Biomedical Engineering Students’ Question Posing Skill Based on Reading Scientific Articles

Our study investigates the effect of hybrid courses and reading scientific articles on scientific literacy of biomedical engineering students. Participants included about 100 undergraduate and graduate students who participated in one or two hybrid courses. Our research goal was to study the effect of reading scientific articles and participating in online forum discourses on students’ scientific literacy by investigating the students’ question posing skill. Research tools included pre- and post-questionnaires, analysis of students’ questions posted on the forum discourse, and research questions raised by the students on their scientific posters. The research findings indicated that students’ participation in the hybrid courses and online discussions improved their scientific literacy skills. This improvement is reflected in the complexity level of the questions posted on the forum discourse after reading scientific articles, as well as in the research questions they wrote in their scientific posters, increased as the course progressed. The outcomes of this study underscore the potential of the hybrid course format that combines face-to-face sessions with online discussions of scientific articles for biomedical engineering students. The paper’s theoretical contribution is that forum discussions may foster science and engineering students’ question posing skill, leading to improved comprehension of scientific articles they read.