Expert-Novice Comparison Reveals Pedagogical Implications for Students' Analysis of Primary Literature

How, and why, science and health researchers read scientific (IMRAD) papers

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of our study was to determine the order in which science and health researchers read scientific papers, their reasons for doing so and the perceived difficulty and perceived importance of each section.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

An online survey open to science and health academics and researchers distributed via existing research networks, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.

RESULTS

Almost 90% of respondents self-declared to be experienced in reading research papers. 98.6% of the sample read the abstract first because it provides an overview of the paper and facilitates a decision on continuing to read on or not. Seventy-five percent perceived it to be the easiest to read and 62.4% perceived it to be very important (highest rank on a 5-point Likert scale). The majority of respondents did not read a paper in the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results And Discussion) format. Perceived difficulty and perceived importance influenced reading order.

CONCLUSION

Science and health researchers do not typically read scientific and health research papers in IMRAD format. The more important a respondent perceives a section to be, the more likely they are to read it. The easier a section is perceived, the more likely it will be read. We present recommendations to those teaching the skill of writing scientific papers and reports.

What Faculty and Students Value When Evaluating Human Digital Anatomy Platforms: A Mixed-Methods Study

OBJECTIVES

There is an increasing availability of digital technologies for teaching and learning of human anatomy. Studies have shown that such applications allow for better spatial awareness than traditional methods. These digital human anatomy platforms offer users myriad features, such as the ability to manipulate 3D models, conduct prosection, investigate anatomical regions through virtual reality, or perform knowledge tests on themselves. This study examined what faculty members' value when using digital human anatomy platforms for teaching and what students value when using these platforms for learning.

METHODS

Six anatomy faculty members and 21 students were selected to participate in this study. After using the three digital anatomy platforms for at least 1 week, a survey was conducted to record their feedback in 4 categories: usability, interactive features, level of detail, and learning support. Respondents' Qualitative feedback within each category was also analyzed to strengthen the study's findings.

RESULTS

The study's findings showed that faculty members and students have different priorities when evaluating digital anatomy platforms. Faculty members valued platforms that provided better accuracy and detailed anatomical structures, while students prioritized usability above the rest of the features.

CONCLUSION

Given that faculty and students have different preferences when selecting digital anatomy platforms, this article proposed that educators maximize the specific affordances offered by the technology by having a clear pedagogy and strategy on how the technology will be incorporated into the curriculum to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes.

Postsecondary biology students' ways of participating in the critique and discussion of primary scientific literature

Science advances through the interplay of idea construction and idea critique. Our goal was to describe varied forms of productive disciplinary engagement that emerged during primary literature discussions. Such descriptions are necessary for biology educators and researchers to design for and recognize diverse repertoires of participation in the critique and discussion of primary scientific literature. We identified three cases (a lower-division ecology course, an upper-division organismal course, and a journal club embedded in a summer research program) that were each designed with weekly primary literature discussions. We analyzed 12 discussions (four from each case) to describe what postsecondary students attend to when they critique and what forms of participation emerged from students reading and discussing primary scientific literature. Students participated in critique in all three cases and patterns in the substance and framing of critiques reflected the level of the context (lower- or upper-division). Students also shaped how they participated in ways that were relevant to the science classroom communities in each case. Our findings suggest that structuring primary literature discussions in ways that both elevate and connect students' agency and personal relevance is important for fostering varied forms of productive disciplinary engagement within a science classroom community.

Reading Primary Scientific Literature: Approaches for Teaching Students in the Undergraduate STEM Classroom

Teaching undergraduate students to read primary scientific literature (PSL) is cited as an important goal for many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes, given a range of cognitive and affective benefits for students who read PSL. Consequently, there are a number of approaches and curricular interventions published in the STEM education literature on how to teach students to read PSL. These approaches vary widely in their instructional methods, target student demographic, required class time, and level of assessment demonstrating the method's efficacy. In this Essay, we conduct a systematic search to compile these approaches in an easily accessible manner for instructors, using a framework to sort the identified approaches by target level, time required, assessment population, and more. We also provide a brief review of the literature surrounding the reading of PSL in undergraduate STEM classrooms and conclude with some general recommendations for both instructors and education researchers on future areas of investigation.

Annotations Serve as an On Ramp for Introductory Biology Students Learning to Read Primary Scientific Literature

Learning to read primary scientific literature (PSL) is an important part of developing scientific literacy skills. First-year students entering college often have little previous exposure to PSL and therefore face initial barriers in learning how to engage with PSL. Annotations have been shown to be a useful tool in undergraduate education and have potential for guiding students in developing higher-level reading strategies. In this study, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data to test the hypothesis of whether annotated PSL aids in the development of reading strategies for novice students learning to read PSL. Our qualitative results showed that annotations help students (i) break down PSL into manageable pieces, (ii) summarize the text, (iii) identify key information, and (iv) distinguish between different sections of PSL. Quantitatively, we saw no significant influence of annotations on the development of reading strategies for students learning to read PSL. Overall, our study provides a window into better understanding of specific strategies that students employ in reading PSL. Collectively, we suggest incorporating annotated PSL with some scaffolding social activities as an effective strategy to bring novice readers up the on-ramp of scientific literacy.

