Abstract
Understanding research, the uncertainty of the resultant data and research claims are widely held aims of HE science curricula. Expertise in scientific research involves, inter alia, an understanding of evidence. The underpinning knowledge-base of evidence can be specified – the concepts of evidence – and represented as a conceptual network of ideas an understanding of which underpins decisions made while conducting research and also forms the basis of evaluation of others’ research; the ‘thinking behind the doing’ of research expertise. Students’ responses to an undergraduate module that explicitly teaches the concepts of evidence so that students can conduct open-ended investigations and evaluate others’ research are reported. The implications of this conceptualisation of research expertise for curriculum specification, approaches to teaching and assessment and for Threshold Concept research are discussed.
References
Frith, V., & Lloyd, P. (2013). Quantitative Literacy and Epistemological Access at University: Reflections on Using the Threshold Concept Framework for Research, Paoer presented at the Mathematics Education and Society 7th International Conference, 2-7 April 2013, Cape Town, South Africa.
Glaesser, J., Gott, R., Roberts, R., & Cooper, B. (2009). Underlying success in open-ended investigations in science: using qualitative comparative analysis to identify necessary and sufficient conditions. Research in Science and Technological Education, 27(1), 5-30.
Gott, R., & Duggan, S. (2003a). Understanding and using scientific evidence. London: Sage.
Gott, R., & Duggan, S. (2003b). Science investigations in a virtual laboratory: Building Success in Sc1 Science (CDRom), Dunstable: Folens Publishers.
Gott , R., Duggan, S., & Johnson, P. (1999). What do Practising Applied Scientists do and What are the Implications for Science Education? Research in Science & Technological Education, 17(1), 97-107.
Gott, R., Duggan, S., & Roberts, S. (1999). The science investigation workshop. Education in Science. Issue 183, 26-27.
Gott, R., Duggan, S., Roberts, R., & Hussain, A. (n.d.) Research into understanding scientific evidence. http://www.dur.ac.uk/rosalyn.roberts/Evidence/cofev.htm
Hall, B. M. (2010). Teaching uncertainty: the case of climate change. PhD Thesis. Gloucester: University of Gloucester.
Kinchin, I. M. (2008). The qualitative analysis of concept maps: Some unforeseen consequences and emerging opportunities. In A. J. Cañas, P. Reiska, M. Åhlberg & J. D. Novak (Eds.), Concept Mapping: Connecting Educators. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Concept Mapping, 2008, pp. 500-5-6. Tallinn: Estonia & Helsinki: Finland.
Kinchin, I. M., & Cabot, L. B. (2010). Reconsidering the dimensions of expertise; from linear stages to dual processing. London Review of Education 8(2), 153-166.
Kinchin, I. M., Cabot, L. B., & Hay, D. B. (2010). Visualising expertise: revealing the nature of a threshold concept in the development of an authentic pedagogy for clinical education. In J. H. F. Meyer, R. Land, R & Baillie, C. (Eds.), Threshold Concepts and transformational learning, pp. 81-95. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Meyer, J., & Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practicing within the disciplines. Enhancing teaching-learning environments in undergraduate courses: Occasional report 4. pp.1 – 12. Available online at: www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/ETLreport4.pdf
Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49(3), 373-388.
Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (Eds.). (2006). Overcoming barriers to student understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. Oxford: Routledge.
Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2014). Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: A peer review perspective. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(1), 102-122.
Polanyi, M. (1969). Knowing and Being. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Quinnell, R., Thompson, R., & LeBard, R. J. (2013). It’s not maths; it’s science: exploring thinking dispositions, learning thresholds and mindfulness in science learning. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44(6), 808-816.
Roberts, R. (2016) Understanding the validity of data: a knowledge-based network underlying research expertise in scientific disciplines. Higher Education 72(5), 651-668.
Roberts, R., & Gott, R. (2006). Assessment of performance in practical science and pupil attributes. Assessment in Education, 13(1), 45–67.
Roberts, R., & Gott, R. (2010). Questioning the evidence for a claim in a socio-scientific issue: an aspect of scientific literacy. Research in Science & Technological Education, 28(3), 203–226.
Roberts, R., Gott, R., & Glaesser, J. (2010). Students' approaches to open-ended science investigation: The importance of substantive and procedural understanding. Research Papers in Education, 25(4), 377-407.
Roberts, R., & Johnson, P. (2015) Understanding evidence: a conceptual map for ‘the thinking behind the doing’ in scientific practice. Curriculum Journal, 26(3), 345-369.
Roberts, R., & Sahin-Pekmez, E. (2012). Scientific evidence as content knowledge: A replication study with English and Turkish pre-service primary teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(1), 91-109.
Ross, P. M., Taylor, C. E., Hughes, C., Kofod, M., Whitaker, N., Lutze-Mann, L., & Tzioumis, V. (2010). Threshold Concepts: challenging the way we think, teach and learn in biology. In J. H. F. Meyer, R. Land, & C. Baillie (Eds.), Threshold Concepts and transformational learning, pp. 165-178Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Roth, W-M. (2013). Data generation in the discovery sciences - Learning from the practices in an advanced research laboratory. Research in Science Education, 43(4), 1617–1644.
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). What do we know about tacit knowledge? Making the tacit become explicit. In R. J. Sternberg, & J. A. Horvath, (Eds.), Tacit knowledge in Professional Practice: researcher and practitioner perspectives, pp. 231-236. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wilson, A., Ã…kerlind, G., Francis, P., Kirkup, L., McKenzie, J., Pearce, D., & Sharma, M. D. (2010). Measurement uncertainty as a threshold concept in physics. In Proceedings of the 16th UniServe Science Annual Conference, 29 September-1 October 2010, pp. 98-103. University of Sydney: Australia