Information Fluency for Undergraduate Biology Majors: Applications of Inquiry-based Learning in a Developmental Biology Course

被引:33
作者
Gehring, Kathleen M. [2 ]
Eastman, Deborah A. [1 ]
机构
[1] Connecticut Coll, Dept Biol, New London, CT 06320 USA
[2] Connecticut Coll, Informat Serv, New London, CT 06320 USA
来源
CBE-LIFE SCIENCES EDUCATION | 2008年 / 7卷 / 01期
基金
美国安德鲁·梅隆基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1187/cbe.07-10-0091
中图分类号
G40 [教育学];
学科分类号
040101 ; 120403 ;
摘要
Many initiatives for the improvement of undergraduate science education call for inquiry-based learning that emphasizes investigative projects and reading of the primary literature. These approaches give students an understanding of science as a process and help them integrate content presented in courses. At the same time, general initiatives to promote information fluency are being promoted on many college and university campuses. Information fluency refers to discipline-specific processing of information, and it involves integration of gathered information with specific ideas to form logical conclusions. We have implemented the use of inquiry-based learning to enhance and study discipline-specific information fluency skills in an upper-level undergraduate Developmental Biology course. In this study, an information literacy tutorial and a set of linked assignments using primary literature analysis were integrated with two inquiry-based laboratory research projects. Quantitaitve analysis of student responses suggests that the abilities of students to identify and apply valid sources of information were enhanced. Qualitative assessment revealed a set of patterns by which students gather and apply information. Self-assessment responses indicated that students recognized the impact of the assignments on their abilities to gather and apply information and that they were more confident about these abilities for future biology courses and beyond.
引用
收藏
页码:54 / 63
页数:10
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