A focused assignment encouraging deep reading in undergraduate biochemistry
Open accessAbstract
Encouraging undergraduate students to access, read, and analyze current primary literature can positively impact learning, especially in advanced courses. The incorporation of literature into coursework typically involves reading and responding to full research reports. Such exercises have clear value as students make connections between experiments and are able to probe and critique scientific logic. The exclusive use of full papers, though, may reinforce certain students' tendencies to rely on textual clues rather than a critical analysis of the actual data presented. I propose that structured activities requiring students to focus on individual parts of research papers, even on a single figure, are beneficial in a literature-centered advanced undergraduate course, because they promote the deep reading that is critical to scientific discourse. In addition, I describe how one such focused assignment boosted learning and was well received by students in a second-semester biochemistry course.
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There have been many strategies and supporting resources developed to help inexperienced readers engage with the primary literature.
“There have been many strategies and supporting resources developed to help inexperienced readers engage with the primary literature [6,8–14].”
From Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage (2017) · cites this paper as [13]
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Cites
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- Authors
- Spiegelberg, B. D.
- Affiliations
- Rider University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Spiegelberg, Bryan D.
- Venue
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-11-16
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-5
- ISSN
- 1470-8175 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-3429
- OpenAlex
- W1949127078
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 3.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Teaching Methods
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Information Literacy
- Keywords
- deep reading, primary literature, biochemistry education, undergraduate science education, scientific discourse, student learning
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biochemistry, Education, Professional
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