No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Abstract
Feder, Martin E. Aims of undergraduate physiology education: a view from the University of Chicago. Adv Physiol Educ 29: 3 - 10, 2005; doi: 10.1152/ advan. 00028.2004. - Physiology may play an important, if not essential role, in a liberal arts education because it provides a context for integrating information and concepts from diverse biological and extra-biological disciplines. Instructors of physiology may aid in fulfilling this role by clarifying the core concepts that physiological details exemplify. As an example, presented here are the core principles that are the basis for an undergraduate physiology course taught at the University of Chicago. The first of these is: Evolution has resulted in organisms comprising mechanisms for maintenance, growth, and reproduction, despite perturbations of the internal and external environment. Such principles necessitate a coupling of physiology to diverse disciplines (i.e., "sciomics") and provide a basis for integrating discoveries in other disciplines.
... The aim of our study was to evaluate knowledge on the subject of human physiology among Polish high school students. Sound physiological knowledge is of high importance, as it allows individuals to integrate information and concepts from diverse biological disciplines [11] . it plays an tant role in the conscious care of our own health. ...
... Multiple papers have been published on the subject of proper teaching methods. These papers focus on the most important subjects that should be taught in physiology classes and most importantly the most efficient, clear and thorough ways to teach this subject [11,19]. ...
Background:
In most cases the only knowledge an individual will receive with regards to their own body and its proper functioning is during their high school education. The aim of this study was to evaluate high school students' knowledge about basic physiology.
Material and methods:
The research was carried out in five, randomly chosen high schools in Krakow, Poland. Young people in the age of 17-19 years were asked to fill in the questionnaire designed by the authors. The first part of the survey included personal data. The second part contained 20 close-ended questions assessing students' knowledge about the basics of human physiology. Question difficulty varied from easy through average, and up to difficult. The maximum number of points to achieve was 20.
Results:
One-thousand-and eighty-three (out of 1179 invited--91.86%) Polish high school students (63.25% female) filled in a 20-item questionnaire constructed by the authors regarding basic human physiology. The mean age of the group was 17.66 ± 0.80 years. The mean score among the surveyed was 10.15 ± 3.48 (range 0-20). Only 26.04% of students achieved a grade of 60% or more, and only one person obtained the highest possible score. Females achieved significantly better scores than males (10.49 ± 3.38 vs. 9.56 ± 3.56; p < 0.0001). Pupils in their second year who were in the process of studying physiology, obtained better results than those in their third year who had already finished the biology course (10.70 ± 3.27 vs. 9.81 ± 3.74 respectively; p < 0.0001) and those in their first year who did not yet study human physiology (10.70 ± 3.27 vs. 9.63 ± 2.74 respectively; p = 0.003). Over 23% of students did not know that mature red blood cells do not have cell nuclei and a similar number of them answered that humans have 500,000 erythrocytes in 1 mm3 of blood. Over 32% believed that plasma does not participate in the transport of respiratory gases, and 31% believed that endocrine glands secrete hormones within their immediate vicinity and into the blood.
Conclusions:
Our research has shown that young people, especially men, often lack basic physiological knowledge needed to make conscious and responsible decisions regarding their health. Our results suggest that more emphasis should be put on properly teaching human physiology in high school, especially to those students who do not plan a career in medicine-related fields. This study brings to light the disturbing fact that about a year after a student finishes his basic physiology course his knowledge of the subject returns to a pre high school level.
... ¿Cómo son las imágenes para estudiar la asignatura de Neurofisiología? neurofisiología representa un gran desafío de aprendizaje, para los estudiantes universitarios de pregrado y de postgrado en distintos tipos de carreras y programas alrededor del mundo relacionados con la biología, con su enseñanza o con carreras asociadas a las ciencias de la salud, tales como medicina, enfermería, kinesiología, entre otras (Feder, 2005;Michael 2007;Michael et al., 2009;Michael & Farland 2011;Modell 2000;2004;. La dificultad para enseñar y aprender neurofisiología, puede generarse por varias razones, tales como la diversidad del nivel de conocimiento científico previo y las preconcepciones de los estudiantes, por cómo la disciplina es enseñada y por cómo los estudiantes abordan su aprendizaje (Michael 2007;Michael et al., 2017). ...
