The development and implementation of an instrument to assess students' data analysis skills in molecular biology
Developing visual literacy skills is an important component of scientific literacy in undergraduate science education. Comprehension, analysis, and interpretation are parts of visual literacy that describe related data analysis skills important for learning in the biological sciences. The Molecular...
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| Published in: | Journal of microbiology & biology education Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 259 - 267 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
United States
American Society of Microbiology
01-12-2014
American Society for Microbiology |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Developing visual literacy skills is an important component of scientific literacy in undergraduate science education. Comprehension, analysis, and interpretation are parts of visual literacy that describe related data analysis skills important for learning in the biological sciences. The Molecular Biology Data Analysis Test (MBDAT) was developed to measure students' data analysis skills connected with scientific reasoning when analyzing and interpreting scientific data generated from experimental research. The skills analyzed included basic skills, such as identification of patterns and trends in data and connecting a method that generated the data, and advanced skills, such as distinguishing positive and negative controls, synthesizing conclusions, determining if data supports a hypothesis, and predicting alternative or next-step experiments. Construct and content validity were established and calculated statistical parameters demonstrate that the MBDAT is valid and reliable for measuring students' data analysis skills in molecular and cell biology contexts. The instrument also measures students' perceived confidence in their data interpretation abilities. As scientific research continues to evolve in complexity, interpretation of scientific information in visual formats will continue to be an important component of scientific literacy. Thus science education will need to support and assess students' development of these skills as part of students' scientific training. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1935-7877 1935-7885 |
| DOI: | 10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.703 |