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Creating Information literate students : Understanding the Science in lay literature

Creating Information literate students : Understanding the Science in lay literature. Albert S. Rubenstein, Ph.D. Erica McFarland, MLS Jessica Placke, MLS Ivy Tech Community College Some material previously presented by Rubenstein , Eaton, and Verhoeven

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Creating Information literate students : Understanding the Science in lay literature

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  1. Creating Information literate students : Understanding the Science in lay literature Albert S. Rubenstein, Ph.D. Erica McFarland, MLS Jessica Placke, MLS Ivy Tech Community College Some material previously presented by Rubenstein, Eaton, and Verhoeven at Ivy Tech Technology Symposium 2008 Columbus IN.

  2. Introduction Who are Ivy Tech’s Students?

  3. Our Students • # of students (09-10) • 166,555 • 73% are working adults • 81% are part time • 20% are single parents • 41% are Pell grant recipients

  4. Observation Our students, like the general public, lack the scientific literacy skills to think critically about scientific information presented in the popular press

  5. Examples • Global warming will destroy east coast by end of 2050 • Artificial sweeteners will give you cancer • Soda bubbles will make your bones brittle • Caffeine will stunt your growth • Fever in a child is a danger and needs immediate attention

  6. Scientific Literacy: • enables people to use scientific principles and processes in making personal decisions and to participate in discussions of scientific issues that affect society • entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions. National Science Education Standards http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4962.html

  7. Addressing the issue • Introductory biology has a key objective the developing of students that are Scientifically literate • Being able to critically assess scientific components of lay literature is vital to being scientifically literate • We in conjunction with our library staff developed an exercise to critically assess science in lay literature

  8. Methodology Develop an exercise that introduces Biology students to library resources and scientific literacy skills

  9. Exercise and Charge to Students • Select an article in the lay press that has a significant biology component • Identify the original source of published information – ideally from a peer reviewed journal • Read the original scientific paper with a focus on the method used, results obtained and conclusions

  10. Critique lay article with respect to: 1. Content of two articles 2. Agenda of the Lay article writer 3. Use of correct technical terminology 4. Correct interpretation of scientific publication - how students would have interpreted results 5. Write a paper and give a class presentation to above

  11. Student Preparation: Library Activity ( objectives) • Understand differences between scientific, professional, and lay literature • Learn how to identify & read a peer reviewed scientific article • Learn how to use online resources to find both scientific and lay articles

  12. Summary of Literature Types

  13. Examples of Topics • Stem cell research • Environment and ecology • Evolution • Bioengineering • Health-related • Genetics • Sexuality and reproduction

  14. Sources Lay Articles and Scientific Papers

  15. Recommended Sources of Lay Articles • Print publications • Newsweek • Times • Newspapers • Online sources • Google news • Sciencedaily.com • MSNBC

  16. Characteristics of an Ideal Lay Article • Current • Difficult to copy another student’s work. • Technical content is within the capability of the student • Contains • Specific reference to the scientific paper, sufficient info to find the peer reviewed scientific paper. • Contains enough details and information for an effective analysis. • Interesting topic for students

  17. Good Article from C&E News Nicely illustrated Interesting topic

  18. Current: less than 1 yr old. Jan 2008

  19. Content Not Difficult Relatively easy, straight forward style with an uncomplicated discussion of the experiments.

  20. Enough Substance A lot of info is given. Most of the page is a discussion of the experiments and the conclusions. It is based on the science writer actually understanding the paper! Less useful quotes by other experts. Less than half of the article.

  21. References the Scientific Paper Actual citation!

  22. Characteristics of an ideal peer-reviewed scientific article • Subject area- not to technical or difficult • Well written- intended to be understood by a wide audience, little jargon. • Reasonable length • Delineated into sections • Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion

  23. Scientific Paper:Intro Section Detailed, but easy to read abstract. Introduction defines jargon, and gives background explanations.

  24. Scientific Paper:Results Section Results section is clear, and well illustrated.

  25. Scientific Paper:Discussion Discussion highlights the main ideas hinted at in the Results.

  26. Results Student Performance: Student Survey and Citation Analysis

  27. Library Usage 81% reported attending the library session 73% used library resources 55% found scientific article using library resources 26% reported using library resources to find lay article 47% reported the library/ librarian was useful or extremely useful in completing this project

  28. 61% successfully found a lay and scientific article 68% correctly identified characteristics of Lay article 59% correctly identified characteristics of Scientific article

  29. Discussion Problems and Future Directions

  30. Problems Encountered • Following directions • Presentation- marginal with rare exceptions • Refusal to give presentation in class • Use of review article from peer reviewed journals • Finding article from a peer reviewed journal • Belief in Wikipedia as ultimate authority • Problem of plagiarism minimized

  31. Future Directions • Suggest examples of good subject choices • Give students example of a good assignment • Consider subject bank with articles pre-selected • Review directions with students • Awards for best papers per semester • Require similar exercises for all science students • On line library presentation

  32. What Else? • Is the assignment applicable to other disciplines that utilize peer reviewed research? • How could this assignment, or similar library faculty collaborations be used in other fields? • Is this applicable to the general public?

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