An Introduction to Critiquing Primary Literature in an Undergraduate Physiology Course

Developing critical thinking skills is a fundamental goal for undergraduate science education. One important application of critical thinking is the ability to understand and critique primary literature. Undergraduate biology students, even seniors, often have limited exposure to primary literature. To rectify this, I developed a course on physiology in extreme environments with the objectives of (1) developing students' ability to understand and critique primary literature; (2) improving critical thinking skills; and (3) encouraging providing students to participate in scientific discourse. Applying a few basic physiology principles to extreme conditions provided a common theme for students to use throughout the course. Thus, students could focus on new applications in journal articles, not new physiological principles. Initially, students read scientific articles and answered specific questions to demonstrate basic understanding. Then, using a gradual reduction in assignment structure, the students went from this basic understanding to reviewing articles on multiple levels, including critiquing the methods, results and interpretation of results. Students applied this critical thinking skill in writing term papers on topics of their own choosing and based on their independent reviews of primary literature. They then gave oral presentations on their papers. Finally, students were encouraged to apply their newly acquired knowledge by editing relevant Wikipedia entries or, in some cases, creating entirely new entries. Based on the student evaluations and direct comments to me, the class was successful in improving critical thinking skills for many students. Future plans include designing a method to statistically validate the effectiveness of these strategies.