August 9, 2017

AAAS puts Science in the Classroom with primary literature

Posted by Laura Guertin

Just the thought of reading an article published in a scientific journal can send chills down the spines of undergraduate students. Getting students to understand the information cycle is one step, but then having students read and understand the structure and content of a paper in primary literature may be a challenge, intellectual and/or psychological. Fortunately, AAAS has a resource that could prove to be quite a valuable resource as an introductory exercise for students journeying into the literature.

Science in the Classroom is a collection of freely available annotated research papers from the Science family of journals. SitC aims to help educators, undergraduates and advanced high school students understand the research contained in scientific primary literature by using annotations and providing accompanying teaching materials. Annotations include vocabulary, methods, descriptions of prior research and explanations of major conclusions. Each paper has an educator’s guide outlining connections to science competencies within STEM learning frameworks and standards. Educator guides also provide suggested activities, discussion questions and resources for further exploration of the subject.  —  from About this project, Science in the Classroom

Learn more from this video below:

 

Explore the website to see if any of these annotated research papers could serve as an excellent instructional resource for your classes: http://www.scienceintheclassroom.org/  You can also receive updates on Twitter at @SciClassroom.

As the collection continues to grow, you may want to keep your eye on the papers posted under the topics of Earth and environmental science and Space science.