Category Archives: Core Concepts & Competencies

Call for Papers: Physiology Core Concepts

In 2011, Michael and McFarland (1) described 15 core concepts of physiology, as defined by physiology educators. The core concepts provide an objectives-based teaching approach focused on the learning of unifying physiological concepts that can be applied across the discipline. Educators have used the core concepts to design and organize courses (2), as well as physiology-related curricula (3). Over the last 10 years, the core concepts have been further explained (4) and revisited (2). However, there remains a gap in the current understanding about how educators are using and assessing the core concepts in their own classrooms.

Advances in Physiology Education is issuing a Call for Papers to address this gap and highlight the work of educators implementing the core concepts in their teaching. We hope this work will demonstrate whether and how the implementation of the core concepts results in gains in student understanding of physiology. We encourage submissions from diverse perspectives and welcome authors from any career stage or title, a variety of educational institutions, and varying levels of education research experience.

To be considered for this Call, authors must first submit an abstract/pre-submission inquiry for review. If the abstract/pre-submission inquiry is accepted, the authors will receive a formal invitation to submit their article, which will then undergo the regular review process (see ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES below).

POTENTIAL TOPICS FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS:
A broad range of manuscript topics will be considered, including but not limited to:

Impact of core concept-based strategies on student learning;
Successful strategies for the implementation of the core concepts by instructors;
Curricular development centered on the core concepts;
Teaching of core concepts as a tool for more inclusive classrooms.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBMISSIONS
Articles reporting original research will be prioritized, but reviews and perspectives submitted as essays will be considered as well. To be publishable in this special collection of Advances, scholarly work must:

Connect in some way to the use of the physiology core concepts with students, instructors, programs, or innovations;
Have implications for the use of core concepts in education research and practice;
Align with one of the established article types currently listed here: https://journals.physiology.org/advances/article-types

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submitted abstracts should include the following and should be 300-500 words:

TITLE
AUTHOR(S): Include name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and email address(es); submissions are welcome from all.
NARRATIVE: Provide brief description of focus of anticipated manuscript submission, including 1) connection to students, instructors, programs, or innovations, 2) implications for biology education researchers and practitioners, and 3) align with one of the established article types in Advances in Physiology Education.
HOW TO SUBMIT ABSTRACTS: Abstracts/pre-submission inquiries should be submitted online by end of January 2022 for evaluation by the Guest Editors at https://advances.msubmit.net/cgi-bin/main.plex/submit
SELECT CALL FOR PAPERS: During the online submission process, under the “Keywords & Special Sections” tab, please use the “Category” drop-down menu and select “Call for Papers: Physiology Core Concepts.”
ABSTRACT REVIEW: Feedback on all submitted abstracts/pre-submission inquiries will be provided to authors by the end of February 2022 after review by the editorial team to ensure that a range of topics and viewpoints are represented in this special collection.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CLARIFICATIONS AND SUPPORT: Interested authors are welcome to contact Advances Editor-in-Chief Barb Goodman (Barb.Goodman@usd.edu).
Contact Ed Dwyer (edwyer@physiology.org) with any submission issues.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION: After evaluation of abstracts/pre-submission inquiries, authors who are encouraged to submit a full manuscript should do so by the end of May 2022.

References

Michael J, McFarland J. The core principles (“big ideas”) of physiology: results of faculty surveys. Adv Physiol Educ 35: 336–341, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00004.2011.
Michael J, McFarland J. Another look at the core concepts of physiology: revisions and resources. Adv Physiol Educ 44: 752–762, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00114.2020.
Stanescu CI, Wehrwein EA, Anderson LC, Rogers J. Evaluation of core concepts of physiology in undergraduate physiology curricula: results from faculty and student surveys. Adv Physiol Educ 44: 632–639, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00187.2019.
Michael J, Cliff W, McFarland J, Modell H, Wright A. What Are the Core Concepts of Physiology? In: The Core Concepts of Physiology: A New Paradigm for Teaching Physiology, edited by Michael J, Cliff W, McFarland J, Modell H, Wright A. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 2017, p. 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6909-8.

About Advances in Physiology Education

Advances in Physiology Education promotes and disseminates educational scholarship to enhance teaching and learning of physiology, neuroscience, and pathophysiology. The journal publishes peer-reviewed descriptions of innovations that improve teaching in the classroom and laboratory, essays on education, and review articles based on our current understanding of physiological mechanisms. Submissions that evaluate new technologies for teaching and research, and educational pedagogy, are especially welcome. The audience for the journal includes educators at all levels: K–12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.

Pandemic, Physiology, Physical Therapy, Psychology, Purpose, Professor Fink, Practical Exams, and Proficiency!

Pandemic

To say that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected education would be an understatement. Physical distancing measures that were introduced across the world to reduce community spread of SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 pathogen), necessitated a cessation or reduction of in-person instruction, and the introduction of what has come to be known as “emergency remote education”(1, 2). Emergency remote education or teaching (ERE or ERT) is different from remote or online education in that, it is not planned and optional, but rather, a response to an educational emergency (3).

Physiology for Physical Therapy Students

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as I was trying to keep my primary research program on regenerative and rehabilitative muscle biology moving forward (4), engaging with the scientific community on repurposing FDA-approved drugs for COVID-19 (5, 6), and working on the Biomaterials, Pharmacology, and Muscle Biology courses that I teach each year; I was requested to take on a new responsibility. The new responsibility was to serve as the course master and sole instructor for a 3-credit, 15-week course on Physiology and Pathophysiology for Professional Year One (PY1) Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. I had foreseen taking on this responsibility a couple of years down the road, but COVID-19 contingencies required that I start teaching the course in January 2021. I had always believed that within the Physical Therapy curriculum, Anatomy, Physiology and Neuroscience, were courses that could only be taught by people who were specialists – i.e. you had to be born for it and should have received a level of training needed to become a master of Shaolin Kung Fu (7). With less than a year to prepare for my Physiology and Pathophysiology course, and with the acknowledgment that I was not trained in the martial art of Physiology instruction, I looked for inspiration. The Peter Parker Principle from Spider-Man came to mind – “With great power comes great responsibility” (8). Unfortunately, I realized that there was no corollary that said “With great responsibility comes great power”. Self-doubt, anxious thoughts, and frank fear of failure abounded.

Psychology and Purpose

Call it coincidence, grace, or anything in between; at the time when I started preparing to teach Physiology and Pathophysiology, I had been working with a psychological counselor who was helping me process my grief following my father’s passing a couple of months before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. In addition to processing my grief, through counseling, I had also started learning more about myself and how to process anxious thoughts, such as the fear of failing in my new superhero role of teaching Physiology and Pathophysiology to Physical Therapy students. Learning how to effectively use my “wise mind” (an optimal intersection of the “emotional mind” and “reasonable mind”), writing out the possible “worst outcomes” and “likely outcomes”, practicing “self-compassion”, increasing distress tolerance, working on emotional regulation, and most importantly embracing “radical acceptance” of the things I cannot change, helped me work through the anxiety induced by my new teaching responsibility. This does not mean that my anxiety vanished, it just means that I was more aware of it, acknowledged it, and worked my way through it to get to what I was supposed to do. I also learned through counseling that purpose drives motivation. I realized that my anxiety over teaching Physiology was related to the value I placed on the teaching and learning of Physiology in Physical Therapy and other health professions. Being a Physical Therapist and Physiologist who is committed to promoting movement-centered healthcare, I found motivation in the prospect of training Physical Therapists to serve as health educators with the ultimate goal of improving human movement. Therefore, the idea of developing a course that would give my students a solid foundation in the Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Movement began to excite me more than intimidate me. The aspects of my personality that inspired me to publish a paper on the possible pathophysiological mechanisms underlying COVID-19 complications (5), stirred in me the passion to train the next generation of Physical Therapists, who through their sound knowledge of Physiology would likely go on to transform healthcare and promote healthier societies through movement (9).

The point about purpose being a positive driver of motivation, mentioned above, has been known to educational psychologists for a while. When students see that the purpose of learning something is bigger than themselves, they are more motivated to learn (10). So, rather than setting up my course as a generic medical physiology course, I decided to set it up as a Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Movement course that is customized for human movement experts in training – i.e. Student Physical Therapists. I set my course up in four modules – Moving the Body (focused on muscle and nerve), Moving Materials Around the Body (focused on the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems), Fueling Movement (focused on cellular respiration and the ATP story), and Decoding the Genetics of Human Movement (focused on how genetic information is transcribed and translated into proteins that make movement possible).

Professor Fink

For those of you who have not heard of Professor Steven Fink, you should look him up (11). A Ph.D.-trained Physiologist and former member of the American Physiological Society (APS), Professor Fink has posted over 200 original educational videos on YouTube, covering Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, and other subjects. I had found his YouTube videos several years ago, while looking for good resources for my Pharmacology course, and never stopped watching them ever since then. I would watch his videos while exercising, and listen to them during my commute (and sometimes even during my ablutions!). There were two topics in Physiology that scared me the most – cellular respiration and genetics. I had learned these topics just well enough to get me through high school, four years of Physical Therapy School, one year of Post-Professional Physical Therapy training, six years of Ph.D. training in a Physiology laboratory, six years as a Postdoctoral Fellow (also in a Physiology laboratory), and several years as an Assistant Professor in Physical Therapy. However, despite the “few years” I had spent in academia and my 10+ years being a member of the APS, I never felt that I had gained mastery over the basic physiology of cellular respiration and genetics. So, when I started preparing to teach Physiology, I decided to up my number of views on Professor Fink’s videos on cellular respiration and genetics. Furthermore, I reached out to Professor Fink and asked him if he would serve as a teaching mentor for my new course and he very kindly agreed. I am fortunate to be a teacher-scholar in a department and university, which places a high priority on teaching, and supports training in pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching and learning through consultation with experts within and outside the university. As part of our mentoring relationship, Professor Fink gave feedback on my syllabus, course content, testing materials and pedagogical strategies. He also introduced me to “Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 16th Edition, by Gerard J. Tortora, Bryan H. Derrickson, which proved to be a useful resource (ISBN: 978-1-119-66268-6). Through all these interactions, Professor Fink demonstrated that a person can be a “celebrity professor” and still be a kind and gentle human being. Having him as my teaching mentor played a significant role in building my confidence as a physiology teacher. Research shows that academic mentoring is related to favorable outcomes in various domains, which include behavior, attitudes, health, interpersonal relations, motivation, and career (12).

