Research Synthesis Reports as Pedagogical Scaffolds: A Constructive Alignment Study in Doctoral Science Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E5/2026-04Keywords:
science education, doctoral education, research synthesis, outcome-based education, STEAM, artificial intelligenceAbstract
Doctoral students in the field of science education frequently find it challenging to effectively summarize a large volume of academic research and pinpoint genuine areas where more study is needed, which can result in poorly defined research problems and a lack of originality in their work. This study looks into how research synthesis reports can serve as a supportive teaching strategy within an Outcome-Based Education framework. A Design-Based Research (DBR) method was carried out, involving 20 doctoral students, in a project-based learning setting that integrated STEAM disciplines and utilized Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that were developed with ethical considerations in mind. Data were gathered using a pretest and posttest approach, standardized project rubrics, and analytics related to AI usage. The results show a notable increase in research literacy, indicated by an N-gain score of 0.72, which falls into the high category, and also show consistently strong performance across the different parts of the dissertation proposal. These findings indicate that research synthesis reports serve as a useful framework for improving the logical structure of research and strengthening the reasoning process used in methodological approaches. This research adds to the increasing understanding of AI-supported teaching methods for doctoral programs and offers evidence-based support for incorporating structured scaffolding approaches in education based on outcomes-based learning.
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