The Art of Referencing as an Often Overlooked Aspect of Scientific Literacy: Study of a Classroom Intervention

Abstract

Scientific literacy is a complex topic that is often cited, but rarely fully defined. Teaching scientific literacy often focuses solely on scientific reading and writing. However, to be scientifically literate, one must also be able to distinguish between credible and non-credible sources of information. Such ability involves a thorough knowledge of referencing and the peer-review process. To incorporate such issues into the teaching of a specific aspect of scientific literacy, a two-part module was developed with one module focusing on each of the aforementioned topics. Pre-tests and post-tests assessed the efficacy of within-module assignments in terms of increasing student knowledge and confidence in understanding scientific literacy. Following completion of the modules, students were involved in a project that required the writing a scientific paper. Statistically significant gains were observed in student confidence after student completion of the module-specific assignments. Similar findings occurred in knowledge of basic formatting and peer-review after completion of the written paper. The timing in which gains occurred suggests that procedural learning occurred prior to declarative learning. Thus, a multistep process appears effective in explaining a complex topic such as scientific literacy to undergraduate students.