Sally G. Hoskins

Sally G. Hoskins is Professor of Biology at the City College of the City University of New York, and a developmental biologist with particular interest in the embryonic nervous system. With collaborator Dr. Leslie M. Stevens, (University of Texas—Austin) she developed the C.R.E.A.T.E. process–using intensive analysis of sequentially published journal articles to demystify science research and provide unusual insight into the people who do it. Support from the National Science Foundation allowed the development and piloting of C.R.E.A.T.E. at the City College of New York and the project’s subsequent expansion to student cohorts at additional colleges and universities in the New York area. Success of this method in the hands of a variety of teachers, studying diverse topics in biology, has spurred ongoing expansion of the project and an NSF-supported plan to train a nationally distributed cohort of Biology faculty. A three-time CCAPP Teacher of the Year at City College, Hoskins feels that close reading and critical analysis of primary literature coupled with email surveys of paper authors can help students gain transferable analytical skills while at the same time emphasizing the creativity of scientific thinking and clarifying “who does science, and why?” For general-education science students, adaptation of C.R.E.A.T.E. methods to analysis of newspaper/Internet presentation of science has helped to overcome student misconceptions about science by illuminating scientific thinking, showing science to be a creative process, and humanizing researchers.

Kristy L. Kenyon

Kristy L. Kenyon is an Associate Professor of Biology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her involvement with the C.R.E.A.T.E. project began in 2007, when she was trained in its methodology. She has successfully incorporated the C.R.E.A.T.E. strategy in a number of upper level biology courses focused in the area of developmental biology. In addition to her work on this project, Kenyon’s other research interests are focused in the area of insect sensory development.

The C.R.E.A.T.E. Project is funded by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. 1021443. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.