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Just Figures: A Method to Introduce Students to Data Analysis One Figure at a Time

    Authors: Julia Massimelli1,*, Kameryn Denaro1, Brian Sato1, Pavan Kadandale1, Nancy Boury2
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    Affiliations: 1: University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697; 2: Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011
    AUTHOR AND ARTICLE INFORMATION AUTHOR AND ARTICLE INFORMATION
    • Received 03 September 2018 Accepted 07 December 2018 Published 28 June 2019
    • ©2019 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology

    • [open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
    • †Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
    • *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, 2232 McGaugh Hall mail code 3900, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697. Phone: 949-824-7998 Fax: 949-824-8551 E-mail: [email protected].
    Source: J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. June 2019 vol. 20 no. 2 doi:10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690
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    Abstract:

    Quantitative data analysis skills are basic competencies students in a STEM field should master. In this article, we describe a classroom activity using isolated figures from papers as a simple exercise to practice data analysis skills. We call this approach Just Figures. With this technique, instructors find figures from primary papers that address key concepts related to several of their course learning objectives. These figures are assigned as homework prior to class discussion. In class, instructors teach the lesson and include a 10- to 20-minute discussion of the figures assigned. Frequent and repeated discussion of paper figures during class increased students’ confidence in reading and analyzing data. The Just Figures approach also increased student accuracy when interpreting data. After six weeks of Just Figures practice, students scored, on average, three points higher on a 20-point data analysis assessment instrument than they had done before the Just Figures exercises. In addition, a course in which students consistently practiced Just Figures performed just as well on the data analysis assessment instrument and on a class exam dedicated to paper reading compared with courses where students practiced reading three entire papers. The Just Figures method is easy to implement and can effectively improve student data analysis skills in microbiology classrooms.

References & Citations

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2. American Association for the Advancement of Science 2009 Vision and change in undergraduate biology education: a call to action AAAS Washington, DC Accessed 11 March 2010 www.visionandchange.org/VC_report.pdf
3. Levine E 2001 Reading your way to scientific literacy J Coll Sci Teach 31 122 125
4. Kuldell N 2003 Read like a scientist to write like a scientist J Coll Sci Teach 33 32 35 10.2505/4/jcst03_033_02_32 http://dx.doi.org/10.2505/4/jcst03_033_02_32
5. Kozeracki CA, Carey MF, Colicelli J, Levis-Fitzgerald M 2006 An intensive primary-literature–based teaching program directly benefits undergraduate science majors and facilitates their transition to doctoral programs Cell Biol Educ 5 340 347
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7. Edwards R, White M, Gray J, Fischbacher C 2001 Use of a journal club and letter-writing exercise to teach critical appraisal to medical undergraduates Med Educ 35 691 694 10.1046/j.1365-2923.2001.00972.x 11437973 http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2001.00972.x
8. Clark IE, Romero-Calderón R, Olson JM, Jaworski L, Lopatto D, Banerjee U 2009 “Deconstructing” scientific research: a practical and scalable pedagogical tool to provide evidence-based science instruction PLOS Biol 7 e1000264 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000264 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000264
9. Hoskins SG, Stevens LM, Nehm R 2007 Selective use of the primary literature transforms the classroom into a virtual laboratory Genetics 176 1381 1389 10.1534/genetics.107.071183 17483426 1931557 http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.107.071183
10. Hoskins SG, Lopatto D, Stevens LM 2011 The C.R.E.A.T.E. approach to primary literature shifts undergraduates’ self-assessed ability to read and analyze journal articles, attitudes about science, and epistemological beliefs CBE Life Sci Educ 10 368 378 10.1187/cbe.11-03-0027 22135371 3228655 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-03-0027
11. Gottesman AJ, Hoskins SG 2013 CREATE cornerstone: introduction to scientific thinking, a new course for STEM-interested freshmen, demystifies scientific thinking through analysis of scientific literature CBE Life Sci Educ 12 59 72 10.1187/cbe.12-11-0201 23463229 3587857 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.12-11-0201
12. Sato BK, Kadandale K, He W, Murata PMN, Latif Y, Warschauer M 2014 Practice makes pretty good: assessment of primary literature reading abilities across multiple large-enrollment biology laboratory courses CBE Life Sci Educ 13 677 686 10.1187/cbe.14-02-0025 25452490 4255354 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-02-0025
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2019-06-28
2019-12-13

Abstract:

Quantitative data analysis skills are basic competencies students in a STEM field should master. In this article, we describe a classroom activity using isolated figures from papers as a simple exercise to practice data analysis skills. We call this approach Just Figures. With this technique, instructors find figures from primary papers that address key concepts related to several of their course learning objectives. These figures are assigned as homework prior to class discussion. In class, instructors teach the lesson and include a 10- to 20-minute discussion of the figures assigned. Frequent and repeated discussion of paper figures during class increased students’ confidence in reading and analyzing data. The Just Figures approach also increased student accuracy when interpreting data. After six weeks of Just Figures practice, students scored, on average, three points higher on a 20-point data analysis assessment instrument than they had done before the Just Figures exercises. In addition, a course in which students consistently practiced Just Figures performed just as well on the data analysis assessment instrument and on a class exam dedicated to paper reading compared with courses where students practiced reading three entire papers. The Just Figures method is easy to implement and can effectively improve student data analysis skills in microbiology classrooms.

