Adapted Primary Literature:
An Untapped Resource for
High School Biology Education
www.ecologyconnections.ca
© 2006 University of Calgary Kananaskis Field Stations
Alberta Innovation & Science ISRIP Science Awareness & Promotion Program
An Untapped Resource for
High School Biology Education
www.ecologyconnections.ca
© 2006 University of Calgary Kananaskis Field Stations
Alberta Innovation & Science ISRIP Science Awareness & Promotion Program
Adapted Primary Literature
Introduction
It is often assumed that textbooks present the agreed upon and current facts within the scientific community. However, how did these ‘facts’ come to be and where did they come from? The scientific process is often not made explicit in many textbooks and there is little debate or criticism of the content that is presented. Textbooks do provide a reader with the foundations upon which science education is based; however, to really understand the nature of science we need to delve into the primary literature.
Primary literature is written by scientists for other scientists and will often contain technical methods and jargon beyond the understanding of anyone not involved in that specific field. Nevertheless, there are ways in which students can be introduced to the primary literature. A number of high school biology educators and researchers at the undergraduate level have investigated the use of adapted primary literature in their classes (Baram-Tsabari et al. 2005, Brill et al. 2004, Camill 2000, Herman 1999, Kuldell 2003, Levine 2001, Smith 2001, Yarden et al. 2001).
The articles presented in the Ecology Connections Research Connections sections of this website provide access to adapted primary literature; articles that have been adapted from primary literature by science writers and reviewed by leading scientists. They serve as a starting point to introduce students to reading primary literature, or as a way to enhance high school biology education with real examples of peer-reviewed literature.
The benefits of having students read primary literature have been well documented. Skills gained include:
• increased understanding of how science works and the process of inquiry
(Baram-Tsabari 2005, Levine 2001);
• improved science writing (Herman 1999, Kuldell 2003, Muench 2000);
• increased creative and effective data presentation (Kuldell 2003);
• placing knowledge from labs and lectures into the broader scientific
community (Kuldell 2003);
• improved understanding of lecture material (Smith 2001);
• increased confidence reading and interpreting graphs, figures, and tables
(Smith 2001);
• Increased active learning, question asking, and ‘authentic’ scientific thinking
(Brill and Yarden 2003, Gillen et al. 2004, Gillen 2006).
Secondary, or popular-scientific literature, is what you read in magazines and newspapers. These authors take the primary literature and fit it into a format that the ‘non-scientist’ is more comfortable reading. Much of the same information is passed on; but it is easier to read and understand. If the information is the same, why not give students the popular, more readable article? Baram-Tsabari et al. (2005) conducted a study that had high school students read both primary and secondary articles coveringthe same information. They found that students that read the primary article had abetter understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry than students who read thesecondary article. However, it is important to note that the student who read thesecondary article had a better comprehension of the content and less negative views
Primary literature is written by scientists for other scientists and will often contain technical methods and jargon beyond the understanding of anyone not involved in that specific field. Nevertheless, there are ways in which students can be introduced to the primary literature. A number of high school biology educators and researchers at the undergraduate level have investigated the use of adapted primary literature in their classes (Baram-Tsabari et al. 2005, Brill et al. 2004, Camill 2000, Herman 1999, Kuldell 2003, Levine 2001, Smith 2001, Yarden et al. 2001).
The articles presented in the Ecology Connections Research Connections sections of this website provide access to adapted primary literature; articles that have been adapted from primary literature by science writers and reviewed by leading scientists. They serve as a starting point to introduce students to reading primary literature, or as a way to enhance high school biology education with real examples of peer-reviewed literature.
The benefits of having students read primary literature have been well documented. Skills gained include:
• increased understanding of how science works and the process of inquiry
(Baram-Tsabari 2005, Levine 2001);
• improved science writing (Herman 1999, Kuldell 2003, Muench 2000);
• increased creative and effective data presentation (Kuldell 2003);
• placing knowledge from labs and lectures into the broader scientific
community (Kuldell 2003);
• improved understanding of lecture material (Smith 2001);
• increased confidence reading and interpreting graphs, figures, and tables
(Smith 2001);
• Increased active learning, question asking, and ‘authentic’ scientific thinking
(Brill and Yarden 2003, Gillen et al. 2004, Gillen 2006).
