Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Scheifele, Lisa Z
• Tsotakos, Nikolaos
• Wolyniak, Michael J
• Aslam, Muhammad Shahzad

Titel

Preprint articles as a tool for teaching data analysis and scientific communication

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2021-12, Vol.16 (12), p.e0261622-e0261622

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The skill of analyzing and interpreting research data is central to the scientific process, yet it is one of the hardest skills for students to master. While instructors can coach students through the analysis of data that they have either generated themselves or obtained from published articles, the burgeoning availability of preprint articles provides a new potential pedagogical tool. We developed a new method in which students use a cognitive apprenticeship model to uncover how experts analyzed a paper and compare the professional's cognitive approach to their own. Specifically, students first critique research data themselves and then identify changes between the preprint and final versions of the paper that were likely the results of peer review. From this activity, students reported diverse insights into the processes of data presentation, peer review, and scientific publishing. Analysis of preprint articles is therefore a valuable new tool to strengthen students' information literacy and understanding of the process of science.