Using the Science Writing Heuristic to Improve Undergraduate Writing in Biology
Autor: | Todd Wellnitz, Spencer Rohlinger, Kelly Murray, Ruth J. Cronje |
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Rok vydání: | 2013 |
Předmět: | |
Zdroj: | International Journal of Science Education. 35:2718-2731 |
ISSN: | 1464-5289 0950-0693 |
DOI: | 10.1080/09500693.2011.628344 |
Popis: | Our objective was to investigate the impact of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) on undergraduates’ ability to express logical conclusions and include appropriate evidence in formal writing assignments. Students in three laboratory sections were randomly allocated to the SWH treatment (n = 51 students) with another three sections serving as a control (n = 47 students). All sections received an identical formal writing assignment to report results of laboratory activities. Four blinded raters used a 6-point rating scheme to evaluate the quality of students’ writing performance. Raters’ independent scoring agreement was evaluated using Cronbach's α. Paper scores were compared using a t-test, then papers were combined into low-scoring (3.5 of 6 points) or high-scoring (>3.5 of 6 points) sets and SWH and control cohorts were compared using Pearson's chi-square test. Papers from the SWH cohort were significantly (P = 0.02) more likely to receive a high score than those from the control cohort. Overall scores... |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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