Is the Zika Virus the cause of
​Microcephaly?
I found that while students missed some key evidence, they were able to find factual evidence in the article. |
To address my findings, my first goal was to work with students about what is appropriate evidence. I posed this question to the students. We created a list on the board that consisted of: scientific results (quantitative or qualitative), views from experts, and known facts about the subject. I then asked students to read an article in Nature (a widely respected scientific source) called Microcephaly Surge in Doubt. Students were asked to highlight in one color all the evidence that points to the Zika virus causing microcephaly and in another color all evidence that suggests doubt that the Zika virus is causing microcephaly. I informed students that I would be collecting their articles with their highlighting.
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I graded students’ highlights using the evidence section of the Base Explanation Rubric from McNeill and Krajcik (2006). Overall, I found that while students missed some key evidence, they were able to find factual evidence in the article. However, I did notice that some students highlighted evidence that was not relevant to the question. For example highlighting evidence that discussed why discovering the link between the Zika Virus and Microcephaly is important, is not evidence that supports if Zika is or is not causing Microcephaly. Just as previously done, I calculated the average from the Base Explanation Rubric. For evidence, I found the average out of 52 students to be 2.1 out of 3. This is slightly higher then the 1.7 seen in the previous CRISPR assignment. |
Artifact 7: Sample student evidence highlighting
Zika virus image from https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Zika-mosquito.jpg