Secondary, or popular-scientific literature, is what you read in magazines and newspapers. These authors take the primary literature and fit it into a format that the ‘non-scientist’ is more comfortable reading. Much of the same information is passed on; but it is easier to read and understand. If the information is the same, why not give students the popular, more readable article? Baram-Tsabari et al. (2005) conducted a study that had high school students read both primary and secondary articles coveringthe same information. They found that students that read the primary article had abetter understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry than students who read thesecondary article. However, it is important to note that the student who read thesecondary article had a better comprehension of the content and less negative views
towards the activity.
Which format should you choose? As with anything, you choose the appropriate tool to accomplish the goals of the lesson. An interesting assignment conducted by Pall (2000) was to have students compare and contrast a primary article with its secondary companion. This may be a way to introduce students to the primary literature as well as familiarizing them with secondary sources that they may access as adults.
Why do ecologists read primary literature?
Communicating your findings and results is part of belonging to a scientific community. Primary literature allows ecologists to share their results and learn about advances in their field. The following list provides reasons why scientists read primary literature (Adapted from: http://biology.kenyon.edu/Bio_InfoLit/index.html):
• This research sounds interesting; I wonder if we can incorporate any of the new
insights or methods into our research.
• I am trying to stay current with our field of study; I wonder what new work has
been published.
• I am having trouble to get our experiments to work; I had better check to see
what other researchers have done.
• These researchers have been working on the same question as us; I wonder
whether their work supports or contradicts ours.
• These research results contradict our work; I need to look closer at our data and
analysis to see we have made any mistakes.
Peer Review Process
All primary ecological articles published in reputable journals go through a peer review process, wherein experts in the field review, recommend, or reject the article for publishing. The peer review process ensures that the methods employed by the authors adhere to the standards set for that field of research. Science is an exciting and constantly changing field. Scientists cannot possibly stay on top off all the research occurring in all the labs around the world. Peer review acts as a screening process for that scientific community, presenting them with sound, relevant research upon which they can build. The following websites provide further background and debate on the peer review process:
• Article: Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review]
This article offers an overview of the peer review process.
• Article: Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/debate/index.html
Structure of a primary article
Before reading an article, the purpose of each section should be understood.
Here are some sites that review the structure of primary articles.
• Tutorial: Kenyon College [http://biology.kenyon.edu/Bio_InfoLit/index.html]
This website introduces students to the parts of a scientific paper and the
different reasons for reading them. A short quiz and questions about a
specific paper are included in the website.
• Tutorial: Purdue University
[http://www.lib.purdue.edu/phys/inst/scipaper.html#mainmenu]
This flash tutorial provides an easy to follow guide to reading scientific
papers.
• Hand-out and Guide: Hampshire College
[http://helios.hampshire.edu/~apmNS/research/papers.html]
This website has a lesson on using scientific papers in class, along with a four
step students’ guide to reading scientific papers.
Reading figures and graphs
Which format should you choose? As with anything, you choose the appropriate tool to accomplish the goals of the lesson. An interesting assignment conducted by Pall (2000) was to have students compare and contrast a primary article with its secondary companion. This may be a way to introduce students to the primary literature as well as familiarizing them with secondary sources that they may access as adults.
Why do ecologists read primary literature?
Communicating your findings and results is part of belonging to a scientific community. Primary literature allows ecologists to share their results and learn about advances in their field. The following list provides reasons why scientists read primary literature (Adapted from: http://biology.kenyon.edu/Bio_InfoLit/index.html):
• This research sounds interesting; I wonder if we can incorporate any of the new
insights or methods into our research.
• I am trying to stay current with our field of study; I wonder what new work has
been published.
• I am having trouble to get our experiments to work; I had better check to see
what other researchers have done.
• These researchers have been working on the same question as us; I wonder
whether their work supports or contradicts ours.
• These research results contradict our work; I need to look closer at our data and
analysis to see we have made any mistakes.
Peer Review Process
All primary ecological articles published in reputable journals go through a peer review process, wherein experts in the field review, recommend, or reject the article for publishing. The peer review process ensures that the methods employed by the authors adhere to the standards set for that field of research. Science is an exciting and constantly changing field. Scientists cannot possibly stay on top off all the research occurring in all the labs around the world. Peer review acts as a screening process for that scientific community, presenting them with sound, relevant research upon which they can build. The following websites provide further background and debate on the peer review process:
• Article: Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review]
This article offers an overview of the peer review process.
