Hippee Camilla E, Klingelhutz Aloysius, Wu Li
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2024 Dec 12;25(3):e0018424. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00184-24. Epub 2024 Oct 23.
Introducing students to primary scientific literature is essential for establishing scientific literacy; however, students can feel overwhelmed by the amount of information within a research article. In our virology discussion courses, we address this issue by creating a student-centered and active learning environment. Students present and guide discussions on the rationales, background, methods, results, and conclusions from research literature in class. This approach has been applied in both undergraduate and graduate settings for students studying microbiology, with different expectations and criteria between the two groups. Student evaluations collected from three semesters were positive toward the teaching methods. Students praised the inclusion of "landmark discovery" articles, which examined paradigm-shifting concepts in virology. Undergraduates expressed their increased confidence in comprehending scientific literature and highlighted the impact of group work. In a critique of the course, students suggested more variety in the topics covered and inclusion of recent publications. Overall, our enhanced approach and methods improved student experiences with primary scientific literature and promoted student learning.
让学生接触初级科学文献对于培养科学素养至关重要；然而，学生可能会被研究文章中的信息量压得喘不过气来。在我们的病毒学讨论课程中，我们通过创建以学生为中心的主动学习环境来解决这个问题。学生在课堂上就研究文献的原理、背景、方法、结果和结论进行展示并引导讨论。这种方法已应用于微生物学专业的本科生和研究生课程，两组学生的期望和标准有所不同。从三个学期收集的学生评价对教学方法持积极态度。学生们称赞纳入了“里程碑式发现”文章，这些文章探讨了病毒学中范式转变的概念。本科生表示他们对理解科学文献的信心增强，并强调了小组作业的影响。在对该课程的批评中，学生们建议涵盖的主题更加多样化，并纳入近期出版物。总体而言，我们改进后的方法提升了学生接触初级科学文献的体验并促进了学生学习。
