Cultivating Undergraduate Scientific Writing Proficiency through Interactive Video Workshops

This study aims to address the deficiencies in scientific
writing
skills among undergraduate chemistry students by integrating a series
of interactive video workshops into the Honors General Chemistry (HGC)
curriculum. Despite completing multiple report sections in high school,
students’ writing performance in HGC at the University of Pittsburgh
does not meet the standards expected for college-level writing and
publication. This project focuses on providing a uniform curriculum
that emphasizes technical writing fundamentals through collaborative
learning activities. The workshops include predesigned videos and
worksheets that allow instructors to facilitate the learning process
without requiring expertise in writing education. The curriculum is
designed to cultivate and improve students’ lab report writing
abilities through scaled, iterative practice and graded feedback.
Key topics of scientific writing are covered in the workshops including
hypothesis formulation, data presentation, argument construction,
abstract writing, writing style, and overall report structure. Each
workshop incorporates interactive elements and a review of writing
samples to engage students in the writing process and enhance their
understanding and skills. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected
to evaluate the impact of the writing curriculum. Writing assignment
scores were analyzed to determine improvements in students’
writing skills, while pre- and postsemester surveys gathered students’
opinions on the curriculum’s effectiveness. The results indicate
that incorporating active and collaborative learning strategies, supported
by scaffolding techniques, significantly improved students’
scientific writing performance and their ability to produce high-quality
lab reports. This innovative approach demonstrates the effectiveness
of using interactive video workshops to teach scientific writing in
a chemistry curriculum. By providing a consistent and sustainable
writing education framework, the project offers valuable insights
into improving writing proficiency among undergraduate science students.