This article describes a weekly writing assignment named SelFeed (Self-Directed Learning with Feedback), in which students are asked to identify their own questions relevant to the lecture content and provide logical answers.

Students in a general education science course made significant gains in scientific reasoning skills when they were taught using carefully designed hands-on activities and writing assignments. The activities required students to make use of scientific skills such as graphing, predicting outcomes under changing conditions, or designing experiments,…