Developing Critical Thinking and Public Awareness

Through Issues in Posters

Salvacion P. Angtuaco

 

SUMMARY

To challenge students to examine current issues closely, I involved them in a project that presented current issues in posters. They were encouraged to select a topic that is controversial and has histological significance since our class was Histology. By requiring them to look for references that presented both sides of the issue, they learned to sift through facts and myths and developed their critical thinking in the process. The mechanics of the projects and guide questions for issues identification were provided at the start of the project. Assessment guides for the display, presentation and oral defense of the poster were also provided. The poster display and presentation was open to the public.

 

KEY WORDS: Critical thinking, issues, posters, assessment guides

 

Biology Department

Ateneo de Manila University

Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108

Philippines

Email: spa@admu.edu.ph

________________________________

 

Introduction

Today, we are being bombarded with so much information such that we usually have problems sifting through them. Processing these information needs critical thinking and students usually need guidance in this process. To make students actively participate in their own learning and information processing, I decided to make poster presentation as their project in our Histology class. Why posters? I gave my students the following rationale why I decided on posters as the class project.

I was inspired to embark on this project by an activity posted on the web by some Biology professors of the University of Oregon (1). They used the issues and posters in their Genetics class and I adapted their idea and applied it to my class in Histology.

Mechanics

To start the project, we divided the activity into five phases and decided on a schedule. Below is the handout given to the students about the five phases of the project.

 

Mechanics

Issues Poster Project

 

Phase One: Issues Identification Activity

Phase Two: Groupings and Selection of Topics

Phase Three: Library Search/Interview

Phase Four: Making of Poster

Phase Five: Poster Presentation

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For phase one, we read samples of the articles brought to class and tried to identify the issue. I asked the students to state the issue in their own words. Then we identified the evidences presented and decided if the arguments support or disprove the claim. The guide questions for this activity are found below.

Guide Questions for Issues Identification

Once the students where able to identify issues and arguments easily, then they were ready for phase two of the project.

The students were then asked to form groups of 3 — 4 students and submit possible topics for their poster project. The guidelines for the topics are:

With approved topics, the students proceeded with their research. They were then required to submit results of their researches in three sets. This forced them to work on the project regularly and not put it off till the last minute. This worked well with the students since some of them had to change topics midway due to lack of references. They also learned to classify data into pros or cons about the issue they were working on.

While the students were doing their researches, I also asked them to visit poster exhibits to get ideas on how to prepare posters. I gave them the following checklist on what should be included in the poster. They were however encouraged to be as creative and original as possible.

The posters were graded using the following grade sheet.

 

Issues Poster Project Grade Sheet

Four Point Assessment:

1 = the element described is missing

2 = the element is present but does not meet standard described

3 = the element is present and meets standard, but needs some revision or

improvement

4 = the element is present and meets or exceeds the standard and no revision

is recommended

Title (5%) Score _______

The title grabs people’s attention and conveys the

subject of the project.

Abstract (7.5%)

The abstract is clearly stated and summarizes the project Score _______

Issue (12.5%)

The project sticks to one issue that is clearly stated. Score _______

Biological Principle (12.5%)

The biological background necessary to understand the Score _______

issue is accurate and presented clearly.

Arguments (12.5%)

Arguments for both sides of the issue are stated clearly. Score _______

Graphs, tables, figures, etc. support the arguments.

Evaluation (12.5%)

The arguments are evaluated thoroughly. Score _______

References are given for the arguments.

Conclusion (12.5%)

The authors made some conclusion based on the Score _______

arguments presented.

References (12.5%)

The references are of good quality and are Score _______

properly cited.

Creativity (12.5%)

The overall presentation is very creative and original. Score _______

 

When the students were ready with their data and arguments, poster making became a creative activity. This part of the activity encouraged leadership and cooperation among the students. We also decided on a title for the poster presentation. The title that we agreed on was:

issues@histology.admu

We posted invitations on the campus email and along corridors of the campus. We especially encouraged all biology classes to view our posters and I requested some faculty members to help me grade the posters.

Poster Presentation

We scheduled the poster presentation for one week. at the biology building lobby. This lobby is a regular site for poster presentations, conferences, meetings and the like and is accessible to everybody. We prepared a guest book and encouraged people to sign and write their comments about the poster displays. Brochures were given out to the visitors and some were also posted beside the registration area to explain the purpose of the presentation. We scheduled the oral defense of the posters during our laboratory and lecture hours but invited people to attend the presentation. The defense was by group and both teachers and students asked questions or clarifications. A separate grade sheet (see below) was prepared for the oral defense. This constituted 20 percent of the poster grade.

 

Rubrics for Oral Defense

Oral defense of the group is 20 % of the total poster grade. The members of the group take turns at explaining different aspects of the project.

The defense is based on the following criteria. The grade is common to every member of the group.

Ability to answer questions (20%)

Answered all questions well 4

Answered most questions well 3

Answered half of the questions well 2

Answered less than half of the questions 1

Ability to defend conclusions (20%)

Conclusions are well supported by data 4

Conclusions are supported by some data 3

Conclusions are supported by a few data 2

Conclusions are not supported by data 1

 

Knowledge and understanding of the whole issue (60%)

Knows and understands the whole issue 4

Knows and understands most of the issue 3

Knows and understands some of the issue 2

Shows very little knowledge and understanding

of the whole issue 1

Conclusions

I asked the students for feedback about the whole poster project activity. Most of them commented that they learned a lot from the whole project. They also mentioned that they thought the project was light but as they worked through the whole activity they found it time consuming. However, everyone admitted that they enjoyed making/designing the posters and listening to each other's presentation. Some commented that they learned the value of scientific data in making informed decisions.

Based on the feedback, I can say that the activity accomplished what it set to do - that is, develop critical thinking in the students and make the public aware of the arguments for certain issues.

 

References