Robin McLachlan

Robin McLachlan

Jun 27, 2019

Group 6 Copy 246
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Non-Academics and Academics Agree on Success!

Hello all! I took a hiatus from data processing last quarter to focus on a wonderful teaching opportunity. Now that it is summer, I'm back in my office and cranking away at this project. Here are my newest results:

Students in the intervention group scored significantly better than those in the control group! The intervention group's median score was >1 point better on overall improvement. WOO HOO!

Reviewers came from both academic and non-academic backgrounds. In general, both reviewer groups scored student writing the same, suggesting that the writing skills are equally relevant to a range of career paths (Woo Hoo!). Non-academic reviewers did tend to score student writing better on demonstration, i.e. the student's ability to validate their claims by providing evidence and examples. I think this hints at academics' ingrained high standard for evidence.

Next, I plan to dive deeper into statistical analysis with a conditional ordered logit model. This type of analysis will let me evaluate the effects of student demographics (GPA, gender, year in program, etc.). Stay tuned!

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About This Project

Science professors generally don't have the time or expertise to teach cross-cutting skills like communication. So, students graduate equipped with scientific knowledge but not the communication skills they need to benefit from that knowledge.

I hypothesize that we can train students to be significantly better communicators by incorporating short communication lessons into their science classes. The intervention will be assessed by blind reviews of student writing.

Blast off!

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