Using Primary Research Literature as a Teaching Tool in an Undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology Course

Abstract

The level of exposure of science undergraduate students to primary literature is varied, despite evidence that it is a useful tool to teach factual information and critical thinking skills1. Reading and interpreting primary literature is a skill that is required in many scientific careers and these skills which are developed when analyzing primary literature are transferable to many areas. In an undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course we incorporated weekly discussions and presentations of primary research articles as a tool to accomplish our course goals. These course goals included exploring current research in the physiology of organ systems being studied as well as developing critical thinking on a topic. In our course students were required to read a total of five primary research articles selected by the course instructors. Students were then required to write a brief 100‐word synopsis of each article prior to class. Then each week in class, students took turns in small groups to be responsible for leading a class discussion of the article. Students were responsible for discussing articles five times during the semester and leading the article discussion once during the semester. Students perceptions of the complexity and usefulness of the exercise were surveyed at the beginning and at the end of the semester.We observed that at the start of the semester 50% of students felt confident in presenting and leading a discussion on a primary research article, compared with 67% at the end of the semester. Just 17% expected to enjoy the exercise, whereas at the end of the semester 32% reported having enjoyed it. At the start of the semester 85% of students believed that developing skills in reading primary research literature was important for their future careers. We found the level of understanding of primary literature and quality of discussion to vary greatly between students.In conclusion we propose that the development of skills in reading primary research literature in undergraduate students enrolled in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course are valuable. We found that the students felt that the skills developed during this exercise are useful for their intended future careers and they enjoyed the exercise more than they expected. Our future plans include finding ways to improve upon student satisfaction and enjoyment of the activity.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.