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  • The Visual Science Communication Toolkit: Responding to the Need for Visual Science Communication Training in Undergraduate Life Sciences Education
Title: The Visual Science Communication Toolkit: Responding to the Need for Visual Science Communication Training in Undergraduate Life Sciences Education
Visual representations are essential to scientific research and teaching, playing a role in conceptual understanding, knowledge generation, and the communication of discovery and change. Undergraduate students are expected to interpret, use, and create visual representations so they can make their thinking explicit when engaging in discourse with the scientific community. Despite the importance of visualization in the biosciences, students often learn visualization skills in an ad hoc fashion without a clear framework. We used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study design to explore and assess the pedagogical needs of undergraduate biology students (n = 53), instructors (n = 13), and teaching assistants (n = 8) in visual science communication education. Key themes were identified using inductive grounded theory methods. We found that extrinsic motivations, namely time, financial resources, and grading practices, contribute to a lack of guidance, support, and structure as well as ambiguous expectations and standards perceived by students and instructors. Biology and science visualization instructors cite visual communication assessments as a way of developing and evaluating students’ higher-order thinking skills in addition to their communication competencies. An output of this research, the development of a learning module, the Visual Science Communication Toolkit, is discussed along with design considerations for developing resources for visual science communication education.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1827249
PAR ID:
10615203
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Editor(s):
Vergara, D; Jeronen, E
Publisher / Repository:
MDPI
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Education Sciences
Edition / Version:
1
Volume:
14
Issue:
3
ISSN:
2227-7102
Page Range / eLocation ID:
296
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
visual science communication undergraduate biology design education visual literacy visual representation interactive learning module
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: 2.8MB Other: pdf
Size(s):
2.8MB
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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