Resumen de Using News Assignments To Develop Skills for Learning about Science from Public Information Sources.
Assignments based on contemporary issues with a science and technology basis were developed for use in general education chemistry classes. Students learned about issues such as the influenza vaccine through newspaper articles and other information sources available to the general public. The projects included in-class discussion, independent research, and a culminating opinion paper in which students presented their opinions and supported them with evidence from their research. This paper describes the news assignments, strategies adopted to help students develop skills at evaluating Web source reliability and independent research and analysis, and factors to consider if adopting the assignments.
