“Yes! Use your cell phones!” Active Learning with Technology in an Anatomy and Physiology Lab

HAPS Educator ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 75-79
Author(s):  
Heather A. Rudolph ◽  
Anna Schwabe
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Cell Phones ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Learning With Technology

It's difficult to change the way we teach: lessons from the Integrative Themes in Physiology curriculum module project

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 204-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dee U. Silverthorn ◽  
Patti M. Thorn ◽  
Marilla D. Svinicki
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Human Anatomy ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Learning Instruction

The Integrative Themes in Physiology (ITIP) project was a National Science Foundation-funded collaboration between the American Physiological Society (APS) and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS). The project goal was to create instructional resources that emphasized active learning in undergraduate anatomy and physiology classrooms. The resources (activity modules and professional development) addressed two factors thought to be limiting science education reform: instructors' knowledge of how to implement active learning instruction and time to design innovative curricula. Volunteer instructors with a strong interest in using active learning in their classrooms were recruited to use the ITIP modules and provide ease-of-use feedback and student assessment data. As the study unfolded, instructor attrition was higher than had been anticipated, with 17 of 36 instructors withdrawing. More surprisingly, instructors remaining with the project failed to use the modules and reported specific obstacles that precluded module use, including lack of support from academic leadership, unplanned class size increases and heavy teaching loads, a union strike, insufficient time to develop a mindset for change, inadequate technology/funding, an adverse human subjects ruling, incompatibility of modules with instructors' established content and expectations, and personal factors. Despite the lack of module use and obstacles, 8 of 19 site testers began independently to introduce new active learning instruction into their classrooms. In the larger picture, however, it is important to note that only 8 of the initial 36 volunteers (22%) actually ended up changing their instruction to include opportunities for student active learning. These findings underscore the difficulty of implementing instructional change in college classrooms.

scholarly journals Development of low-cost cardiac and skeletal muscle laboratory activities to teach physiology concepts and the scientific method

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Judge ◽  
Victor A. Cazares ◽  
Zoe Thompson ◽  
Lynnda A. Skidmore
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Community College ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Community College Students ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Muscle Physiology ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology

Anatomy and Physiology courses taught at community colleges tend to focus laboratory hours primarily on anatomy as opposed to physiology. However, research demonstrates that, when instructors utilize active learning approaches (such as in laboratory settings) where students participate in their own learning, students have improved outcomes, such as higher test scores and better retention of material. To provide community college students with opportunities for active learning in physiology, we developed two laboratory exercises to engage students in cardiac and skeletal muscle physiology. We utilized low-cost SpikerBox devices to measure electrical activity during cardiac (electrocardiogram) and skeletal muscle (electromyogram) contraction. Laboratory activities were employed in Anatomy and Physiology courses at two community colleges in southeast Michigan. A 2-h laboratory period was structured with a 20-min slide presentation covering background material on the subject and experiments to examine the effects of environmental variables on nervous system control of cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction. Students were asked to provide hypotheses and proposed mechanisms, complete a results section, and provide conclusions for the experiments based on their results. Our laboratory exercises improved student learning in physiology and knowledge of the scientific method and were well-received by community college students enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology. Our results demonstrate that the use of a SpikerBox for cardiac and skeletal muscle physiology concepts is a low-cost and effective approach to integrate physiology activities into an Anatomy and Physiology course.

scholarly journals Trust, Growth Mindset, and Student Commitment to Active Learning in a College Science Course

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. ar10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Cavanagh ◽  
Xinnian Chen ◽  
Meghan Bathgate ◽  
Jennifer Frederick ◽  
David I. Hanauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
College Science ◽  
Attitudes Toward Learning ◽  
Student Trust ◽  
Students Attitudes

There is growing consensus regarding the effectiveness of active-learning pedagogies in college science courses. Less is known about ways that student-level factors contribute to positive outcomes in these contexts. The present study examines students’ (N = 245) trust in the instructor—defined as perceptions of their instructor’s understanding, acceptance, and care—and students’ attitudes toward learning within an anatomy and physiology course featuring active learning. Analyses indicate that student trust of instructor and students’ views of their own intelligence are both associated with student commitment to, and engagement in, active learning. Student-reported trust of the instructor corresponded to final grade, while students’ views of their own intelligence did not. In an active-learning context in which students are more fully engaged in the learning process, student trust of the instructor was an important contributor to desired student outcomes.

scholarly journals Redesigning first year anatomy and physiology subjects for allied health students: Impact of active learning strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Andrea Zimanyi ◽  
Nicholas F. Emtage ◽  
Pamela Lee Megaw
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
First Year ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Sport Science ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Active Learning Strategies

To combat high failure rates in an Anatomy and Physiology for first year Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Sport Science students, a flipped classroom was introduced in 2015. It became apparent that students did not engage with materials prior to classes, but they did engage with in-class active learning strategies. In subsequent years of this study, our focus changed to delivery with student active learning in mind. The active learning approaches introduced resulted in improvements in academic performance for all three student cohorts. Occupational Therapy students’ marks improved by 12.9% when comparing pre-intervention (2014) results to the end of the post-intervention period (2017), Physiotherapy students’ marks increased by 6.9%, while the greatest gains of 14.8% were seen in Sport Science students. When investigating the relationship between student performance and university entrance scores, students with high entrance scores demonstrated modest gains in performance, while those students with lower entrance scores benefited the most. Our results suggest that the introduction of active learning may result in the transition of the learning style of students under-prepared for university studies, to be more like those of more successful students; that is, to a deeper level of learning.

scholarly journals Promoting student engagement and academic achievement in first-year anatomy and physiology courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Reinke
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Exercise Science ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Sport And Exercise ◽  
Physiotherapy Students

Students from three undergraduate programs at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, studying combined first-year anatomy and physiology courses, showed different academic achievement in physiology. Physiotherapy students were more active and social when completing learning tasks and achieved significantly higher grades in physiology compared with students enrolled in Sport and Exercise Science and Occupational Therapy programs. To promote academic engagement and achievement by all three groups, discussion questions, case studies, and study guides were included. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using these modified resources to promote active learning, enhance academic social interactions, and provide a supportive learning environment. The occupational therapy students showed increased academic achievement (from 57.9 to 66.5%) following implementation of the new resources, but there was no change in the already high-performing physiotherapy students (73.1%) and, more concerningly, the sport and exercise science students (from 54.6 to 56.7%). Fewer sport and exercise science students had prior learning in chemistry (30.4% of participants) and also spent little time outside class studying (8 h/wk), compared with the physiotherapy cohort (70.0% chemistry; 13 h/wk studying). Findings of this research demonstrate that creating a supportive and active learning environment are important factors in promoting the learning of physiology for some cohorts. Background knowledge, academic self-regulatory skills, and the experience of teaching staff are factors that must be considered when endeavoring to increase student academic achievement. Future studies should examine the effect of students’ academic self-regulation and the use of remedial chemistry classes when learning physiology.

Learning by doing: construction and manipulation of a skeletal muscle model during lecture

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Rodenbaugh ◽  
Heidi L. Lujan ◽  
Stephen E. DiCarlo
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology

Active learning, “learning by doing,” enhances student performance on examinations and improves student retention of course content. Active learning also provides inquiry-based, collaborative, and problem-solving activities that promote curiosity, skepticism, objectivity, and the use of scientific reasoning. To incorporate active learning into our undergraduate anatomy and physiology course of 70 nursing students, students constructed working physical models of skeletal muscle during the scheduled class time. Our goals were to actively engage students in the process of building and testing their own mental models from the information they were acquiring. During the process, the focus was on the student acquiring knowledge, thinking about the information, testing assumptions, solving problems, and appreciating the joy, excitement, and love for learning. We conclude that the construction of physical models during class is a valuable educational experience.

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