Collaborative Research: Developing Biology Undergraduates’ Scientific Literacy and Identity Through Peer Review of Scientific Manuscripts

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This project aims to serve the national interest by educating undergraduates about peer review. Peer review is the process where scientists evaluate the credibility of each other's research articles before they are published. A course in peer review is a significant innovation in undergraduate science education. Such a course has potential to increase students’ scientific literacy by providing deeper understanding of how experimental results are translated into published knowledge. Additionally, it can lead to an increase in students’ sense of identity as a scientist by giving them authentic opportunities to act as a peer reviewer. Improving the scientific literacy of undergraduates is critical for creating a scientifically-literate public that values and can discriminate peer-reviewed scientific literature from pseudoscience. Facilitating undergraduates’ science identity formation will enhance their sense of belonging in the scientific community. This is critical for broadening participation and preparing students for success in the STEM workforce. By providing biology undergraduates with authentic experiences in the rapidly changing field of scientific peer review and publishing, this project will uncover part of hidden science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum aligned with anti-racism efforts within the academy and STEM workforce. This project seeks to provide an evidence base for an innovative undergraduate curriculum on peer review that increases scientific literacy and provides a means for broadening participation in STEM.The goal of this project is to evaluate a new, constructivist curriculum in which biology undergraduates learn about the importance and mechanisms of peer review, then write and publish their own reviews of preprints. Changes in students' scientific literacy and scientific identity as a result of the curriculum will be measured by validated pre-post surveys and thematic analysis of students’ writing. This project will extend the literature on undergraduates’ scientific literacy and identity formation to the underexplored topic of manuscript peer review, an authentic scholarly practice less commonly available to undergraduates than authentic laboratory experiences. The curriculum will be tested at 3 institutions to evaluate its efficacy, its transferability to different instructors, student populations (biology majors, non-majors), course types (introductory, advanced disciplinary), and institution types (private, public, college, university, 2-year, 4-year). Its utility for educators will also be assessed via a survey of undergraduate biology instructors that asks about their experience with and interest in using authentic peer review in the classroom. This survey, the results of this research, and the evidenced-based curricular materials created by this project will be disseminated across the education and research networks of the project personnel. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.