Analysis of a COVID-19 Clinical Trial to Emphasize Experimental Design and Quantitative Reasoning in an Introductory Biology Course

Increasing student exposure to primary literature in early biology coursework can enhance scientific literacy and quantitative reasoning skills. The efficacy of primary literature discussion is heavily impacted by article selection, as student engagement is optimal with material that is topical and has clear relevance to real world issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of COVID-19–related scientific research in the mainstream media makes it an ideal topic for current discussion in entry-level biology courses. Here, we present an activity developed to facilitate a remote, synchronous discussion of an open access clinical trial publication on the experimental drug remdesivir in the treatment of COVID-19 (Beigel et al., 2020, N Engl J Med https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2007764). The activity, which is amenable to adaptation for other research articles, emphasizes concepts in experimental design, statistical analysis, graphical interpretation, and the structure, content, and organization of typical sections of a primary research article. Importantly, the activity highlights the utility of the classroom response tool Pear Deck, a Google Slides add-on, for creating engaging literature discussions that can be readily adapted to a wide variety of teaching modalities.