I continue to watch ASMCUE 2022 sessions even though my eye hurts today! I watched a couple of sessions from BIT instructors, and now found Heather Townsend’s recorded session entitled “Fostering Scientific Literacy through the Identification of Credible Sources.” Townsend is a good friend, and we have worked together for a couple of years now. Townsend is a professor at the Community College of Rhode Island. The session focused on what Townsend does to promote scientific literacy and emphasize the importance of credible resources. The goal is for students to find credible information, carry out the process of science, and evaluate resources. Townsend defined scientific literacy as “knowledge of science… allows people to make decisions based on facts, research and knowledge from content.” I thought Heather’s explanation of scientific attitude was excellent: “show a willingness to change their opinion based on new evidence.” Townsend is at a the Community College of Rhode Island and uses class time to further discussions and bring in librarians through video to learn about citations. Heather also talks to students about what it means to be scientifically literate, and this made me think about how we … really don’t do this! Townsend shared three different ways to evaluate literature: GATOR, CRAP, CREATES. These ways help readers evaluate sources. Next, Townsend uses K, W, L reflections: What I already know about the topic, what I want to know about the topic, and what I learned about this topic. In their CURE, Townsend spends a week on credible resources, a week on RECR, a week on citations, and a week picking a spice based on primary literature to work with microbes. Townsend shared resources for measuring scientific literacy: the test of scientific literacy skills (TOSLS). I am so glad I watched this session! Now I know more about what Heather is doing and want to chat!
