Supporting elementary gifted learners during the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of teaching practices

The present mixed methods study aimed to understand the challenges faced by teachers of the gifted and how elementary gifted learners were supported and taught during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was administered to 310 elementary school teachers of the gifted across the United States between March and June 2021, one year after initial school closings. Focus groups were utilized to further explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the work of teachers of the gifted in their schools. Educators shared lessons learned from this experience related to (a) a better understanding of how to utilize remote instruction, (b) reimagining the gifted education classroom, and (c) use of a variety of strategies to provide more student choice, differentiation, and individualized pace. Results from this study provide insights that can guide educators, curriculum specialists, and school administrators to improve online instruction for gifted learners in the future.

An Interdisciplinary Model for Assessing Learning

During the 1994-95 school year the Kansas Association of School Librarians Research Committee conducted a literature review and held a two-day summer institute to develop an interdisciplinary model for assessing learning across the curriculum. Participating were teachers, administrators, library media specialists, and Kansas State Board of Education curriculum specialists. During the 1995-96 school year the committee presented the model to teachers and library media specialists at professional meetings and workshops for reactions. The model has been revised and is being tested in Kansas schools during the 1996-97 school year. The model is based on the “Big Six” model for information problem-solving by Eisenberg and Berkowitz (1990) and is derived from an analysis of Kansas content standards for language arts, social studies, mathematics, science, reading, and library media. The model divides student assignments in these six subject areas into five parts, using terminology from the standards for each subject. Rubrics have been developed for each of the five parts of an assignment. This paper will recount development of the model, delineate elements of the model, reveal preliminary findings of the current research project which tests the model, and discuss implications for implementing the model.

Creating a Healthcare Entrepreneurship Teaching Program for Medical Students

Introduction: The future of healthcare hinges on effective adoption of innovative solutions. Arguably, physicians are ideally positioned to propel clinical innovation given their firsthand experience with healthcare challenges; however, physicians often lack the necessary skills in innovation development and implementation methodology. The gap is partly a result of the paucity of exposure to innovation and entrepreneurship concepts within medical education and postgraduate training. To address this gap, the University of Toronto’s distributed medical education campus in Mississauga created a novel teaching initiative designed to impart themes of healthcare entrepreneurship to early stage medical learners. Methods: To inform the design of the program, the authors conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including physician entrepreneurs, innovation leaders, curriculum specialists and medical students. Using thematic analysis, key recommendations were extracted regarding learning objectives, approach to program delivery, and anticipated outcomes. A well-established entrepreneurial teaching model, the MaRS Entrepreneurship Framework, was adapted to frame the curricular content to the needs of medical learners. The resulting educational product consisted of six sessions, taught by subject matter experts, which outlined a methodological approach to the development of a medical start-up as a means of launching an innovation. Results: From November 2019 to May 2020, six sessions were held with a total of 37 unique attendees. The authors found that the series generated interest in entrepreneurship among medical students while fostering an appreciation for the basic principles of entrepreneurship. Conclusion: The next stage involves further program evaluation to guide the next iteration of the program. Potential avenues for growth include delivering the series virtually to support greater student accessibility. Future considerations include incorporating entrepreneurship into core undergraduate medical curricula and creating a dual degree program in medicine and entrepreneurship that cater to students with a deep interested in the field of healthcare entrepreneurship. Disclosure: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. As all data were completely anonymized and no patients were involved, this was not reviewed by an ethics board.

Promoting a Collegial, Collaborative, and Innovative Teaching and Learning Environment

Ryerson University is home to the Real Institute's ESL Foundation Program and was required to adapt programming and curricula for virtual teaching and learning in response to COVID-19. Despite difficulties at the outset, through the collaboration and creativity of a group of curriculum specialists and instructors, best practices regarding course management, assessment design, and program development for the teaching and learning of EAP and ESL curricula across time and space were discovered. The adaptation of curricula and programming for the virtual classroom was made possible due to the collaboration, innovation, and perseverance of instructors, administrative staff, and, of course, students.

Determining electrocardiography training priorities for medical students using a modified Delphi method

Background Although electrocardiography is considered a core learning outcome for medical students, there is currently little curricular guidance for undergraduate ECG training. Owing to the absence of expert consensus on undergraduate ECG teaching, curricular content is subject to individual opinion. The aim of this modified Delphi study was to establish expert consensus amongst content and context experts on an ECG curriculum for medical students. Methods The Delphi technique, an established method of obtaining consensus, was used to develop an undergraduate ECG curriculum. Specialists involved in ECG teaching were invited to complete three rounds of online surveys. An undergraduate ECG curriculum was formulated from the topics of ECG instruction for which consensus (i.e. ≥75% agreement) was achieved. Results The panellists (n = 131) had a wide range of expertise (42.8% Internal Medicine, 22.9% Cardiology, 16% Family Medicine, 13.7% Emergency Medicine and 4.6% Health Professions Education). Topics that reached consensus to be included in the undergraduate ECG curriculum were classified under technical aspects of performing ECGs, basic ECG analysis, recognition of the normal ECG and abnormal rhythms and waveforms and using electrocardiography as part of a clinical diagnosis. This study emphasises that ECG teaching should be framed within the clinical context. Course conveners should not overload students with complex and voluminous content, but rather focus on commonly encountered and life-threatening conditions, where accurate diagnosis impacts on patient outcome. A list of 23 “must know” ECG diagnoses is therefore proposed. Conclusion A multidisciplinary expert panel reached consensus on the ECG training priorities for medical students.

Determining electrocardiography training priorities for medical students using a modified Delphi method

BackgroundAlthough electrocardiography is considered a core learning outcome for medical students, there is currently little curricular guidance for undergraduate ECG training. Owing to the absence of expert consensus on undergraduate ECG teaching, curricular content is subject to individual opinion. The aim of this modified Delphi study was to establish expert consensus amongst content and context experts on an ECG curriculum for medical students.MethodsThe Delphi technique, an established method of obtaining consensus, was used to develop an undergraduate ECG curriculum. Specialists involved in ECG teaching were invited to complete three rounds of online surveys. An undergraduate ECG curriculum was formulated from the topics of ECG instruction for which consensus (i.e. ≥75% agreement) was achieved. ResultsThe panellists (n=131) had a wide range of expertise (42.8% Internal Medicine, 22.9% Cardiology, 16% Family Medicine, 13.7% Emergency Medicine and 4.6% Health Professions Education). Topics that reached consensus to be included in the undergraduate ECG curriculum were classified under technical aspects of performing ECGs, basic ECG analysis, recognition of the normal ECG and abnormal rhythms and waveforms and using electrocardiography as part of a clinical diagnosis. This study emphasises that ECG teaching should be framed within the clinical context. Course conveners should not overload students with complex and voluminous content, but rather focus on commonly encountered and life-threatening conditions, where accurate diagnosis impacts on patient outcome. A list of 23 “must know” ECG diagnoses is therefore proposed.ConclusionA multidisciplinary expert panel reached consensus on the ECG training priorities for medical students.

Determining electrocardiography training priorities for medical students using a modified Delphi method

Background Although electrocardiography is considered a core learning outcome for medical students, there is currently little curricular guidance for undergraduate ECG training. Owing to the absence of expert consensus on undergraduate ECG teaching, curricular content is subject to individual opinion. The aim of this modified Delphi study was to establish consensus amongst content and context experts on an ECG curriculum for medical students. Methods The Delphi technique, an established method of obtaining consensus, was used to develop an undergraduate ECG curriculum. Specialists involved in ECG teaching were invited to complete three rounds of online surveys. An undergraduate ECG curriculum was formulated from the topics of ECG instruction for which consensus (i.e. ≥75% agreement) was achieved amongst the expert panel. Results The panellists (n = 131) had a wide range of expertise (42.8% Internal Medicine, 22.9% Cardiology, 16% Family Medicine, 13.7% Emergency Medicine and 4.6% Health Professions Education). Topics that reached consensus to be included in the undergraduate ECG curriculum were classified under technical aspects of performing ECGs, basic ECG analysis, recognition of the normal ECG and abnormal rhythms and waveforms and using electrocardiography as part of a clinical diagnosis. This study emphasises that ECG teaching should be framed within the clinical context. Course conveners should not overload students with complex and voluminous content, but rather focus on commonly encountered and life-threatening conditions, where accurate diagnosis impacts on patient outcome. A list of 23 “must know” ECG diagnoses is therefore proposed. Conclusion A multidisciplinary expert panel reached consensus on the ECG training priorities for medical students.

Osmosis

Osmosis is a strong choice for health sciences students who are looking for personalized study for board and program. The company partners with institutions to further personalize the online platform’s algorithms, integrating curricula and professional standards into students’ overall study plans. Affordable individual and institutional based subscriptions are available, and certified curriculum specialists are on staff.

Improvement in Narrative Writing Skills with Communicative Teaching in Pakistani High Schools

The main objective of this research was to find an effect of communicative approach on narrative writing in 9th graders at secondary level. Relevant literature revealed that narrative writing can be enhanced with the help of communicative teaching. Pre-test post-test nonequivalent control group design had been used. To conduct the experimental study six (06) classes from two schools were selected conveniently were selected to gather data to achieve intended objective. There were 206 students involved in the experimentation. Communicative lessons were delivered in the experimental classroom only. The same pre-test was used as a posttest as well. Results of research depicted that communicative teaching had a remarkable effect on increasing narrative writing at secondary level. The outcome of research is valuable for teachers, curriculum specialists, syllabi designers and policy makers. In addition, communicative approach is recommended for teaching writing related to any genre in English.

Education and transfer of water competencies: An ecological dynamics approach

To cope in various aquatic environments (i.e. swimming pools, lakes, rivers, oceans), learners require a wide repertoire of self-regulatory behaviours such as awareness of obstacles and water properties, floating and moving from point to point with different strokes, decision making, emotional control and breathing efficiently. By experiencing different learning situations in stable indoor pool environments, it is assumed that children strengthen aquatic competencies that should be transferable to functioning in open water environments, where prevalence of drowning is high. However, this fundamental assumption may be misleading. Here, we propose the application of a clear, related methodology and theoretical framework that could be useful to help physical education curriculum specialists (re)shape and (re)design appropriate aquatic learning situations to facilitate better transfer of learning. We discuss the need for more representativeness in a learning environment, proposing how the many different task and environmental constraints on aquatic actions may bound the emergence of functional, self-regulatory behaviours in learners. Ideas in ecological dynamics suggest that physical educators should design learning environments that offer a rich landscape of opportunities for action for learners. As illustration, three practice interventions are described for developing functional and transferrable skills in indoor aquatic environments. It is important that aquatic educators focus not just upon ‘learning to swim’, but particularly on relevant transferable skills and self-regulatory behaviours deemed necessary for functioning in dynamic, outdoor aquatic environments.