Preprint peer review enhances undergraduate biology students’ disciplinary literacy and sense of belonging in STEM

Abstract

Undergraduate education on science publishing and peer review is limited compared to the focus on experimental research. Since peer review is integral to the scientific process and central to the identity of a scientist, we envision a paradigm shift that makes teaching peer review integral to undergraduate science education, and hypothesize that this may facilitate the development of students' scientific literacy and identity formation. To this end, we developed a curriculum for biology undergraduates to learn about the mechanisms of peer review, then write and publish their own peer reviews as a way to authentically join the scientific community of practice. The curriculum was implemented as a semester-long intervention in one class and as a module intervention embedded into a discipline-based class on vaccines. Before and after both interventions, we measured students' scientific literacy, including peer review ability, using quantitative methods. We also carried out a longitudinal qualitative assessment of students' perceptions of their scientific literacy and identity using thematic analysis of students' writing. Here, we present data on the improvement in peer review ability of undergraduates in both classes, and data on the curriculum's interrelated impact on students' development of scientific literacy, identity, and belonging in academic and professional spaces. These data suggest that undergraduates can and should be trained in peer review to foster the interrelated development of their scientific literacy, scientific identity, and sense of belonging in science. Keywords: Peer review, science literacy, disciplinary literacy, science identity, sense of belonging, community of practice, scholarly communication

Implementation of Worksheets Based on Experiments on The Subject of Biotechnology to Develop Students' Scientific Literacy

“…Furthermore, the development of scientific literacy is linked to broader educational goals. (Otto et al, 2022) suggest that undergraduate training in peer review can enhance scientific literacy, scientific identity, and a sense of belonging to science. This approach not only fosters disciplinary literacy but also contributes to students' overall scientific understanding.…”

Recommendations for accelerating open preprint peer review to improve the culture of science

“…Some preprint review platforms (such as PREreview) offer structured templates that can help guide new reviewers [ 28 ]. Preprint review is already being incorporated into undergraduate and graduate courses on scientific publishing [ 29 – 31 ]. Furthermore, by focusing journal clubs on preprints rather than journal publications, participants can move beyond simply discussing a paper that is unlikely to change to producing reviews that will help authors and readers.…”

Engaging undergraduate students in preprint peer review

“…However, we view our findings as proof of concept for the feasibility of training undergraduate students in aspects of the preprint review process. Together with other promising examples in biology (Otto et al, 2023), we hope that additional disciplines may take this as inspiration for developing similar pedagogical tools according to their specific needs and requirements.…”

“…In addition, previous initiatives were not explicitly embedded into a structured training programme at the undergraduate level. We know of only one exploratory study that reported on successful inclusion of peer review within an undergraduate biology curriculum for 19 students (Otto et al, 2023). The structure of undergraduate programmes can present considerable challenges for teaching peer review because accredited undergraduate degrees are required to deliver specific modules aligned with their programme structures, leaving limited opportunity to add an additional module focused exclusively on peer reviewing.…”