Discussion of Annotated Research Articles Results in Increases in Scientific Literacy within a Cell Biology Course

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.

From Novice To Expert: An Assessment To Measure Strategies Students Implement While Learning To Read Primary Scientific Literature

Primary Scientific Literature (PSL) has been used in undergraduate classrooms as a way to engage students with the research process and to increase science literacy. Most curricula lack any formal training for undergraduates to critically read PSL even though most undergraduate science courses require students to engage with PSL at some level. In addition, there are limited studies exploring the process by which expertise in reading PSL develops in undergraduates. In this study, we adapted behaviors that expert and novice PSL readers exhibit into a quantitative assessment tool, the PSL Reading Strategies Assessment, to evaluate undergraduates' development of reading strategies when learning to read PSL. Factor analysis and reliability measures were implemented to determine the structure of our assessment tool. Our results show the PSL Reading Strategies Assessment is sensitive enough to measure differences among student populations, suggesting that it can be used as a diagnostic tool to guide instructors and researchers as they change curricula, implement new teaching strategies, and strive to develop students' science literacy. Moreover, our data show that developing expert-like reading strategies in students learning to read PSL is not easy. Simply reading a PDF does little to promote the development of reading strategies in students learning to read PSL.

The Five Core Concepts of Biology as a Framework for Promoting Expert-Like Behaviors in Undergraduates Learning How to Read Primary Scientific Literature

A growing body of literature shows that primary scientific literature (PSL) is a valuable and useful tool for science, technology, engineering, and math education. We currently have a relatively limited understanding of how skills relating to reading PSL progress through academic careers, i.e., the process by which expertise in reading PSL develops. In this study, we built on previous work showing clear differences in strategies that experts use to read PSL that are not often available to or documented with novice PSL readers. Using the five core concepts (5CCs) of biology, outlined in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology, as a framework for student engagement with PSL, we investigated whether the 5CCs can be used to (i) increase student engagement with PSL, (ii) provide a context for PSL, and (iii) integrate student prior knowledge when reading PSL. Second, we investigated whether a 5CCs-based, semester-long intervention could shift student reading habits to be more expert-like. As no direct assessment for this exists, we instead measured student motivation for reading PSL, their Biology identity, and their perceived learning gains in science. We found that, through the use of the 5CCs as a framework for reading PSL, students were able to integrate previous knowledge and engaged with PSL constructively. Additionally, we saw positive shifts in student motivation for reading PSL, student Biology identity, and student self-reported learning gains in Biology. Taken together, the 5CCs, as a disciplinary framework, have great potential as a pedagogical tool for increasing student engagement with PSL in Biology classrooms.

Rethinking Assessment: Replacing Traditional Exams with Paper Reviews

The abrupt shift to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic left faculty at a loss of how to administer exams, which are common methods of summative assessment in college courses. This study evaluates students' perceptions of an alternative assessment method in which they complete Paper Review Forms on relevant primary literature in a majors microbiology course. Students indicated that they felt that Paper Reviews made microbiology content relevant to them, increased their engagement with the course content, and overall were a better way of assessment of their understanding of microbiology content than traditional exams. The format of Paper Reviews for assessment purposes makes them a good option for remote learning.

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

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.

Teaching in the Time of COVID-19: Creation of a Digital Internship to Develop Scientific Thinking Skills and Create Science Literacy Exercises for Use in Remote Classrooms

The extreme academic and social disruption caused by COVID-19 in the spring and summer of 2020 led to the loss of many student internships. We report here our creation of a novel internship for students majoring in the biological sciences. Student interns worked together to systematically categorize multiple episodes of This Week in Microbiology (TWiM). They annotated episodes by labeling relevant ASM fundamental curricular guidelines and the microbiology techniques described in several podcast episodes. Interns worked together, which advanced their written and oral communication skills while improving their scientific thinking skills. Faculty then enhanced each annotation by adding short figure-reading exercises that can be used in a variety of educational settings to teach science literacy. When surveyed, students reported greater confidence in analyzing and interpreting results from a variety of microbiological methods, improved communication of fundamental microbiology concepts in written and oral form, and enhanced ability to collaborate with others. Combined, this digital internship provided a unique opportunity for students to develop critical technical and scientific thinking skills and generated useful open education resources for teaching general microbiology in the form of annotated podcasts.

Sharing Notes Is Encouraged: Annotating and Cocreating with Hypothes.is and Google Docs

Effectively analyzing literature can be challenging for those unfamiliar with studies from rapidly evolving research fields. Previous studies have shown that incorporating primary literature promotes scientific literacy and critical thinking skills.