Investigar sobre las imágenes de un libro de Neurociencia es esencial para aprovechar al máximo los recursos de aprendizaje y mejorar la comprensión y retención de los conceptos clave en la asignatura de Neurofisiología. Las imágenes son una parte fundamental de la educación en ciencias biológicas y médicas, y su análisis crítico puede ser beneficioso para los estudiantes que buscan tener un mejor dominio de esta disciplina. Es por ello, que para profundizar en este tema se analizó la calidad de las representaciones visuales utilizadas en un libro ampliamente usado para estudiar esta disciplina. Se llevó a cabo un análisis de las ilustraciones presentes en la sección titulada "Sistema somatosensorial, tacto y propiocepción". Se analizaron las dimensiones relacionada con la/las (i.) Función didáctica de la imagen en relación a la secuencia didáctica en la que aparece la ilustración, (ii.) Funcionalidad de la imagen, (iii.) Categorías en la relación con el texto principal, (iv.) Categorías establecidas en las etiquetas verbales. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que: (i.) las funciones didácticas predominantes de las imágenes en función de la secuencia didáctica en la que aparecen fueron la definición (40%) y la aplicación (40%), seguidas por la interpretación (13,3%) y la descripción (6,6%). (ii.) La funcionalidad de las ilustraciones fue sintáctica (100%). (iii.) Con respecto a la categoría en relación con el texto, predominan las imágenes sinópticas (53,3%) y las denotativas (46,6%) y en relación a (iv.) la categoría de las etiquetas verbales que se presentan en las imágenes la mayoría se clasificaron como relacionales (93,3%) y sólo una como nominativa (6,6 %). Hacia el final del presente estudio se ofrece una actividad de aprendizaje en base a los hallazgos evidenciados.
Challenges in integration of concepts persist among undergraduate biology students. The 5 core concepts (5CCs) of biology presented in Vision and Change provide a comprehensive, concept-based description of the knowledge of biology, summarized in five main biological scales and five overarching principles that dictate natural biological phenomena and processes. The goal of this study was to collect information on students’ interpretations of three introductory biology topics, (i) aquaporins, (ii) aerobic respiration, and (iii) DNA transcription, while associating their knowledge of these topics with the 5CCs. During three separate exam review sessions, students of a conventional lecture-based introductory biology class were asked to provide short responses of how each of the 5CCs related to the given class topic. An inductive coding analysis of student responses was performed to reveal the main connections students made between each of the three topics and the 5CCs. We found that for some core concepts it was easier for students to draw connections to a simple topic, such as aquaporins, while for other core concepts it was easier to draw connections to a multistep phenomenon, such as aerobic respiration. Although student connections were simple associations between a CC and a class topic, exploratory studies such as this one can be an important step toward designing teaching practices that are aligned with Vision and Change recommendations and could advance student conceptual understanding and integration of biological knowledge.
We have developed and validated a conceptual framework for understanding and teaching organismal homeostasis at the undergraduate level. The resulting homeostasis conceptual framework details critical components and constituent ideas underlying the concept of homeostasis. It has been validated by a broad range of physiology faculty members from community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, research universities, and medical schools. In online surveys, faculty members confirmed the relevance of each item in the framework for undergraduate physiology and rated the importance and difficulty of each. The homeostasis conceptual framework was constructed as a guide for teaching and learning of this critical core concept in physiology, and it also paves the way for the development of a concept inventory for homeostasis.
Physiology is a core requirement in the undergraduate biomedical engineering curriculum. In one or two introductory physiology courses, engineering students must learn physiology sufficiently to support learning in their subsequent engineering courses and careers. As preparation for future learning, physiology instruction centered on concepts may help engineering students to further develop their physiology and biomedical engineering knowledge. Following the Backward Design instructional model, a series of seven concept-based lessons was developed for undergraduate engineering students. These online lessons were created as prerequisite physiology training to prepare students to engage in a collaborative engineering challenge activity. This work is presented as an example of how to convert standard, organ system-based physiology content into concept-based content lessons.
A physical model was used in a laboratory exercise to teach students about countercurrent exchange mechanisms. Countercurrent exchange is the transport of heat or chemicals between fluids moving in opposite directions separated by a permeable barrier (such as blood within adjacent blood vessels flowing in opposite directions). Greater exchange of heat or chemicals between the fluids occurs when the flows are in opposite directions (countercurrent) than in the same direction (concurrent). When a vessel loops back on itself, countercurrent exchange can occur between the two arms of the loop, minimizing loss or uptake at the bend of the loop. Comprehension of the physical principles underlying countercurrent exchange helps students to understand how kidneys work and how modifications of a circulatory system can influence the movement of heat or chemicals to promote or minimize exchange and reinforces the concept that heat and chemicals move down their temperature or concentration gradients, respectively. One example of a well-documented countercurrent exchanger is the close arrangement of veins and arteries inside bird legs; therefore, the setup was arranged to mimic blood vessels inside a bird leg, using water flowing inside tubing as a physical proxy for blood flow within blood vessels.
