Department of Water Resources, City of Gainesville, Gainesville, Georgia, United States of America.
Johnson High School, Gainesville, Georgia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 May 10;16(5):e0251275. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251275. eCollection 2021.
Reading primary literature is a popular classroom practice that exposes students to the process of science. However, the analysis of primary literature can be taxing and time-consuming for students. For this reason, it is important to determine the source of student challenges and what motivates them to read primary literature. To better understand students' challenges, preferences, and motivations towards analyzing primary literature, we held focus groups with biology undergraduates where we asked them about their thoughts and perceptions on this practice. Students felt they struggle with understanding the big picture of an article, certain aspects of scientific literacy like data interpretation and experimental setup, and lack of knowledge of terms and techniques. Further analysis of the data using the achievement goal and expectancy-value theories of motivation revealed that students: 1) demonstrate mastery and performance approach goal orientations, which are typically associated with positive learning outcomes, 2) value the usefulness of reading primary literature, and 3) feel most engaged in the process of reading an article when the topic interests them. We provide pedagogical recommendations based on our findings.
阅读原始文献是一种流行的课堂实践，它让学生接触到科学的过程。然而，对于学生来说，分析原始文献可能既费力又耗时。因此，确定学生面临的挑战的来源以及激发他们阅读原始文献的动机是很重要的。为了更好地了解学生在分析原始文献时面临的挑战、偏好和动机，我们与生物学专业的本科生进行了焦点小组讨论，询问他们对这种做法的想法和看法。学生们表示，他们在理解文章的整体情况、数据解释和实验设计等方面的科学素养、以及缺乏术语和技术知识方面存在困难。进一步使用成就目标和期望价值理论对数据进行分析表明，学生：1）表现出掌握和表现接近目标的定向，这通常与积极的学习成果相关；2）重视阅读原始文献的有用性；3）当他们对主题感兴趣时，最投入于阅读文章的过程。我们根据研究结果提供了教学建议。
