Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course
ABSTRACT As the amount and complexity of scientific knowledge continues to grow, it is essential to educate scientifically literate citizens who can comprehend the process of science and the implications of technological advances. This is especially important when educating science, technology, engi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00154-22 |
| _version_ | 1827963937904132096 |
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| author | Mary E. Washburn Ryan A. Shanks Melissa McCartney Chuck L. Robertson Miriam Segura-Totten |
| author_facet | Mary E. Washburn Ryan A. Shanks Melissa McCartney Chuck L. Robertson Miriam Segura-Totten |
| author_sort | Mary E. Washburn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT As the amount and complexity of scientific knowledge continues to grow, it is essential to educate scientifically literate citizens who can comprehend the process of science and the implications of technological advances. This is especially important when educating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college students, since they may play a central role in the future of scientific research and its communication. A central part of decoding and interpreting scientific information is the ability to analyze scientific research articles. For this reason, many different approaches for reading scientific research articles have been developed and published. Despite the availability of numerous ways of analyzing scientific research articles, biology students can face challenges that may prevent them from fully comprehending the text. We sought to address student challenges with science vocabulary and content knowledge by adding structural supports to in-classroom article discussions through the use of annotated articles from the Science in the Classroom initiative. We describe the pedagogical approach used for discussing scientific research articles within a required biology course. In this context, we found that students’ scientific literacy skills increased at the end of the semester. We also found that, for each article discussed, the majority of students could interpret graphical representations of article results and that they could identify and comprehend components of the experimental design of the study. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:07:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa4931f2aaf842c2a2504bbc2635c3bd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1935-7877 1935-7885 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:07:01Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa4931f2aaf842c2a2504bbc2635c3bd2023-04-20T13:01:00ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education1935-78771935-78852023-04-0124110.1128/jmbe.00154-22Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology CourseMary E. Washburn0Ryan A. Shanks1Melissa McCartney2Chuck L. Robertson3Miriam Segura-Totten4Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USABiology Department, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia, USADepartment of Biological Sciences and STEM Transformation Institute, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USADepartment of Psychological Science, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia, USABiology Department, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia, USAABSTRACT As the amount and complexity of scientific knowledge continues to grow, it is essential to educate scientifically literate citizens who can comprehend the process of science and the implications of technological advances. This is especially important when educating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college students, since they may play a central role in the future of scientific research and its communication. A central part of decoding and interpreting scientific information is the ability to analyze scientific research articles. For this reason, many different approaches for reading scientific research articles have been developed and published. Despite the availability of numerous ways of analyzing scientific research articles, biology students can face challenges that may prevent them from fully comprehending the text. We sought to address student challenges with science vocabulary and content knowledge by adding structural supports to in-classroom article discussions through the use of annotated articles from the Science in the Classroom initiative. We describe the pedagogical approach used for discussing scientific research articles within a required biology course. In this context, we found that students’ scientific literacy skills increased at the end of the semester. We also found that, for each article discussed, the majority of students could interpret graphical representations of article results and that they could identify and comprehend components of the experimental design of the study.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00154-22scientific literacyprimary literaturedata interpretationprocess of scienceexperimental designSTEM education |
| spellingShingle | Mary E. Washburn Ryan A. Shanks Melissa McCartney Chuck L. Robertson Miriam Segura-Totten Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education scientific literacy primary literature data interpretation process of science experimental design STEM education |
| title | Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course |
| title_full | Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course |
| title_fullStr | Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course |
| title_short | Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course |
| title_sort | discussion of annotated research articles results in increases in scientific literacy within a cell biology course |
| topic | scientific literacy primary literature data interpretation process of science experimental design STEM education |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00154-22 |
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