Annotated primary scientific literature: A pedagogical tool for undergraduate courses

PLoS Biol. 2019 Jan 9;17(1):e3000103. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000103. eCollection 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Annotated primary scientific literature is a teaching and learning resource that provides scaffolding for undergraduate students acculturating to the authentic scientific practice of obtaining and evaluating information through the medium of primary scientific literature. Utilizing annotated primary scientific literature as an integrated pedagogical tool could enable more widespread use of primary scientific literature in undergraduate science classrooms with minimal disruption to existing syllabi. Research is ongoing to determine an optimal implementation protocol, with these preliminary iterations presented here serving as a first look at how students respond to annotated primary scientific literature. The undergraduate biology student participants in our study did not, in general, have an abundance of experience reading primary scientific literature; however, they found the annotations useful, especially for vocabulary and graph interpretation. We present here an implementation protocol for using annotated primary literature in the classroom that minimizes the use of valuable classroom time and requires no additional pedagogical training for instructors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biology
  • Curriculum
  • Education / methods*
  • Educational Measurement
  • Learning
  • Publications / trends
  • Science / education*
  • Students
  • Teaching Materials
  • Universities

Grants and funding

This research was supported through National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education 1525596 (MM) and Florida International University College of Arts, Sciences & Education Postdoctoral Fellowship (MM and MK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.