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Author and Article Information

  • Received 03 September 2018 Accepted 07 December 2018 Published 28 June 2019
  • ©2019 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology

  • [open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
  • †Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
  • *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, 2232 McGaugh Hall mail code 3900, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697. Phone: 949-824-7998 Fax: 949-824-8551 E-mail: [email protected].

Figures

Just Figures: A Method to Introduce Students to Data Analysis One Figure at a Time
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Citation: Massimelli J, Denaro K, Sato B, Kadandale P, Boury N. 2019. Just figures: a method to introduce students to data analysis one figure at a time . J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 20(2): doi:10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690
/content/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690.f1a-jmbe-20-29
FIGURE 1A
Paper analysis instrument response scores displaying the data analysis average score plus/minus two standard errors before (pre) and after (post) courses using Just Figures for the entire course (2016, 26), Just Figures exercise for 6 weeks (2017, 19), and a course where students read 3 journal articles and took a paper quiz (as described in Sato . [ 12 ]) (2018, 14) in a Microbial Genetics course, University of California Irvine. The data analysis quiz instrument can be found in the supplemental material.
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f1a_thmb.gif
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f1a.gif
Image of FIGURE 1A

Click to view

FIGURE 1A

Paper analysis instrument response scores displaying the data analysis average score plus/minus two standard errors before (pre) and after (post) courses using Just Figures for the entire course (2016, 26), Just Figures exercise for 6 weeks (2017, 19), and a course where students read 3 journal articles and took a paper quiz (as described in Sato . [ 12 ]) (2018, 14) in a Microbial Genetics course, University of California Irvine. The data analysis quiz instrument can be found in the supplemental material.

Source: J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. June 2019 vol. 20 no. 2 doi:10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690
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FIGURE 1B
Paper analysis instrument response scores displaying the average gains in the data analysis score (post – pre) plus/minus two standard errors. To test whether there were significant gains in data analysis scores for each year, a one-sample -test was performed with a Bonferroni correction on the Type I error (α = 0.05/3 = 0.0167). Each of the three methods had significant gains; 2016 ( 6.13, 0.001), 2017 ( 5.42, 0.001), and 2018 ( 7.14, 0.001). However, there was not a significant difference in the gains on the data analysis quiz score when comparing the course using Just Figures for the entire course (2016), the course using Just Figures for 6 weeks (2017), and the course where students read three journal articles and took a paper quiz (2018) ( = 2.48, 0.10).
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f1b_thmb.gif
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f1b.gif
Image of FIGURE 1B

Click to view

FIGURE 1B

Paper analysis instrument response scores displaying the average gains in the data analysis score (post – pre) plus/minus two standard errors. To test whether there were significant gains in data analysis scores for each year, a one-sample -test was performed with a Bonferroni correction on the Type I error (α = 0.05/3 = 0.0167). Each of the three methods had significant gains; 2016 ( 6.13, 0.001), 2017 ( 5.42, 0.001), and 2018 ( 7.14, 0.001). However, there was not a significant difference in the gains on the data analysis quiz score when comparing the course using Just Figures for the entire course (2016), the course using Just Figures for 6 weeks (2017), and the course where students read three journal articles and took a paper quiz (2018) ( = 2.48, 0.10).

Source: J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. June 2019 vol. 20 no. 2 doi:10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690
Download as Powerpoint
/content/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690.f2-jmbe-20-29
FIGURE 2
Mean plus/minus two standard errors of students’ grades on a paper-reading dedicated exam called “Paper quiz.” In winter 2016/2017, the Just Figures approach was used ( 37, mean = 81.58, SE = 2.48). In winter 2018, the paper reading method was used ( 14, mean = 79.29, SE = 2.81). Although the quizzes used in 2016, 2017, and 2018 were different, they showed a similar distribution of questions at different Bloom’s levels, at least 60% of questions ranking in the analyze, evaluate, and create levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive processes, 27). The quiz was administered toward the end of the course on each quarter it was taught. To test whether there was a difference in paper quiz scores between 2016/2017 and 2018 a two-sample -test was performed; there was no difference in paper quiz scores when comparing the Just Figures approach and the paper-reading method ( 0.58, = 0.5657).
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f2_thmb.gif
jmbe/20/2/jmbe-20-29f2.gif
Image of FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 2

Mean plus/minus two standard errors of students’ grades on a paper-reading dedicated exam called “Paper quiz.” In winter 2016/2017, the Just Figures approach was used ( 37, mean = 81.58, SE = 2.48). In winter 2018, the paper reading method was used ( 14, mean = 79.29, SE = 2.81). Although the quizzes used in 2016, 2017, and 2018 were different, they showed a similar distribution of questions at different Bloom’s levels, at least 60% of questions ranking in the analyze, evaluate, and create levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive processes, 27). The quiz was administered toward the end of the course on each quarter it was taught. To test whether there was a difference in paper quiz scores between 2016/2017 and 2018 a two-sample -test was performed; there was no difference in paper quiz scores when comparing the Just Figures approach and the paper-reading method ( 0.58, = 0.5657).

Source: J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. June 2019 vol. 20 no. 2 doi:10.1128/jmbe..v20i2.1690
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