Perceived Challenges in Primary Literature in a Master's Class: Effects of Experience and Instruction.

ABSTRACT: Primary literature offers rich opportunities to teach students how to "think like a scientist," but the challenges students face when they attempt to read research articles are not well understood. Here, we present an analysis of what master's students perceive as the most challenging aspects of engaging with primary literature. We examined 69 pairs of pre- and postcourse responses from students enrolled in a master's-level course that offered a structured analysis of primary literature. On the basis of these responses, we identified six categories of challenges. Before instruction, "techniques" and "experimental data" were the most frequently identified categories of challenges. The majority of difficulties students perceived in the primary literature corresponded to Bloom's lower-order c

SUBMITTER: Lie R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5132374 | biostudies-literature | Winter 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature