A Poster-Session Review to Reinforce Course Concepts and Improve Scientific Communication Skills

Abstract

A poster-session review is a novel learning activity designed to help students master material, monitor understanding, and practice communicating scientific information. For this strategy, each student is asked to become an expert on a randomly assigned topic from the semester. They create small posters summarizing the most important concepts from their topic and predict likely exam questions from this material. During lecture or lab, students present their work in a poster session and spend time viewing other students’ work. Prior to a comprehensive final exam, undergraduate genetics students participated in a poster-session review and were surveyed about the perceived benefits. They self-reported that the activity helped them understand a genetics topic, prepare for the final exam, and improve their scientific communication skills. A poster-session review can be incorporated into any undergraduate biology course to help achieve these goals.