Achieving genuine critical engagement of third year students with the scientific literature.

Abstract

Most universities include a statement in their graduate attributes that their University prepares its graduates to be something like ‘critical and creative scholars’. As part of a Bachelor of Science, students learn to read and analyse the scientific literature by completing assessment tasks such as literature reviews, essays and practical reports. However, throughout their degree, students need to make a transition from a surface, non-critical, view of the literature in which they rely on the author’s conclusions towards a deeper approach in which they interpret and critique the results. I aim to develop a teaching framework in which third year students are specifically trained in two key skills: 1) critical reading of the scientific literature 2) genuine interpretation of practical class results.