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Enhancing science literacy in tertiary education: a real‐world exercise in literature research, scientific writing, and self and peer assessment
Author(s) -
Filgueira Luis,
Pauk Barbara,
Meyer Jan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.529.14
Subject(s) - scientific writing , presentation (obstetrics) , reading (process) , medical education , publishing , peer review , peer feedback , literacy , scientific literacy , mathematics education , peer assessment , psychology , self assessment , scientific literature , pedagogy , science education , medicine , political science , art , paleontology , biology , law , radiology , literature
Science literacy, the ability to critically evaluate scientific outcomes and their presentation through self and peer assessment, is expected from scientists despite the fact that it is generally not taught. This project aimed to offer 75 undergraduate science students the opportunity to acquire and improve their skills in literature research, reading and writing of scientific papers, as well as self and peer review in simulations of real‐world processes of scientific publishing. This paper discusses the various assessment results, which were analyzed statistically, as well as students’ evaluation of their learning experience. Students had to write a literature review on a topic related to the course content including at least 5 original journal articles published over the previous 10 years in leading international journals. Students were asked to review the manuscripts of five peers and then give an assessment of their own paper. They could use the online program “ Turnitin.com ” to check their manuscript for plagiarism. This program was also used for peer assessment. The students received feedback on their paper from 5 peers as well as from the academic teacher. In summary, peer assessment was more severe than the teacher's or self assessment, but within a reasonable range. The students perceived the exercise as demanding, but also rewarding and as being a great learning experience.