Search

Live organisms versus digital video of the organisms were used to challenge students' naive ideas and misconceptions about blood, the heart, and circulatory patterns. Three faculty members taught 259 grade 10 biology students in a California high school with students from diverse ethnolinguistic groups who were divided into 5 classes using microscopes (128 students) and 5 classes using digital video (131 students) to compare blood transport among invertebrates, fish, and humans. The "What Is Happening in this Class?" (WIHIC) questionnaire was used for assessment of microscope and video groups to detect students' perception of their learning environment following these teaching interventions. The use of microscopes had a clear effect on the perception of the investigative aspects of the learning environment that was not detected with the video treatment. Findings suggest that video should not replace investigations with live organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine whether problem-based writing with peer review (PW-PR) improves undergraduate student performance on physiology exams. Didactic lectures were replaced with assignments to give students practice explaining their reasoning while solving qualitative problems, thus transferring the responsibility for abstraction and generalization to the students. Performance on exam items about concepts taught using PW-PR was compared with performance on concepts taught using didactic lectures followed by group work. Calibrated Peer Review™, a Web-delivered program, was used to collect student essays and to manage anonymous peer review after students "passed" three calibration peer reviews. Results show that the students had difficulty relating concepts. Relationship errors were categorized as 1) problems recognizing levels of organization, 2) problems with cause/effect, and 3) overgeneralizations. For example, some described cells as molecules; others thought that vesicles transport materials through the extracellular fluid. With PW-PR, class discussion was used to confront and resolve such difficulties. Both multiple-choice and essay exam results were better with PW-PR instead of lecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiology as a discipline is uniquely positioned to engage undergraduate students in interdisciplinary research in response to the 2006-20 11 National Science Foundation Strategic Plan call for innovative transformational research, which emphasizes multidisciplinary projects. To prepare undergraduates for careers that cross disciplinary boundaries, students need to practice interdisciplinary communication in academic programs that connect students in diverse disciplines. This report surveys policy documents relevant to this emphasis on interdisciplinary training and suggests a changing role for physiology courses in bioscience and engineering programs. A role for a physiology course is increasingly recommended for engineering programs, but the study of physiology from an engineering perspective might differ from the study of physiology as a basic science. Indeed, physiology laboratory courses provide an arena where biomedical engineering and bioscience students can apply knowledge from both fields while cooperating in multidisciplinary teams under specified technical constraints. Because different problem-solving approaches are used by students of engineering and bioscience, instructional innovations are needed to break down stereotypes between the disciplines and create an educational environment where interdisciplinary teamwork is used to bridge differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the report of the American Physiological Society's (APS) undergraduate summit in September 2006. The 10 programs described during the summit represent various undergraduate environments where physiology is taught. This provides opportunities in enhancing undergraduate exposure to physiology as a biological science, biomedical science and experimental science. Community colleges aimed to provide a high-quality, low-cost education for community members. The undergraduate colleges offer smaller educational setting where students increased access to faculty. Graduate programs are small and often extend to the Masters Degree. Universities provide physiology instructions in a large campus setting with institutional emphasis on graduate programs and undergraduate programs.