Students' approaches to developing scientific communication skills.

Science communication is a core skill for undergraduate science students to acquire in preparation for their future careers, but studies show that this skill is underdeveloped in science graduates. The aim of this study was to discover the resources and approaches undergraduate students use to effectively develop their science communication skills and how the use of these methods relates to academic performance on a communication task. Undergraduate students undertaking a second-year biomedical science course (n = 490) were asked which approaches and resources they used to aid the development of their science communication skills, and the frequency of their responses was correlated against their laboratory report mark, using multiple regression and relative weights analysis. Students' (n = 453) use of Communication Learning in Practice for Scientists (CLIPS; an open-access interactive website on science communication), resources provided by the university, interactions with university teaching staff, and engagement with the scientific literature significantly predicted the laboratory report mark. Students enrolled in a blended format or in remote online learning only, and in different programs, performed comparably in the written report and used similar approaches and resources, other than remote students reporting more use of other online resources and students in blended learning engaging more with university resources. Together, these findings provide insight into which strategies are most helpful for undergraduate students to engage with to improve their scientific communication skills. The findings highlight that the provision of well-designed interactive communication resources, guided assessment resources, and opportunities to engage with teaching staff can assist in the development of science communication skills.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study identifies the approaches and resources that undergraduate science students use to develop their science communication skills. It reveals which of these approaches and resources predict improved academic performance in a written science communication assessment task. The findings point to the importance of explicit guidance, and engagement with teaching staff, in advancing the development of science communication skills.

Do-it-yourself physiology labs: Can hands-on laboratory classes be effectively replicated online?

Laboratory classes are a cornerstone of physiology education, enabling students to develop essential knowledge and skills. Recent moves toward utilizing blended options to support face-to-face classes with online materials are beneficial, but using solely online classes may not produce similar learning gains. During 2020, the global pandemic meant a loss of face-to-face teaching, such that laboratory classes were rapidly transitioned to online delivery. This study explores the impact of this shift on undergraduate students, evaluating their use of the online laboratory classes and the impact this had on their examination performance and their perceptions of learning. Student use of the online laboratory classes varied, with those spending more time performing better on examinations. Students valued the online classes, finding them helpful for their learning, but also felt that the lack of face-to-face laboratory classes and interactions with peers and teaching staff was detrimental to their learning experience. Overall, academic performance of online learners was comparable to previous years but may indicate some underlying deficits.

Learning how to learn: can embedded discussion boards help first-year students discover new learning strategies?

Learning anatomy and physiology at university can be challenging, as students need to understand both the language of the discipline and complex topics, such as system integration. Yet learning strategies are rarely taught at university, making it difficult for students to adopt new strategies, if their approach to learning has not been effective or efficient. This study evaluated the use of small-group peer discussion boards as an avenue for sharing learning strategies between students in a first-year anatomy and physiology course. The majority of students (91%) identified strategies from the discussion board worth trying before they completed the midsemester exam. The most frequently reported type of strategy was transforming records. By the end of semester, 76% of students had adopted at least one new strategy; however, these students performed significantly worse on the exam compared with students who did not adopt new strategies. The students who adopted new strategies learned about them from peers (33%), the discussion board (32%), or through self-discovery (32%). The majority of students (83%) found the discussion boards to be useful as a source of new learning strategies and for insight into how others learn. Although the discussion boards provided an avenue for students to learn about new strategies from each other, further guidance from instructors may be required to help students evaluate the effectiveness of these learning strategies.

How do students deal with difficult physiological knowledge?

Physiology courses are considered to be challenging for students to master due to the highly conceptual nature of the discipline and the substantial cognitive effort required to understand disciplinary knowledge. Students must choose appropriate learning strategies to develop their understanding, as their choices may influence both their understanding and their academic achievement. The primary aim of this study was to develop an understanding of why students experience difficulties with physiology and how they respond when facing the challenge of learning this discipline. Undergraduate allied health students ( n = 231) studying physiology were asked to identify the topics they had difficulty understanding, the strategies they used to deal with that difficult knowledge, and the reasons for their difficulties. Consenting students' responses were subjected to inductive and deductive thematic analyses, and their performance on examinations were collated. Students reported that they found physiology difficult due to their lack of familiarity with it and the level of detail required. To aid their understanding of difficult topics, students commonly reported reviewing information, seeking further information, and seeking social assistance, with more high-achieving students reporting reviewing records, and fewer reporting seeking social assistance than poor-achieving students. Most notably, a disconnect was found between students' reporting of difficult modules and their academic achievement on those modules, with students who cited difficulties performing equally well, if not better, than those who do not. Importantly, these findings suggest that students, in recognizing their difficulties and the reasons for them, can implement effective learning strategies to overcome them.

Assessing students' ability to critically evaluate evidence in an inquiry-based undergraduate laboratory course.

The ability to critically evaluate and use evidence from one's own work or from primary literature is invaluable to any researcher. These skills include the ability to identify strengths and weakness of primary literature, to gauge the impact of research findings on a field, to identify gaps in a field that require more research, and to contextualize findings within a field. This study developed a model to examine undergraduate science students' abilities to critically evaluate and use evidence through an analysis of laboratory reports from control and experimental groups in nonresearch-aligned and research-aligned inquiry-based laboratory classes, respectively, and contrasted these with published scientific research articles. The reports analyzed (n = 42) showed that students used evidence in a variety of ways, most often referring to literature indirectly, and least commonly highlighting limitations of literature. There were significant positive correlations between grade awarded and the use of references, evidence, and length, but there were no significant differences between control and experimental groups, so data were pooled. The use of evidence in scientific research articles (n = 7) was similar to student reports except that expert authors were more likely to refer to their own results and cite more references. Analysis showed that students, by the completion of the second year of their undergraduate degree, had expertise approaching that of published authors. These findings demonstrate that it is possible to provide valuable broad-scale undergraduate research experiences to all students in a cohort, giving them exposure to the methods and communication processes of research as well as an opportunity to hone their critical evaluation skills.

A set of vertically integrated inquiry-based practical curricula that develop scientific thinking skills for large cohorts of undergraduate students.

Science graduates require critical thinking skills to deal with the complex problems they will face in their 21st century workplaces. Inquiry-based curricula can provide students with the opportunities to develop such critical thinking skills; however, evidence suggests that an inappropriate level of autonomy provided to underprepared students may not only be daunting to students but also detrimental to their learning. After a major review of the Bachelor of Science, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a series of three vertically integrated courses with inquiry-style laboratory practicals for early-stage undergraduate students in biomedical science. These practical curricula were designed so that students would work with increasing autonomy and ownership of their research projects to develop increasingly advanced scientific thinking and communication skills. Students undertaking the first iteration of these three vertically integrated courses reported learning gains in course content as well as skills in scientific writing, hypothesis construction, experimental design, data analysis, and interpreting results. Students also demonstrated increasing skills in both hypothesis formulation and communication of findings as a result of participating in the inquiry-based curricula and completing the associated practical assessment tasks. Here, we report the specific aspects of the curricula that students reported as having the greatest impact on their learning and the particular elements of hypothesis formulation and communication of findings that were more challenging for students to master. These findings provide important implications for science educators concerned with designing curricula to promote scientific thinking and communication skills alongside content acquisition.

The anatomy of agency: Improving academic performance in first-year university students.

The transition from secondary to tertiary education can be challenging, as students must adapt to independent learning. For students in the allied health and nursing disciplines, this transition may coincide with compulsory first-year courses in anatomy, which are traditionally difficult to master. Students' agency-their capacity to make intentional choices to alter the path of their learning-may play a role in their successful completion of first-year anatomy courses. This study aimed to develop a measure for agency and to determine whether agency is associated with academic achievement. First-year students (n = 131) completed open-ended questions measuring each aspect of agency. Student responses were quantified using rubrics and then combined to create an overall agency score. Three factors of agency were determined: action, metacognition, and self-efficacy. Students with higher agency scores were significantly more likely to have higher academic achievement in anatomy compared to students with lower agency scores. The relationship between agency and academic achievement was strongest for action. These results suggest that encouraging students to be active participants in their learning may help them to achieve at university.

Effect of Metacognitive Prompts on Undergraduate Pharmacy Students' Self-regulated Learning Behavior.

Objective. To elucidate the ability of pharmacy students to self-regulate their learning, and to determine the impact of their self-regulatory behaviors on their learning outcomes. Methods. This study took a mixed methods approach that used "meta-learning" assessment tasks to identify the learning strategies chosen and relied on by 139 second-year pharmacy students, and to determine the relationships between the quality of strategies and academic achievement. Results. Although students had previously tried a wide range of learning strategies, they only consistently rely on a few of them. When prompted to use more advanced strategies, the quality of strategies reported were significantly related to academic achievement, with significant relationships between achievement and goal setting, self-efficacy, self-satisfaction, self-evaluation, and adaptive reactions. Conclusion. These findings suggest that high-achieving students use higher-quality forethought and self-reflective strategies than do poor-achieving students. Potentially, prompting students to engage in higher-quality strategies may increase students' awareness of their own learning and improve student learning outcomes.

Online instructional anatomy videos: Student usage, self-efficacy, and performance in upper limb regional anatomy assessment.

Allied health professionals concur that a sound knowledge of practical gross anatomy is vital for the clinician, however, human anatomy courses in allied health programs have been identified as high-risk for attrition and failure. While anatomists and clinicians agree that learning anatomy via human cadaveric instruction is the preferred method, students vary in their reaction to the cadaveric learning experience and have differing levels of anatomy self-efficacy. This study investigated whether student self-efficacy had an effect on student usage of supplemental instructional videos and whether the use of videos had an impact on student self-efficacy and/or learning. Anatomy self-efficacy differed based on gender and prior performance. Student usage of the videos varied widely and students with lower self-efficacy were more inclined to use the resources. The provision of the videos did not improve overall cohort performance as compared to a historical cohort, however, those students that accessed all video sets experienced a greater normalized learning gain compared to students that used none or one of the four sets of videos. Student reports and usage patterns indicate that the videos were primarily used for practical class preparation and revision. Potentially, the videos represent a passive mode of teaching whereas active learning has been demonstrated to result in greater learning gains. Adapting the videos into interactive tutorials which will provide opportunity for feedback and the development of students' self-evaluation may be more appropriate. Anat Sci Educ 11: 461-470. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

CLIPS (Communication Learning in Practice for Scientists): A New Online Resource Leverages Assessment to Help Students and Academics Improve Science Communication.

The ability to communicate is a crucial graduate outcome for science students; however, crowded curricula and large class sizes make it difficult to find time to explicitly teach foundational communication skills. In response to these challenges, we developed an online resource called Communication Learning in Practice for Scientists, or CLIPS. CLIPS provides a multi-point mentoring model that has allowed us to successfully integrate the teaching and learning of a complex set of tacitly-understood skills across multiple scientific disciplines. It also provides a flexible way for industry experts, academics, and students to learn from one another's experiences of, and expertise in, science communication. CLIPS leverages the student focus on assessment; students access CLIPS for pragmatic, detailed, and consistent advice when undertaking assessment tasks. In creating CLIPS, our philosophy was that communication is the core business of any scientific practice, not an add-on after the event. Extensive, repeated use of CLIPS by both students and academics indicates that the resource and its delivery model are considered useful, respected, and impactful for, and by, the intended audiences. We have provided CLIPS to the science education community through www.clips.edu.au.

The efficacy of interactive lecturing for students with diverse science backgrounds.

