Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035, USA.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2013 Spring;12(1):39-46. doi: 10.1187/cbe.11-07-0057.
The ability to interpret experimental data is essential to understanding and participating in the process of scientific discovery. Reading primary research articles can be a frustrating experience for undergraduate biology students because they have very little experience interpreting data. To enhance their data interpretation skills, students used a template called "Figure Facts" to assist them with primary literature-based reading assignments in an advanced cellular neuroscience course. The Figure Facts template encourages students to adopt a data-centric approach, rather than a text-based approach, to understand research articles. Specifically, Figure Facts requires students to focus on the experimental data presented in each figure and identify specific conclusions that may be drawn from those results. Students who used Figure Facts for one semester increased the amount of time they spent examining figures in a primary research article, and regular exposure to primary literature was associated with improved student performance on a data interpretation skills test. Students reported decreased frustration associated with interpreting data figures, and their opinions of the Figure Facts template were overwhelmingly positive. In this paper, we present Figure Facts for others to adopt and adapt, with reflection on its implementation and effectiveness in improving undergraduate science education.
解释实验数据的能力对于理解和参与科学发现过程至关重要。对于本科生物学专业的学生来说，阅读原始研究文章可能是一种令人沮丧的体验，因为他们几乎没有解释数据的经验。为了提高他们的数据解释技能，学生们在一门高级细胞神经科学课程中使用了一种名为“Figure Facts”的模板来辅助基于原始文献的阅读作业。“Figure Facts”模板鼓励学生采用以数据为中心的方法，而不是基于文本的方法来理解研究文章。具体来说，“Figure Facts”要求学生专注于每幅图中呈现的实验数据，并从这些结果中识别可能得出的具体结论。使用“Figure Facts”一个学期的学生增加了他们在原始研究文章中检查图表的时间，并且经常接触原始文献与学生在数据解释技能测试中的表现提高有关。学生报告说，他们对解释数据图的挫败感有所减轻，并且对“Figure Facts”模板的评价非常积极。在本文中，我们提出了“Figure Facts”，以供他人采用和改编，并对其在改进本科科学教育方面的实施和效果进行了反思。
