Table 1.
The CREATE strategy fosters creativity, synthesis, and analytical thinking with reiterative use of the CREATE tool kit
| Pedagogical tool | Students’ activities | Sample assignment |
|---|---|---|
| Concept mapping | • Explicitly relate old and new knowledge | • Concept map the first paragraph of an assigned article |
| • Build metacognitive skills | • Concept map a set of terms provided by instructor, connecting textbook reading and assigned article | |
| Cartooning | • Learn to visualize how data were generated in the lab or collected in the field | • Illustrate how the study outlined in a particular article was carried out in the lab or field |
| • Create a context for the data analysis | ||
| Annotating figures | • Engage closely with data by triangulating between figures, tables, methods, and results | • Add labels to figures or charts in an assigned article, based on information provided in caption, narrative, or (if present) methods section |
| Transforming tables | ||
| Analyzing data using templates | • Determine the organization/logic of each experiment | • Paraphrase title of each figure/table |
| • Interpret results critically; evaluate the purpose and need for controls | • Define purpose of each substudy for which data are presented in a figure or table | |
| • Specifically define and interpret control vs. experimental conditions | ||
| Grant panel activity | • Practice creativity and synthetic thinking | • Design two distinct follow-up experiments or research studies. |
| • Hone critical skills of analysis | • Conduct a grant panel review of student follow-up experiments: students work in small groups, tasks include first defining criteria for judging proposed experiment, then reaching consensus on which ones should be “funded” | |
| • Develop argumentation and communication skills through deliberation of proposed experiments | ||
| • Recognize the dynamic nature of scientific progress | ||
| Email surveys of paper authors | • Gain insight into the people behind the papers | • Annotate email responses, noting what was most surprising and/or intriguing |
| • Recognize that scientists have diverse life histories | • Compare/contrast responses of different authors | |
| • Change negative preconceptions of scientists and research careers | • Write a reflection focused on personal reactions to the authors’ responses |
Adapted from CREATE Teaching Handbook, 1st edition (SG Hoskins, LM Stevens, KL Kenyon, self-published).