Learning Nature of Science Concepts through Online Peer Review of Student Research Reports 1

Abstract

Through structured science experiments followed by online peer review of their research reports, undergraduates can experience science as a collaborative process of investigation rather than a static collection of facts. In 2001, over 400 students from 11 colleges and universities participated in a pilot study of double-blind online peer review, and the study has been continued on a smaller scale since then. Results to date indicate that multiuniversity peer review of research results provides potential for student learning that reaches beyond what is possible within individual classrooms. Students reported gaining analytical skills and key understandings about the nature of science. According to participating faculty, students gained critical thinking and analysis skills and important understandings about the nature of scientific research. The significance of careful writing, data analysis, statistics, presentation, and review all were cited as aspects of science that students had learned through this peer review experience. In addition to reporting projectwide findings from the pilot study, this paper reports some results of two smaller-N “substudies.” The first used interviews and other data sources to examine the impacts of the experiment/peer review process on students’ understandings of the sociological nature of science, and revealed that although conventionally defined “nature of science” views appear largely unaffected, the experience greatly influences students’ views of how scientific knowledge is established. The second sub-study used content analysis to explore the effects of the “quality” of peer reviews on students’ writing, and suggests which aspects of the peer review process stimulate substantive changes in studentauthored research. Much remains to be learned about how these types of experiences can best be extended to a broader audience of undergraduates, meeting the needs of students from heterogeneous backgrounds and ability levels while keeping the experimental design process flexible and open-ended.