Using Scaffolding and Deliberate Practice to Improve Abstract Writing in an Introductory Biology Laboratory Course.

ABSTRACT: s play the pivotal role of selling an article to a prospective reader, and for students, the ability to communicate science in concise written form may foster scientific thinking. However, students struggle with abstract composition, and we lack evidence-based educational innovations to help them develop this skill. We designed, implemented, and assessed an intervention for abstract composition with elements of scaffolding and transparency to ask whether deliberate practice improves concise scientific writing in early career undergraduate biology majors. We evaluated student performance by analyzing abstracts written before and after the intervention and by assessing pre- and posttest student concept maps. We found that scaffolded learning improved student abstract writing, with the greate

SUBMITTER: Christian N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6113659 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature