Assessment of Differences in University Oceanography Students' Scientific Writing.
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| Title: | Assessment of Differences in University Oceanography Students' Scientific Writing. |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Takao, Allison Y., Kelly, Gregory J. |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 45 |
| Publication Date: | 2001 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research Speeches/Meeting Papers |
| Descriptors: | Databases, Epistemology, Evaluation, Geology, Higher Education, Oceanography, Optical Data Disks, Science Education, Writing Processes |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to assess the differences in university oceanography students' scientific writing. Specifically, the authors examine the argumentation structures of a high scoring paper and a low scoring paper. This study was conducted in an introductory level oceanography course in a large public university. In this course students used an interactive CD-ROM, "Our Dynamic Planet" (Prothero, 1995), which provided them access to geological databases. Students were instructed to use information from this CD-ROM to write the course required scientific technical paper. The authors considered the assessment of writing in two ways. First, they analyzed the differences among and within three populations' assessments of the students' written texts. The three populations had varying degrees of experience and knowledge in geological sciences and are as follows: instructors (n=4), science students (n=9), and non-science students (n=8). Second, the authors applied an argumentation analysis model to the student papers. This allowed them to further identify differences in the argumentation structures of the papers. Based on the analyses, it was found that while all three interview populations were able to recognize differences between the two papers, their reasoning for such differences were rather ambiguous. Applying the argumentation analysis model allowed for further specification of differences in the argumentation structure for the papers. This study draws on these findings to discuss ways of teaching students the construction of argument in scientific writing. (Contains 27 references, 7 figures, and 4 tables.) (Author/ASK) |
| Entry Date: | 2001 |
| Accession Number: | ED453082 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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