Investigating Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Science in Courses Taught Using the CREATE Strategy

Abstract

Many science educators agree that 21st century students need to develop mature scientific thinking skills. Unsurprisingly, students’ and experts’ perceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge differ. Moreover, students’ naïve and entrenched epistemologies can preclude their development toward “thinking like scientists.” Novel teaching approaches that guide students toward more mature perceptions may be needed to support their development of scientific thinking skills. To address such issues, physics educators developed the Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS), subsequently adapted for chemistry and biology. These surveys are “designed to compare novice and expert perceptions about the content and structure of a specific discipline; the source of knowledge about that discipline, including connection of the discipline to the real world; and problem-solving approaches” (Semsar et al., CBE Life Sci. Educ. 10:268–278; p 269). We used CLASS-Bio to track students’ perceptions of science in separate first-year and upper-level CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret the data, Think of the next Experiment) electives, hypothesizing that perceptions would become significantly more expert-like across a semester. Both first-year and upper-level cohorts made significant expert-like shifts. Students also made significant critical thinking gains in CREATE courses. Our findings of more mature, expert-like perceptions of science post-course contrast with those of previous studies, where students’ thinking became significantly less expert-like across a term of introductory instruction and changed little in upper-level biology electives. Augmenting traditional biology curricula with CREATE courses could be an economical way to help undergraduates develop more mature views of science.

Conceptual Change Inquiry Curriculum and Traditional Lecture Approach: Preservice Teacher’s Perceptions of Learning

“…Results from this study align with others who found that various forms of inquiry improved students' perceptions (Hoskins & Gottesman, 2018;Kazempour, Amirshokoohi, & Harwood, 2012;Majerich & Schmuckler, 2007;McArthur & Van Hook, 2004). Further, Houghton (2004) stated that providing intellectual independence and letting students learn from each other can improve their perceptions.…”

“…Duran, McArthur, and Van Hook (2004) investigated the impact of an inquiry college physics class on students' perceptions and found significantly more positive perceptions than those in the traditional lecture class. Another study by Hoskins and Gottesman (2018) used "CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret the data, Think of the next Experiment)" (p. 1) instructional approach to improve students' perceptions of a biology course. There was a significant shift from novice-like views to expert-like views within a semester of using CREATE.…”

A Single, Narrowly Focused CREATE Primary Literature Module Evokes Gains in Genetics Students’ Self-Efficacy and Understanding of the Research Process

“…We compared students who experienced the CREATE module with those in different sections of the same course taught without CREATE. In this way, we tested the hypothesis that students who experienced a single CREATE module taught over a few class periods would make gains in scientific literacy and selfefficacy while also experiencing positive shifts in epistemological beliefs about scientific skills and knowledge (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Our hypothesis was partially supported by the data in that students in the CREATE sections made significant gains in self-efficacy but did not gain transferable data analysis skills.…”

“…Taking advantage of the narrative nature of science, the strategy uses intensive analysis of interrelated papers to demystify and humanize the research process. Students in CREATE courses have made a variety of cognitive and affective gains, in first-year (19,20) and upper-level electives (18,21) at a minorityserving institution, as well as in a variety of four-year (22,23) and two-year (24) college/university settings. All implementations of CREATE tested to date were semester-or quarter-long topical courses taught by faculty who learned the CREATE technique through multi-day faculty development workshops (22)(23)(24).…”

A Modified CREATE Intervention Improves Student Cognitive and Affective Outcomes in an Upper-Division Genetics Course

“…Students develop core concepts and competencies in biological sciences through reading discussing primary literature and by systematically decoding figures, tables, and narratives in a scaffolded fashion (14,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). CREATE has been successfully implemented by faculty across many institutional contexts (26) and has been shown to promote affective, cognitive, and epistemological development of diverse two-and four-year students (27)(28)(29)(30)(31).…”