Popular science writing to support students’ learning of science and scientific literacy
(2015) In Research in Science Education- Abstract
- In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of
writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier
studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need
for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the possibilities that students’
popular science writing offers. Our study was based on a questionnaire answered by 64 degree
project students in biology. The questions focused on the students’ own experiences of writing
about their projects for the general public and what contribution the writing made to their
learning of science. A vast majority... (More) - In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of
writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier
studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need
for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the possibilities that students’
popular science writing offers. Our study was based on a questionnaire answered by 64 degree
project students in biology. The questions focused on the students’ own experiences of writing
about their projects for the general public and what contribution the writing made to their
learning of science. A vast majority of the students expressed that the writing helped change
their perspectives and that they saw their subject and project in a different light. Many of the
students described that the popular science writing made it easier for them to put the science
content in a context, to better understand the aim of their own work, and the implications of
their findings. We discuss the positive effects that popular science writing may have on
students’ subject matter understanding and development of scientific literacy. Our concluding
remark is that popular science writing is a useful tool for reflection and that it adds significant
value to the students’ capacity to change perspectives, understand their subject and develop
scientific literacy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7989511
- author
- Pelger, Susanne LU and Nilsson, Pernilla
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015-07-04
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Biology, Higher education, Popular science writing, Science, Writing-to-learn, Writing skills
- categories
- Higher Education
- in
- Research in Science Education
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84934782955
- wos:000379027700007
- ISSN
- 0157-244X
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11165-015-9465-y
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aac2c7ef-51c1-4c70-bf50-7114d69a3f28 (old id 7989511)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:56:33
- date last changed
- 2022-03-27 20:54:14
@article{aac2c7ef-51c1-4c70-bf50-7114d69a3f28,
abstract = {{In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of<br/><br>
writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier<br/><br>
studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need<br/><br>
for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the possibilities that students’<br/><br>
popular science writing offers. Our study was based on a questionnaire answered by 64 degree<br/><br>
project students in biology. The questions focused on the students’ own experiences of writing<br/><br>
about their projects for the general public and what contribution the writing made to their<br/><br>
learning of science. A vast majority of the students expressed that the writing helped change<br/><br>
their perspectives and that they saw their subject and project in a different light. Many of the<br/><br>
students described that the popular science writing made it easier for them to put the science<br/><br>
content in a context, to better understand the aim of their own work, and the implications of<br/><br>
their findings. We discuss the positive effects that popular science writing may have on<br/><br>
students’ subject matter understanding and development of scientific literacy. Our concluding<br/><br>
remark is that popular science writing is a useful tool for reflection and that it adds significant<br/><br>
value to the students’ capacity to change perspectives, understand their subject and develop<br/><br>
scientific literacy.}},
author = {{Pelger, Susanne and Nilsson, Pernilla}},
issn = {{0157-244X}},
keywords = {{Biology; Higher education; Popular science writing; Science; Writing-to-learn; Writing skills}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Research in Science Education}},
title = {{Popular science writing to support students’ learning of science and scientific literacy}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11165-015-9465-y}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11165-015-9465-y}},
year = {{2015}},
}