• Article: Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/debate/index.html
Structure of a primary article
Before reading an article, the purpose of each section should be understood.
Here are some sites that review the structure of primary articles.
• Tutorial: Kenyon College [http://biology.kenyon.edu/Bio_InfoLit/index.html]
This website introduces students to the parts of a scientific paper and the
different reasons for reading them. A short quiz and questions about a
specific paper are included in the website.
• Tutorial: Purdue University
[http://www.lib.purdue.edu/phys/inst/scipaper.html#mainmenu]
This flash tutorial provides an easy to follow guide to reading scientific
papers.
• Hand-out and Guide: Hampshire College
[http://helios.hampshire.edu/~apmNS/research/papers.html]
This website has a lesson on using scientific papers in class, along with a four
step students’ guide to reading scientific papers.
Reading figures and graphs
Gillen (2006) calls the methods and results the “central information portion of an article” and scientists often start by looking at the graphs and figures to draw their own conclusions before reading the author’s interpretation of the results. Therefore, an essential skill to successfully understanding an article is the ability to interpret figures and graphs, but it is a skill ecology students at all levels have difficulty with (Bowen et al. 1999, Bowen & Roth 2002, Roth et al. 1999). The following website resources provide suggestions for helping students interpret graphs and tables:
• Article: Ecological Society of America
[http://tiee.ecoed.net/teach/essays/students_interpreting_graphs.html]
This article discusses some of the problems students have with graphs.
• Article: Ecological Society of America
[http://tiee.ecoed.net/teach/essays/figs_tables.html]
A short article on helping students read graphs and tables.
Technical Terms
• Article: Ecological Society of America
[http://tiee.ecoed.net/teach/essays/students_interpreting_graphs.html]
This article discusses some of the problems students have with graphs.
• Article: Ecological Society of America
[http://tiee.ecoed.net/teach/essays/figs_tables.html]
A short article on helping students read graphs and tables.
Technical Terms
Students are not experts in the field of ecology and like all disciplines, there are terms and methods that will be beyond the level of your students. Teachers that have used primary literature in their classes emphasize that students need some level of background information in the field before tackling a primary article (Janick-Buckner 1997, Yarden et al 2001, Gillen 2006). To support this approach, the authors and editors of Ecology Connections have strived to ensure that the concepts explained in the articles are accessible to all readers. Technical terms in the Research Connections are also highlighted and hyperlinked to a glossary of terms.
Research Literature Connection
Baram-Tsabari, A., and Yarden, A. 2005. Text genre as a factor in the formation of scientific literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 42 (4): 403-428.
Bowen, G.M. and Roth, W-M. 2002. Why students may not learn to interpret scientific inscriptions. Research in Science Education 32: 303-327.
Bowen, G.M., Roth, W-M., and McGinn, M.K. 1999. Interpretations of graphs by university biology students and practicing scientists: Toward a social practice view of scientific representation practices. Journal of Research in Science Education 36 (9): 1020-1043.
Brill, G., and Yarden, A. 2003. Learning biology through research papers: A stimulus for question asking by high school students. Cell Biology Education 2(4): 266-274.
Brill, G., Falk, H, and Yarden, A. 2004. The learning processes of two high-school biology students when reading primary literature. International Journal of Science Education 26 (4): 497-512.
Camill, P. 2000. Using journal articles in an environmental biology course: Wetland ecosystems: valuable natural habitat or real estate goldmine? Journal of College Science Teaching 30 (1): 38-43.
Gillen, C.M. 2006 Criticism and interpretation: Teaching the persuasive aspects of research articles. Cell Biology Education – Life Sciences Education 5: 34-38.
Gillen, C.M., Vaughan, J., and Lye, B.R. 2004. An online tutorial for helping nonscience majors read primary literature in biology. Advances in Physiology Education 28: 95- 99.
Herman, C. 1999. Reading the literature in the jargon-intensive field of molecular genetics: Making molecular genetics accessible to undergraduates using a processcentered curriculum. Journal of College Science Teaching 28 (4): 252-253.
Janick-Buckner, D. 1997. Getting undergraduates to critically read and discuss primary literature. Journal of College Science Teaching 27 (1): 29-32.
Kuldell, N. 2003. Reading like a scientist to write like a scientist: Using authentic literature in the classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching 33 (2): 32-35.
Levine, E. 2001. Reading your way to scientific literacy: Interpreting scientific articles through small group discussions. Journal of College Science Teaching 31 (2): 122- 125.
Muench, S.B. 2000. Choosing primary literature in biology to achieve specific educational goals: Some guidelines for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of prospective research articles. Journal of College Science Teaching 29 (4): 255-260.
Roth, W-M., Bowen, G.M., and McGinn, M.K. 1999. Differences in graph-related practices between high school biology textbooks and scientific ecology journals. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 36 (9): 977-1019.
Pall, M. 2000. The value of scientific peer-reviewed literature in a general education science course. The American Biology Teacher 62 (4): 256-258.
Smith, G. 2001. Guided literature explorations: Introducing students to the primary literature. Journal of College Science Teaching 30 (7): 465-469.
Yarden, A., Brill, G., and Falk, H. 2001. Primary literature as a basis for a high-school biology curriculum. Journal of Biological Education 35 (4): 190-195.
Education Connections
Christina Pickles, Kananaskis Field Stations
Michael J. Mappin, Kananaskis Field Stations
Website Design:
Diane Laflamme, Laflamme Designs
Research Literature Connection
Baram-Tsabari, A., and Yarden, A. 2005. Text genre as a factor in the formation of scientific literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 42 (4): 403-428.
Bowen, G.M. and Roth, W-M. 2002. Why students may not learn to interpret scientific inscriptions. Research in Science Education 32: 303-327.
Bowen, G.M., Roth, W-M., and McGinn, M.K. 1999. Interpretations of graphs by university biology students and practicing scientists: Toward a social practice view of scientific representation practices. Journal of Research in Science Education 36 (9): 1020-1043.
Brill, G., and Yarden, A. 2003. Learning biology through research papers: A stimulus for question asking by high school students. Cell Biology Education 2(4): 266-274.
Brill, G., Falk, H, and Yarden, A. 2004. The learning processes of two high-school biology students when reading primary literature. International Journal of Science Education 26 (4): 497-512.
Camill, P. 2000. Using journal articles in an environmental biology course: Wetland ecosystems: valuable natural habitat or real estate goldmine? Journal of College Science Teaching 30 (1): 38-43.
Gillen, C.M. 2006 Criticism and interpretation: Teaching the persuasive aspects of research articles. Cell Biology Education – Life Sciences Education 5: 34-38.
Gillen, C.M., Vaughan, J., and Lye, B.R. 2004. An online tutorial for helping nonscience majors read primary literature in biology. Advances in Physiology Education 28: 95- 99.
Herman, C. 1999. Reading the literature in the jargon-intensive field of molecular genetics: Making molecular genetics accessible to undergraduates using a processcentered curriculum. Journal of College Science Teaching 28 (4): 252-253.
Janick-Buckner, D. 1997. Getting undergraduates to critically read and discuss primary literature. Journal of College Science Teaching 27 (1): 29-32.
Kuldell, N. 2003. Reading like a scientist to write like a scientist: Using authentic literature in the classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching 33 (2): 32-35.
Levine, E. 2001. Reading your way to scientific literacy: Interpreting scientific articles through small group discussions. Journal of College Science Teaching 31 (2): 122- 125.
Muench, S.B. 2000. Choosing primary literature in biology to achieve specific educational goals: Some guidelines for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of prospective research articles. Journal of College Science Teaching 29 (4): 255-260.
Roth, W-M., Bowen, G.M., and McGinn, M.K. 1999. Differences in graph-related practices between high school biology textbooks and scientific ecology journals. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 36 (9): 977-1019.
Pall, M. 2000. The value of scientific peer-reviewed literature in a general education science course. The American Biology Teacher 62 (4): 256-258.
Smith, G. 2001. Guided literature explorations: Introducing students to the primary literature. Journal of College Science Teaching 30 (7): 465-469.
Yarden, A., Brill, G., and Falk, H. 2001. Primary literature as a basis for a high-school biology curriculum. Journal of Biological Education 35 (4): 190-195.
Education Connections
Christina Pickles, Kananaskis Field Stations
Michael J. Mappin, Kananaskis Field Stations
Website Design:
Diane Laflamme, Laflamme Designs
Postingan
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar