the context of the immune response.

Shaping student confidence and their perception of learning in undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry courses

“…Adding group members to work on problems decreased overconfidence in intellective tasks (Zarnoth & Sniezek, 1997), and student confidence increased when learning was inquiry-based (Cook, Snow, Binns, & Cook, 2015), when content was relevant to authentic, real-world problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Anderson, Justement, & Bruns, 2020), and when guidance was gradually decreased to promote independent decision-making (Kempton, Weber, & Johnson, 2017). These findings are instructive as they identify key factors that instructors can incorporate as part of course learning experiences to help build student confidence.…”

Leveraging the Analytical Chemistry Primary Literature for Authentic, Integrated Content Knowledge and Process Skill Development

“…However, textbook problems cannot be tailored to instructor priorities, and the frequency of new editions, even for web texts, fails to keep pace with the scientific literature. In contrast, when instructors write assignments based on the current literature, students are exposed to cutting edge research on timely topics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic …”

“…In contrast, when instructors write assignments based on the current literature, students are exposed to cutting edge research on timely topics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 24 In this paper, we provide guidance for instructors who wish to compose their own activities, assignments, and assessments based on the primary literature. These assignments are meant to stand alone and do not require that students read the full article in order to respond to the prompts.…”

COVID-19 and Scientific Literacy

“…All of this results in the need to promote better scientific literacy in the critical and well-founded distinction, if possible, between facts and valuation opinions (Aristeidou & Herodotou, 2020;Stokken & Børsen, 2020;McGinnis, 2020;Laugksch, 2000), to shape a better response and management of the COVID-19 pandemic (Li & Liu, 2020;Naeem & Bhatti, 2020;Anwar et al, 2020;. In this process of fostering scientific literacy, interdisciplinarity plays an extremely important role (Anderson, Justement, & Bruns, 2020;Serpa, Ferreira, & Santos, 2017;Reiss, 2020). Anwar et al (2020) summarise well the pivotal role of the media in managing the pandemic caused by COVID-19.…”