Promoting Science Communication with Children's Literature as a High-Impact Practice (HIP) Assessment.

INTRODUCTION

Storytelling is the oldest teaching practice, and it incorporates multiple student-centered learning strategies, such as reflection of deep learning, student engagement, and project-based learning (1). Storytelling can be used within a science classroom in the form of science communication. Particularly within a nonmajor biology classroom, storytelling helps close the gap between Science and non-Science learners (2). STEM courses for nonmajor students must acknowledge and address the diverse skill sets of nonmajor students in a science course (3), and the specific engagement of students via multimodal communication methods (i.e., communication methods that are wider and more encompassing of diverse literacies, such as visual, spatial, aural, and digital, than simply the written and oral practices that are more traditionally assumed/tested) improves their retention of content and concepts (4). This practical paper presents a vetted science communication assignment, called The Science Library Project. Inspired by humanities and social science style assignments, it participates in High-Impact Practice (HIP) pedagogy and builds on the skill set that students develop within their non-STEM programs. Among other key HIP characteristics, The Science Library Project has students invest a significant amount of time and effort over an extended period of time, participate in frequent, timely, and constructive feedback, and, most importantly for this project, have the opportunity to discover the relevance of their learning through real-world applications in public demonstrations of their projects (5). For The Science Library Project, students created children’s books related to one of the STEM concepts discussed in class and presented them in high school (HS) and/or elementary school (ES) classrooms. The mark composition was divided into: Critical and Creative Thinking; Organization of Concepts; Content/Ideas; Graphics; Text; and Design—this composition is available as supplementary material in the rubrics (Appendix 1). This project is not limited to a specific subject matter, year, or subset of students; however, it would work better in a classroom setting than a lab. This project focuses on topics covered within the classroom, and it therefore does not require knowledge beyond the course.

PROCEDURE

Methods and Materials

During the first month of the semester, students identify a topic within the course that their book will be based on and submit an Idea Overview (Appendix 3) outlining how they will present their topic within the book (Fig. 1 – phase 1). This helps students outline their project idea and design before creating the final product. Once they have received feedback on their Idea Overview (the common pitfalls at this point for students were 1) not having enough Science content and 2) having little to no plot or narrative to the story), students proceed to phase 2 (Fig. 1 – phase 2A). Students contact HS or ES teachers to identify a classroom interested in accepting their book. During this phase, students also develop a rough draft of the book that incorporates formative and evaluative feedback from the university instructor and informal, non-evaluative feedback from the ES/HS teacher (Fig. 1 – phase 2B). By the end of the third month, students have created a good copy of the book which they print/self-publish to present formally (Fig. 1 – phase 3; Appendix 4). While some students used online self-publishing/book-making programs (like Blurb or Canva), others used superstore photo-printing services (Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart), and others made DIY custom books complete with original artwork and handwritten narratives—any and all methods were accepted and encouraged, and autonomy was left with the individual groups to decide how best to create their books. These books are then presented to the public at a Science Library Project Symposium at a local public library (in our implementation, it was referred to as the Bradford Area Public Library Symposium). This occurs at the end of the semester and is a free, day-long community event at the public library (Fig. 1 – phase 4A). After the symposium, students give their bound books to the teachers (Fig. 1 – phase 4C), who may request that the students present the book to their class (Fig. 1 – phase 4B). The final phase of The Science Library Project (Fig. 1 – phase 4D) has students submit a second copy of their books to their course instructor for the Science Library Project Archive (a self-named, growing collection of samples and successes for this particular project) to benefit future students and the Department. The students’ final grades in this course were based on their Idea Overview and Final Book submission (Appendix 1). A description of each aspect of the project is provided in Appendix 2 for instructors, while Appendix 6 provides helpful suggestions on how to introduce the project to students.

FIGURE 1

Flowchart of the book-making process, including public/ES/HS participation throughout. HS = high school; ES = elementary school.

CONCLUSION

The Science Library Project addresses several undergraduate teaching challenges: it mitigates student perception in nonmajors STEM courses that the course is not “relevant to either their disciplinary interests or their daily lives” (6, p. 1); it provides a HIP framework that works toward improving student engagement, academic performance, and content retention; and it activates the development of students’ multimodal communication skills in their introductory courses to set them up for success in their degrees and in industry post-graduation.

The Science Library Project also innovates traditional teaching methods that foster written and communication skills in our undergraduate learners, such as writing-to-learn activities (1-minute Papers, Think-Write-Pair-Shares, free-writing, and logbooks). By moving these teaching methods out of quick, low-stakes activities and into a term-long, high-stakes assessment project, the writing and communication focus becomes an integral outcome of the course and of the students’ skill development. Holster and Boomer (2) also show that instructors’ use of graphic texts (such as comic books) to teach effectively engages students and productively supports their learning. The Science Library Project draws on this this, too, to have the students themselves making and using graphic texts to learn.

This project was initially implemented in fall 2017 within two courses at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, “Concepts of Biology” and “Human Biology.” A total of 90 students completed this project, resulting in 31 book projects submitted, presented, and archived. Student feedback on this project and feedback from teachers who received books for their classrooms was overwhelmingly positive (Appendix 5).

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