Teaching Critical Thinking and Writing Skills with CPR

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2008, Volume 29

Robert Hodson, Todd Nickle, Linda Dion, & Dee Baer

Abstract

This workshop explores methods of teaching critical thinking and writing skills applied to laboratory reports. It is a challenge to teach these skills to large numbers of students and to teach report evaluation skills to new graduate student laboratory instructors. We conducted a carefully designed project in the Fall Semester 2006 in which Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) was tried as a way to train students by using peer and self evaluation and a rubric testing for the target skills. Honors and conventional students in an introductory biology laboratory experience were assigned in small groups to CPR or standard (untrained) peer review. After the semester, a trained team of assessors evaluated rough and final drafts of early (first) and late (last) of four reports spread over the semester. Responses on pre and post questionnaires were also examined, and participating teaching assistants were queried. We present outcomes, provide a computer-based "walk though" of a CPR cycle of activities (prepared with Wink; a poster – included in this 2007 ABLE collection – presents this software), and open the floor to discussion. Although participants might attend to hear about the quantitative data collected, there are three other significant aspects: (1) the materials prepared for the project which included a very useful rubric, a handout on preparing tables and figures (graphs and images), and a handout highlighting key scientific writing rules, (2) a revised and successful teaching plan for the sequel Spring 2007 course, and (3) the method used to include tables and figures in the CPR form designed only for html-tagged text.

Keywords:  critical thinking abilities, writing

University of Kentucky (2007)