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[P15] Design of flyers as a stimulating and non-threatening means of introducing undergraduate students to controversial issues arising in society from bioscience/biotechnology
John Green School of Life Sciences, Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT j.green@napier.ac.uk
Keywords: flyers; controversial issues; bioscience/biotechnology Introduction There is currently the expectation that bioscience students are introduced not only to controversial issues raised in society by bioscience and biotechnology (for example, Willmott et al., 2005; QAA, 2007), but also varied and innovative forms of assessment that promote development of employability skills, including skills in communication (QAA, 2007; HEA, 2007). At the same time, there is the expectation that students should find such LTA activities stimulating and non-threatening and that assessments should ideally be based on ‘real world’ situations (Rust, 2002). In order to match all these desirable LTA attributes with consideration of controversial issues raised in society by bioscience/biotechnology, an exercise has been developed in which students are presented with a proposition related to a relevant controversial issue and are required to design two flyers for distribution to lay persons; one intended to persuade readers to accept the proposition, and another intended to persuade readers to reject the proposition.
The Exercise The exercise was aimed at two groups of students: i) students in year 2 of the 4-year BSc Biological Sciences full-time course, studying at a level equivalent to the Level 8 in the Scottish system, and ii) students in year 3 of the 4-year interdisciplinary full-time sandwich course, Science with Management Studies, opting to take Biology as a science specialism, and studying at a level equivalent to Level 9 in the Scottish system. Propositions given to students reflected topics being studied. The topic Brewers and distillers should be held responsible, wholly or in part, for the social and economic harm caused by alcohol consumption linked to studies on production of alcoholic beverages (industrial microbiology). The topics Society needs genetic engineering and Genetic engineering is a good thing for society linked to studies on gene manipulation (molecular biology). Assessment and marking criteria set for the exercise were discussed with students at the time they were introduced to the exercise. The criteria used in assessment of flyers were that flyers should be eye-catching, interesting, easy to read, easy to understand and relevant to the proposition and should contain reliable facts and figures. Each criterion was given equal weighting. The exercise contributed approximately 15% to the overall mark for the modules, and equated to approximately 20 hours working time.
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Students’ evaluation of the exercise Feedback from students was obtained by questionnaire after the exercise had been completed and students had received their marks and feedback. Students’ responses were supportive of the exercise. The majority of respondents considered that the exercise was enjoyable, was challenging, was an interesting way of considering the propositions, did not cause them more anxiety than other continuous assessment exercises, and developed their communication skills. Nearly one third of students considered that the exercise would help them to consider such issues from opposing angles in the future, although the majority of students expressed uncertainty about this. Students’ performance in the exercise When examined with cohorts of 12-18 students, the exercise resulted in marks from the low 50s to the 80s. With pooled data from several cohorts from both degrees (86 students in total), the mean mark for the exercise was significantly higher than the mean mark for the exam component of the same module (mean for exercise = 64.5 %, mean for formal exam component = 58.4%, p<0.01 by t-test ). When examining an individual student’s mark in the exercise against their mark in the formal examination component of the same module there was little correlation (correlation coefficient for these data = 0.21), suggesting the exercise did assess different skills from those used in examinations.
Conclusions The results show that production of flyers can be an interesting and non-threatening way of prompting students to examine from opposing positions a controversial issue arising in society from bioscience/biotechnology, while also developing communication skills. In contrast to use of posters, widely used as a means of developing communication skills, the exercise presented here is designed to stimulate the student into considering controversial issues from opposing positions, and the target group is lay individuals rather than peers and lecturers. Also this exercise actively engages each student in the process of developing opposing arguments, which may not be the case in debates held amongst a group of students. The exercise can be linked to essays, discussions or debates on students’ own positions with respect to the proposition, or on the broader scientific, social, economic, ethical and moral issues raised by bioscience in society.
References HEA (2007) Quality Enhancement. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/936.htm. (Accessed 15 February 2007) QAA (2007) Subjects Benchmarks Statements. http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/default.asp. (Accessed 15 February 2007) Rust, C. (2002) The impact of assessment on student learning. Active Learning in Higher Education, 3, 145-158. Willmott, C. J. R., Bond, A. N., Bryant, J. A., Maw, S. J., Sears, H. J. and Wilson, J. M. (2005) Teaching ethics to bioscience students. BEE-j, 3.