Practical Exams

As the COVID-19 pandemic rolled on through the Winter, Spring/Summer, and Fall semesters of 2020, it became certain that I would have to teach my Physiology and Pathophysiology course in a virtual environment come January 2021. I had to figure out a way to make sure that the learning objectives of my course would be met despite the challenges posed by teaching and testing in a virtual environment. Therefore, I came up with the idea of virtual practical exams for each of the four modules in my course. These practical exams would be set up as a mock discussion between a Physical Therapist and a referring health professional regarding a patient who had been referred for Physical Therapy. Students would take the exam individually. On entering the virtual exam room, the student would introduce themselves as a Student Physical Therapist and then request me (the referring healthcare professional) to provide relevant details regarding the patient, in order to customize assessment, goal setting and treatment for the patient. With the patient’s condition as the backdrop, I would ask the student questions from the course content that was relevant to the patient’s condition. A clear and precise rubric for the exam would be provided to the students in keeping with the principles of transparency in learning and teaching (13).

Proficiency

As we went through the course, the virtual practical exams proved to be an opportunity to provide individualized attention and both summative and formative feedback to students (14). As a teacher, it was rewarding to see my Physical Therapy students talk about cellular respiration and gene expression with more confidence and clarity than I could do during my prior 12+ years as a Ph.D.-trained Physiologist. It was clear to me that my students had found a sense of purpose in the course content that was bigger than themselves – they believed that what they were learning would translate to better care for their patients and would ultimately help create healthier societies through movement.

In the qualitative feedback received through a formal student evaluation of teaching (SET) survey, one student wrote “Absolutely exceptional professor. Please continue to do what you are doing for future cohorts. You must keep the verbal practical examinations for this class. Testing one’s ability to verbally explain how the body functions and how it is dysfunctional is the perfect way to assess if true learning has occurred.” Sharing similar sentiments, another student wrote “I really enjoyed the format of this class. The virtual exams in this class forced us to really understand the content in a way that we can talk about it, rather than learning to answer a MC question. I hope future students are able to learn as much as I did from this class.”

Closing Remarks

When I meet students for the first time during a course, I tell them that even though I am their teacher, I am first a student. I let them know that in order to teach, I first need to learn the content well myself. Pandemic pedagogy in the time of COVID-19-related emergency remote education has reinforced my belief that, the best way to learn something is to teach it. Thanks to my Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Movement course, I learned more about myself, about teaching and learning, and of course about cellular respiration and genetics. Do I now consider myself a master of Physiology instruction? No! Am I a more confident physiology teacher? Yes! Has writing this article made me reflect more on what worked well and what needs to be fine-tuned for the next iteration of my Physiology and Pathophysiology course? Yes!

REFERENCES:

Williamson B, Eynon R, Potter J. Pandemic politics, pedagogies and practices: digital technologies and distance education during the coronavirus emergency. Learning, Media and Technology. 2020;45(2):107-14.
Bozkurt A, Jung I, Xiao J, Vladimirschi V, Schuwer R, Egorov G, et al. A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian Journal of Distance Education. 2020;15(1):1-126.
Hodges C, Moore S, Lockee B, Trust T, Bond A. The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause review. 2020;27:1-12.
Begam M, Roche R, Hass JJ, Basel CA, Blackmer JM, Konja JT, et al. The effects of concentric and eccentric training in murine models of dysferlin-associated muscular dystrophy. Muscle Nerve. 2020.
Roche JA, Roche R. A hypothesized role for dysregulated bradykinin signaling in COVID-19 respiratory complications. FASEB J. 2020;34(6):7265-9.
Joseph R, Renuka R. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY ON THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF DYSREGULATED BRADYKININ SIGNALING IN COVID-19 RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS2020.
Wikipedia contributors. Shaolin Kung Fu – Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 2021 [Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shaolin_Kung_Fu&oldid=1026594946.
Wikipedia contributors. With great power comes great responsibility – Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 2021 [Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility&oldid=1028753868.
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Transforming Society – American Physical Therapy Association [Available from: https://www.apta.org/transforming-society.
Yeager DS, Henderson MD, Paunesku D, Walton GM, D’Mello S, Spitzer BJ, et al. Boring but important: a self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2014;107(4):559.
Fink S. ProfessorFink.com [Available from: https://professorfink.com/.
Eby LT, Allen TD, Evans SC, Ng T, Dubois D. Does Mentoring Matter? A Multidisciplinary Meta-Analysis Comparing Mentored and Non-Mentored Individuals. J Vocat Behav. 2008;72(2):254-67.
Winkelmes M. Transparency in Learning and Teaching: Faculty and students benefit directly from a shared focus on learning and teaching processes. NEA Higher Education Advocate. 2013;30(1):6-9.
Alt D. Teachers’ practices in science learning environments and their use of formative and summative assessment tasks. Learning Environments Research. 2018;21(3):387-406.

Joseph A. Roche, BPT, PhD. Associate Professor. Physical Therapy Program. Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

I am an Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy Program at Wayne State University, located in the heart of “Motor City”, Detroit, Michigan. My research program is focused on developing regenerative and rehabilitative interventions for muscle loss arising from neuromuscular diseases, trauma and aging. I have a clinical background in Physical Therapy and have received intensive doctoral and postdoctoral research training in muscle physiology/biology.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joseph-Roche-2

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-RCFS6oAAAAJ&hl=en

Medical Physiology for Undergraduate Students: A Galaxy No Longer Far, Far Away

The landscape of medical school basic science education has undergone a significant transformation in the past 15 years. This transformation continues to grow as medical school basic science faculty are faced with the task of providing “systems based” learning of the fundamental concepts of the Big 3 P’s: Physiology, Pathology & Pharmacology, within the context of clinical medicine and case studies. Student understanding of conceptual basic science is combined with the growing knowledge base of science that has been doubling exponentially for the past century. Add macro and microanatomy to the mix and students entering their clinical years of medical education are now being deemed only “moderately prepared” to tackle the complexities of clinical diagnosis and treatment. This has placed a new and daunting premium on the preparation of students for entry into medical school. Perhaps medical education is no longer a straightforward task of 4 consecutive years of learning. I portend that our highest quality students today, are significantly more prepared and in many ways more focused in the fundamentals of mathematics, science and logic than those of even 30 years ago. However, we are presenting them with a near impossible task of deeply learning and integrating a volume of information that is simply far too vast for a mere 4 semesters of early medical education.

To deal with this academic conundrum, I recommend here that the academic community quickly begin to address this complex set of problems in a number of new and different ways. Our educators have addressed the learning of STEM in recent times by implementing a number of “student centered” pedagogical philosophies and practices that have been proven to be far more effective in the retention of knowledge and the overall understanding of problem solving. The K-12 revolution of problem-based and student-centered education continues to grow and now these classroom structures have become well placed on many of our college and university campuses. There is still much to be done in expanding and perfecting student-centered learning, but we are all keenly aware that these kinds of classroom teaching methods also come with a significant price in terms of basic science courses.

It is my contention that we must now expand our time frame and begin preparing our future scientists and physicians with robust undergraduate preprofessional education. Many of our universities have already embarked upon this mission by developing undergraduate physiology majors that have placed them at the forefront of this movement. Michigan State University, the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon have well established and long standing physiology majors. Smaller liberal arts focused colleges and universities may not invest in a full majors program, but rather offer robust curricular courses in the basic medical sciences that appropriately prepare their students for professional medical and/or veterinary education. Other research 1 universities with strong basic medical science programs housed in biology departments of their Colleges of Arts and Sciences may be encouraged to develop discipline focused “tracks” in the basic medical sciences. These tracks may be focused on disciplines such as physiology, pharmacology, neuroscience, medical genetics & bioinformatics and microbiology & immunology. These latter programs will allow students to continue learning with more broad degrees of undergraduate education in the arts, humanities and social sciences while gaining an early start on advanced in depth knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of medical bioscience. Thus, a true undergraduate “major” in these disciplines would not be a requirement, but rather a basic offering of focused, core biomedical science courses that better prepare the future professional for the rigors of integrated organ-based medical education.

In the long term, it is important for leaders in undergraduate biomedical education to develop a common set of curriculum standards that provide a framework from which all institutions can determine how and when they choose to prepare their own students for their post-undergraduate education. National guidelines for physiology programs should become the standard through which institutions can begin to prepare their students. Core concepts in physiology are currently being developed. We must carefully identify how student learning and understanding of basic science transcends future career development, and teach professional skills that improve future employability. Lastly, we must develop clear and effective mechanisms to assess and evaluate programs to assure that what we believe is successful is supported by data which demonstrates specific program strengths and challenges for the future. These kinds of challenges in biomedical education are currently being addressed in open forum discussions and meetings fostered by the newly developed Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG) of the APS. This growing group of interested physiology educators are now meeting each year to discuss, compare and share their thoughts on these and other issues related to the future success of our undergraduate physiology students. The current year will meet June 28-29 at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. It is through these forums and discussions that we, as a discipline, will continue to grow and meet the needs and challenges of teaching physiology and other basic science disciplines of the future.

Jeffrey L. Osborn, PhD is a professor of biology at the University of Kentucky where he teaches undergraduate and graduate physiology. He currently serves as APS Education Committee chair and is a former medical physiology educator and K12 magnet school director. His research focuses on hypertension and renal function and scholarship of teaching and learning. This is his first blog.

Critical thinking or traditional teaching for Health Professions?

“Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think”- Albert Einstein”

A few years ago I moved from a research laboratory to the classroom. Until then, I had been accustomed to examine ideas and try to find solutions by experimenting and challenging the current knowledge in certain areas. However, in the classroom setting, the students seemed to only want to learn facts with no room for alternative explanations, or challenges. This is not the way a clinician should be trained- I thought, and I started looking in text books, teaching seminars and workshops for alternative teaching methods. I quickly learned that teaching critical thinking skills is the preferred method for higher education to develop highly-qualified professionals.

Why critical thinking? Critical thinking is one of the most important attributes we expect from students in postsecondary education, especially highly qualified professionals in Health Care, where critical thinking will provide the tools to solve unconventional problems that may result. I teach Pathophysiology in Optometry and as in other health professions, not all the clinical cases are identical, therefore the application and adaptation of the accumulated body of knowledge in different scenarios is crucial to develop clinical skills. Because critical thinking is considered essential for patient care, it is fostered in many health sciences educational programs and integrated in the Health Professions Standards for Accreditation.

But what is critical thinking? It is accepted that critical thinking is a process that encompasses conceptualization, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and reflection. What we expect from a critical thinker is to:

Formulate clear and precise vital questions and problems;
Gather, assess, and interpret relevant information;
Reach relevant well-reasoned conclusions and solutions;
Think open-mindedly, recognizing their own assumptions;
Communicate effectively with others on solutions to complex problems.

However, some educators emphasize the reasoning process, while others focus on the outcomes of critical thinking. Thus, one of the biggest obstacles to proper teaching of critical thinking is the lack of a clear definition, as observed by Allen et al (1) when teaching clinical critical thinking skills. Faculty need to define first what they consider critical thinking to be before they attempt to teach it or evaluate student learning outcomes. But keep in mind that not all students will be good at critical thinking and not all teachers are able to teach students critical thinking skills.

The experts in the field have classically agreed that critical thinking includes not only cognitive skills but also an affective disposition (2). I consider that it mostly relies on the use of known facts in a way that enables analysis and reflection of conventional and unconventional cases for the future. I have recently experimented with reflection in pathophysiological concepts and I have come to realize that reflection is an integral part of the health professions. We cannot convey just pieces of information based on accumulated experience, we have to reflect on it. Some studies have demonstrated that reflective thinking positively predicted achievement to a higher extent than habitual action. However, those may not be the key elements of critical thinking that you choose to focus on.

How do we achieve critical thinking in higher education and Health Professions? Once we have defined what critical thinking means to us, it must be present at all times when designing a course, from learning objectives to assignments. We cannot expect to contribute to development of critical thinking skills if the course is not designed to support it. According to the Delphi study conducted by the American Philosophical Association (3), the essential elements of lessons designed to promote critical thinking are the following:

“Ill structured problems” are those that don’t have a single right answer they are based on reflective judgment and leave conclusions open to future information.
“Criteria for assessment of thinking” include clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness (Paul & Elder, 2001).
“Student meaningful and valid assessment of their own thinking”, as they are held accountable for it.
“Improving the outcomes of thinking” such as in writing, speaking, reading, listening, and creating.

There are a variety of examples that serve as a model to know if the course contains critical thinking elements and to help design the learning objectives of a course. However, it can be summarized in the statement that “thinking is driven by questions”. We need to ask questions that generate further questions to develop the thinking process (4). By giving questions with thought-stopping answers we are not building a foundation for critical thinking. We can examine a subject by just asking students to generate a list of questions that they have regarding the subject provided, including questions generated by their first set of questions. Questions should be deep to foster dealing with complexity, to challenge assumptions, points of view and the sources of information. Those thought-stimulating types of questions should include questions of purpose, of information, of interpretation, of assumption, of implication, of point of view, of accuracy and precision, of consistency, of logic etc.

However, how many of you just get the question: “Is this going to be on the test?”. Students do not want to think. They want everything to be already thought-out for them and teachers may not be the best in generating thoughtful questions.

As an inexperienced research educator, trying to survive in this new environment, I fought against the urge of helping the students to be critical thinkers, and provided answers rather than promoting questions. I thought I just wanted to do traditional lectures. However, unconsciously I was including critical thinking during lectures by using clicker questions and asking about scenarios with more than one possible answer. Students were not very happy, but the fact that those questions were not graded but instead used as interactive tools minimized the resistance to these questions. The most competitive students would try to answer them right and generate additional questions, while the most traditional students would just answer, no questions asked. I implanted this method in all my courses, and I started to give critical thinking assignments. The students would have to address a topic and to promote critical thinking, a series of questions were included as a guide in the rubric. The answers were not easily found in textbooks and it generated plenty of additional questions. As always, it did not work for every student, and only a portion of the class probably benefited from them, but all students had exposure to it. Another critical thinking component was the presentation of a research article. Students had a limited time to present a portion of the article, thus requiring analysis, summary and reflection. This is still a work in progress and I keep inserting additional elements as I see the need.

How does critical thinking impact student performance? Assessment

Despite the push for critical thinking in Health Professions, there is no agreement on whether critical thinking positively impacts student performance. The curriculum design is focused on content rather than critical thinking, which makes it difficult to evaluate the learning outcomes (5). In addition, the type of assessment used for the evaluation of critical thinking may not reflect these outcomes.

There is a growing trend for measuring learning outcomes, and some tests are used to assess critical thinking, such as the Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT), which evaluate information, creative thinking, learning and problem solving, and communication. However, the key elements in the assessment of student thinking are purpose, question at issue, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, concepts and evidence (6). Thus, without a clear understanding of this process and despite the available tests, the proper assessment becomes rather challenging.

Another issue that arises when evaluating students critical thinking performance is that they are very resistant to this unconventional model of learning and possibly the absence of clear positive results may be due to the short exposure to this learning approach in addition to the inappropriate assessment tools. Whether or not there is a long term beneficial effect of critical thinking on clinical reasoning skills remains to be elucidated.

I tried to implement critical thinking in alignment with my view of Physiology. Since, I taught several courses to the same cohort of students within the curriculum, I decided to try different teaching techniques, assessments and approaches at different times during the curriculum. This was ideal because I could do this without a large time commitment and without compromising large sections of the curriculum. However, after evaluating the benefits, proper implementation and assessment of critical thinking, I came to the conclusion that we sacrifice contact hours of traditional lecture content for a deeper analysis of a limited section of the subject matter. However, the board exams in health professions are mostly based on traditional teaching rather than critical thinking. Thus, I decided to only partly implement critical thinking in my courses to avoid a negative impact in board certification, but include it somehow as I still believe it is vital for their clinical skills.

References

Allen GD, Rubenfeld MG, Scheffer BK. Reliability of assessment of critical thinking. J Prof Nurs. 2004 Jan-Feb;20(1):15-22.
Facione PA. Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction: Research findings and recommendations [Internet]. Newark: American Philosophical Association; 1990[cited 2016 Dec 27]. Available from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED315423
Facione NC, Facione PA. Critical thinking assessment in nursing education programs: An aggregate data analysis. Millbrae: California Academic Press; 1997[cited 2016 Dec 27].
Paul WH, Elder L. Critical thinking handbook: Basic theory and instructional structures. 2^nd Dillon Beach: Foundation for Critical Thinking; 2000[cited 2016 Dec 27].
Not sure which one
Facione PA. Critical thinking what it is and why it counts. San Jose: California Academic Press; 2011 [cited 2016 Dec 27]. Available from: https://blogs.city.ac.uk/cturkoglu/files/2015/03/Critical-Thinking-Articles-w6xywo.pdf

Lourdes Alarcon Fortepiani is an Associate professor at Rosenberg School of Optometry (RSO) at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Lourdes received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Physiology at the University of Murcia, Spain. She is a renal physiologist by training, who has worked on hypertension, sexual dimorphism and aging. Following her postdoctoral fellowship, she joined RSO and has been teaching Physiology, Immunology, and Pathology amongst other courses. Her main professional interest is medical science education. She has been active in outreach programs including PhUn week activities for APS, career day, and summer research activities, where she enjoys reaching K-12 ad unraveling different aspects of science. Her recent area of interest includes improving student critical thinking.

The art of revamping an Introductory Biology course (and curriculum) around Vision & Change

When Vision & Change: A Call to Action was published and distributed, University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Biology department (like many other departments across the country) answered the call. The rubrics for Vision and Change gave people a means to evaluate one’s department and how student instruction occurred. This led to great discussions on what needed to be remodeled within our courses and curriculum. This was good. The previous UAA Introductory Biology course had a 20% withdrawal rate and (by estimates only) an additional 20% of students who would not succeed in the course (D or F grade). If we wanted to increase retention in the major and increase the diversity of people pursuing a biological sciences undergraduate education, something needed to be done.

I want to take this opportunity to spend a bit of time on our process; not simply because I am excited about the positive changes that are happening at our biology department, but to share our brief story in hopes to hear from others.

The problem – UAA had a 2 semester introductory biology (survey based) course that had, in some instances, 40% reduction of students for each semester.

Our solution – Create a 1 semester laboratory/experiential learning introductory biology course (Principles and Methods of Biology; BIOL A108) that is founded on the principles laid forth in Vision and Change.

What does this really look like, other than a lot of work?

The basic flow is to have 3, 5-week (10 sessions) modules within the semester, which focus on three core concepts: evolution, information flow, and structure and function. These modules are tied together by principles of the scientific method and student led experiments. Each module has a different content lead instructor. The unifying instruction is led by a lab coordinator that follows the theme of scientific method to ensure students are practicing and utilizing each part of the scientific method throughout the duration of the course.

Module 1 focuses heavily on observation, creating and testing hypotheses, finding and using credible sources, and creating basic graphs for communication purposes.
Module 2 continues to build on observation, creating and testing hypotheses, creating graphs, and adds the component of applying the collected data into a greater context using credible sources.
Module 3 takes the components of modules 1 and 2 and asks the students to interpret their data using credible sources.

These modules culminate at the end of the course by having the students present a hypothetical experiment based on a current biologically relevant observation.

This course set up requires a large amount of group work and coordination among the students. We encourage discussions through specific assignment prompts and ask the students to present their data (6 times) as a group (they switch group members for each module). Presentations are assessed on flow of information, clarity of information, and accuracy of information. We include concept quizzes (3 per module), but no high stakes exams. There are a series of assignments that are formative to allow instructor feedback to be incorporated into summative assignments (presentations and experimental write ups).

Is it working? – We’ve tracked these changes with pre/post tests and student retention rates. Initial data show 96% of students passed (defined as a C or better grade) with a withdrawal rate of 2% in the first semester (Fall 2015). Data from the current semester (Spring 2016) suggest a similar trend. A second goal of the program revision was to increase student learning and engagement about the process of the scientific method; in this our data suggest we were successful. Within one month of BIOL A108, students have improved their use of the scientific method to tackle challenging biological questions and core concepts. Preliminary assessment data show 96% of BIOL A108 students can create and use hypothesis statements correctly. Additionally, BIOL A108 student pre/post data indicate a 25% improvement in their comprehension of Mendel’s principles.

These changes have required a lot of work by many people; including learners from all levels. Transparent communication between instructors and students have been paramount to our initial success. This communication includes informing the students that the changes within the course structure are based on discipline based educational research and is founded by using current data from evidence-based teaching to shape the course.

Additional data that we are collecting include student demographics and end of semester student perception surveys. I hope to gather information regarding how this course is perceived by students and their personal successes as scientists. Why would we care about our student demographics? Anchorage, Alaska has three high schools in the top ten diversity ranking of high schools. A majority of our students enrolled in UAA’s biological science degree program are from the Anchorage and greater Alaska area. Collectively, if we want to increase the diversity of people trained in the biological sciences; UAA’s biological sciences program is one place to start. Maybe our course redesign will help others with their curricular transformations.

I am really interested in learning about how other departments and programs have remodeled their courses following the guidelines of Vision and Change, and what outcomes they are tracking. Let’s share ideas and materials within the LifeSciTRC and PECOP resources!

References:

Aguirre, K. M., Balser, T. C., Jack, T., Marley, K. E., Miller, K. G., Osgood, M. P., & Romano, S. L. (2013). PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(4), 579-581.

Brewer, C. A., & Smith, D. (2011). Vision and change in undergraduate biology education: a call to action. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC.

Brownell, S. E., & Kloser, M. J. (2015). Toward a conceptual framework for measuring the effectiveness of course-based undergraduate research experiences in undergraduate biology. Studies in Higher Education, 40(3), 525-544.

Farrell, Chad R. (2016). “The Anchorage Mosaic: Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Urban North.” Forthcoming chapter in Imagining Anchorage: The Making of America’s Northernmost Metropolis, edited by James K. Barnett and Ian C. Hartman. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press

Hanauer, D. I., & Dolan, E. L. (2014). The project ownership survey: measuring differences in scientific inquiry experiences. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 13(1), 149-158.

Rachel Hannah is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Alaska, Anchorage. Helping people become scientifically literate citizens has become her major career focus as a science educator. As a classroom and outreach educator, Rachel works to help people explore science so they can apply and evaluate scientific information to determine its impact on one’s daily life. She is trained as a Neurophysiologist and her graduate degree is in Anatomy and Neurobiology from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Recently, Rachel’s research interests have migrated to science education and how students build critical thinking skills.

Description of an Innovative Undergraduate Human Biology Program

The series of PECOP blogs has provided many examples of the positive changes that biology educators are making in what we teach and how we facilitate student learning. I would like to share a new program that was developed by a faculty team at Bastyr University.

We responded to the call for changes in biology education by developing an undergraduate program in integrated human biology that was launched in 2012. We used backwards design and competencies recommended in Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians: Report of the AAMC-HHMI Committee as a foundation to develop a progressive, premedical curriculum. The program competencies also align well with the AAAS/NSF Vision and Change core concepts and competencies. The IHB program competencies are listed in Table 1. We are continuing to use the program competencies and PULSE Vision and Change rubrics in our work to improve assessment at both the course and program level.

Table 1. Integrated Human Biology Program Competencies

Use mathematics and quantitative reasoning appropriately to describe or analyze natural phenomena.

Demonstrate understanding of the scientific process and describe how scientific knowledge is developed and validated.

Demonstrate understanding of basic physical principles and apply these principles to living systems.