Learning is an active process ([4][1]). Thus, in an attempt to achieve better results in the learning process, in our teaching project we introduced a complementary activity to other classroom activities (theory and practical sessions). This activity's design was based on one of the recommendations
Physiology faculty members at a wide range of institutions (2-yr colleges to medical schools) were surveyed to determine what core principles of physiology they want their students to understand. From the results of the first survey, 15 core principles were described. In a second survey, respondents were asked to rank order these 15 core principles and, independently, to identify the three most important for their students to understand. The five most important core principles were "cell membrane," "homeostasis," "cell-to-cell communications," "interdependence," and "flow down gradients." We then "unpacked" the flow down gradients core principle into the component ideas of which it is comprised. This unpacking was sent to respondents who were asked to identify the importance of each of the component ideas. Respondents strongly agreed with the importance of the component ideas we had identified. We will be using the responses to our surveys as we begin the development of a conceptual assessment of physiology instrument (i.e., a concept inventory).
Students learn best when they are focused and thinking about the subject at hand. To teach physiology, we must offer opportunities for students to actively participate in class. This approach aids in focusing their attention on the topic and thus generating genuine interest in the mechanisms involved. This study was conducted to determine if offering voluntary active learning exercises would improve student understanding and application of the material covered. To compare performance, an anonymous cardiorespiratory evaluation was distributed to two groups of students during the fall (control, n = 168) and spring (treatment, n = 176) semesters. Students in both groups were taught by traditional methods, and students in the treatment group had the option to voluntary participate in two additional active learning exercises: 1) a small group discussion, where students would discuss a physiology topic with their Teaching Assistant before running BIOPAC software for the laboratory exercise and 2) a free response question, where students anonymously responded to one short essay question after the laboratory exercise. In these formative assessments, students received feedback about their present state of learning from the discussion with their peers and also from the instructor comments regarding perceived misconceptions. As a result of the participation in these activities, students in the treatment group had a better overall performance [χ(2) (degree of freedom = 1) = 31.2, P < 0.001] on the evaluation (treatment group: 62% of responses correct and control group: 49%) with an observed difference of 13% (95% confidence interval: 8, 17). In conclusion, this study presents sufficient evidence that when the opportunity presents itself, students become active participants in the learning process, which translates into an improvement in their understanding and application of physiological concepts.
The explosion of knowledge in all of the biological sciences, and specifically in physiology, has created a growing problem for educators. There is more to know than students can possibly learn. Thus, difficult choices have to be made about what we expect students to master. One approach to making the needed decisions is to consider those "core principles" that provide the thinking tools for understanding all biological phenomena. We identified a list of "core principles" that appear to apply to all aspects of physiology and unpacked them into their constituent component ideas. While such a list does not define the content for a physiology course, it does provide a guideline for selecting the topics on which to focus student attention. This list of "core principles" also offers a starting point for developing an assessment instrument to be used in determining if students have mastered the important unifying ideas of physiology.
The topic of psychoactive drugs is one of inherent interest to college students. We used this insight to design and implement a multidisciplinary undergraduate course with psychoactive drugs as the central theme. The Medical Science of Psychoactive Drugs examines the biological mechanisms underlying all major effects of psychoactive drugs, including the effects on the brain and other organs and tissues. Physiological principles, molecular mechanisms, and genetic factors involved in drug-induced therapeutic and adverse effects are emphasized. The course is open to undergraduate students at all levels and carries no prerequisites, and enrollment is limited to approximately 50 students. Major teaching modes include lecture, short homework papers on topics related to the previous class meeting, small-group discussions at several points during each class, and whole class discussions. Because of the diversity of students' knowledge of basic science, we employ a variety of methods designed to help students grasp the necessary scientific concepts. Our methods are intended to be inquiry based and highly interactive. Our goals are 1) to foster the development of an organized knowledge base about psychoactive drugs that will have practical applicability in the daily lives of the students; 2) to promote the rational application of this knowledge in thinking about current medical, social, legal, and ethical issues involving psychoactive drugs; and 3) to cultivate science literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills among students.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.