Learning is an active process, and, as such, interactive lectures are considered as the educational best practice. This study investigated the efficacy of interactive lecturing in a module of eight respiratory physiology lectures in a second-year Physiology course with two distinct subcohorts: students with strong science backgrounds and those without. The comparison of student performance in the summative examinations of respiratory physiology allowed us to evaluate the efficacy of interactive lecturing for each subcohort. Formal teaching evaluations were used to gauge the students' perception of interactive lectures. To further validate our findings, we repeated the study in the following year. The introduction of interactive lecturing significantly improved learning outcomes, with this improvement being maintained for the period of this study. Furthermore, students with limited prior knowledge, who had typically performed very poorly in this module, achieved a similar learning outcome to those students with a good science background. From these summative results and the students' perceptions, we concluded that students that are alert, motivated and interested in the subject, and engaged in learning activities and that are being encouraged to think and receive constant feedback on their progress will become confident in their learning abilities and have improved learning outcomes.

Changes in Biology Self-Efficacy during a First-Year University Course.

Academic self-efficacy encompasses judgments regarding one's ability to perform academic tasks and is correlated with achievement and persistence. This study describes changes in biology self-efficacy during a first-year course. Students (n = 614) were given the Biology Self-Efficacy Scale at the beginning and end of the semester. The instrument consisted of 21 questions ranking confidence in performing biology-related tasks on a scale from 1 (not at all confident) to 5 (totally confident). The results demonstrated that students increased in self-efficacy during the semester. High school biology and chemistry contributed to self-efficacy at the beginning of the semester; however, this relationship was lost by the end of the semester, when experience within the course became a significant contributing factor. A proportion of high- and low- achieving (24 and 40%, respectively) students had inaccurate self-efficacy judgments of their ability to perform well in the course. In addition, female students were significantly less confident than males overall, and high-achieving female students were more likely than males to underestimate their academic ability. These results suggest that the Biology Self-Efficacy Scale may be a valuable resource for tracking changes in self-efficacy in first-year students and for identifying students with poorly calibrated self-efficacy perceptions.

Oral administration of green plant-derived chemicals and antioxidants alleviates stress-induced cellular oxidative challenge.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the efficacy of the combination antioxidant, Formula 42 (F42), on cellular stress indicators in animal and human models of stress-induced oxidative stress. METHODS: A sub-chronic psychological stress model in rodents was used to induce stress and oxidative stress indicators over a 10-day period during which animals received oral doses of F42 or water. Following treatment, body weight, plasma stress hormone corticosterone, and oxidative capacity were evaluated. In healthy human subjects, a randomized double-blind crossover study was used to examine the antioxidant effect of F42 or placebo in an exercise-induced oxidative stress model. Erythrocyte and plasma oxidative status was evaluated using the fluorescent activation of 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin (DCF) as an indicator. RESULTS: Oral administration of F42 reduced the corticosterone response to acute stress compared to vehicle but did not differ at the conclusion of the 10-day study. However, F42 administration did reduce stress-induced growth restriction and alleviate DCF activation in circulating erythrocytes by approximately 10% following 10 days of stress exposure. Oral administration of F42 also significantly reduced DCF activation by approximately 10% in healthy human subjects undergoing exercise-induced oxidative stress. CONCLUSIONS: Oral administration of F42 in rodents produces transient reductions in stress hormones and reduces stress indicators following sub-chronic psychological stress exposure. In humans, F42 acts as an early and potent antioxidant capable of scavenging free radicals within 30 min of ingestion.

Expanding voluntary active-learning opportunities for pharmacy students in a Respiratory Physiology Module.

OBJECTIVES: To expand voluntary active-learning opportunities for bachelor of pharmacy students enrolled in a third-year human physiology and pharmacology course and determine whether the additional course components improved learning outcomes. DESIGN: Additional voluntary active-learning opportunities including a large-class tutorial, additional formative assessment, and an online discussion were added to the Respiratory Physiology Module of the course. Examination scores were compared with those from previous years. A questionnaire was administered to assess students' perception of the active-learning components. ASSESSMENT: Mean examination scores increased from 69.3% +/- 24.4% in 2003 to 88.9% +/- 13.4% in 2004 and 86.9% +/- 17.6% in 2005, after the addition of the active-learning components. Students' overall perception of the value of the active-learning activities was positive. SUMMARY: The addition of voluntary active-learning course components to a required pharmacy course resulted in improved student examination scores, and decreased failure rate, and were accomplished at low cost and with little additional staff time.