Demonstrate understanding of basic principles of chemistry and apply these principles to living systems.

Demonstrate knowledge of how the 4 categories of biological molecules contribute to the structure and function of cells.

Demonstrate an understanding of the link between structure and function at all levels within a living organism: molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic.

Explain how internal environments are maintained in the face of changing external environments.

Demonstrate an understanding of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Demonstrate an understanding of the biological basis for human behavior.

Demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the human organism and the biosphere as a whole.

Communicate effectively within and between scientific disciplines and with nonscientists.

Integrated Human Biology Program Highlights

The program includes a series of integrated human biology courses that require that students apply core concepts at multiple levels of complexity from cell and molecular to organismal in the context of organ systems.
Students are also required to apply physical principles from physics courses to biological systems in the integrated human biology series and through a parallel biophysics series.
The curriculum includes a required bioethics course and elective courses that require students to examine the applications of science to world problems.
Courses are team-taught by a group of faculty from different sub-disciplines who collaborate to create course materials and exams.
Classes are organized so that students are active participants.
Competencies are assessed in courses in a variety of ways including projects, presentations, papers, and exams.
All laboratories require students to participate in inquiry-based activities.
A majority of IHB students have completed a research project and presented their work at a University Research Symposium.
Student surveys have demonstrated that students appreciate the integrated approach to learning.
The first class graduated from the program in 2014, and a majority of those students have entered medical school or are working in research.

Have you developed or revised a program or curriculum in response to initiatives aimed at improving life sciences education? Please share your experiences and recommendations.

Lynelle Golden is a broadly trained physiologist who currently serves as Professor and Dean of the School of Natural Health Arts and Sciences at Bastyr University near Seattle Washington. She has more than 20 years of experience teaching junior/senior level physiology for biology majors and anatomy and physiology for allied health, nutrition and exercise science students. Her experience at Bastyr also includes teaching integrated case studies and physiology courses for medical students. While at Bastyr, Lynelle has been actively involved in curriculum development and revision. She has been a member of the teaching section of the American Physiological Society since 1986, and she currently serves as Chair of the Programming Committee for the APS Teaching Section. Lynelle earned an M.S. and a PhD in Life Sciences/Physiology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and she completed postdoctoral research in Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Developing and Assessing Mastery Competencies in Physiology

Dr. Benjamin Bloom is most widely remembered for his role in developing and writing The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Bloom, 1956) for the cognitive domain. In his later years Bloom shifted his focus to the concept of mastery learning, believing that students who learn only a portion of the required material would be unable to advance appropriately (Bloom, 1974). The concept of mastery has gained a foothold in disciplines where complete comprehension and understanding of the material is needed. For example, this is widely used in the military where fighter pilots are required to master material rather than simply gain a passing score. It would seem that, for the medical student, important concepts in physiology demand this same attention. Medical students who gain a passing score but failed to master basic principles will find it difficult, if not impossible, to develop the more advanced critical skills required when diagnosing and treating a patient’s condition.

Educators must also consider the learning environment when addressing these issues. In a recent book, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, (Twenge & Campbell, 2013) researchers highlighted the inability of students to self-evaluate their knowledge and understanding. Many claimed to know authors, painters, and factual information even though the individuals and events never existed. The authors relate this to the syndrome of, “everyone-gets-a-trophy” mentality where mediocrity is rewarded. Claiming to know the words of the Star-Spangled Banner is easy while seated in the bleachers — performing it solo in the middle of the gym floor is a different matter. Learning to work as part of a medical team is a very important attribute; however, diagnosis and treatment requires competencies including individual critical thinking skills and knowledge. Just as the Air Force finds it important for a student pilot to achieve mastery — we should require students to master basic competencies before placing patients’ lives in their hands.

Pedagogical techniques such as team-based learning, problem-based learning, and the flipped classroom approach provide opportunities to teach both content and critical thinking skills with a student-centered approach. Enhancing these techniques so that students will have the opportunity to master these important competencies is an essential part of our task as educators. This same logic can be applied to our educational system at all levels. Anders Ericsson’s results have demonstrated that 10 years or 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is required to become an expert. This strongly suggests that we should stress mastery of important competencies during the K-12 years and continue this focus in undergraduate college courses (Ericsson, 1990). The importance of emphasizing such learning techniques is reemphasized in the more recent book, Talent is Overrated (Geoff, 2010).

Teaching content specific critical thinking is difficult and assessing mastery is even more challenging—but one worthy of our unified attention. Questions we should answer include:

1) what content and critical thinking skills should be mastered at each level of training?

2) what are the most appropriate pedagogical techniques for each student group?

3) how can we most appropriately assess mastery of these competencies?

Answers to these and related questions will not come easily and small successes will most likely materialize during the journey that will alter the route we take to reach the final destination. Thus physiology educators and their colleagues in particular need to continue to be working on how to help various levels of students learn competencies and how to assess their mastery.

Herb Janssen received his baccalaureate degree from Midwestern State University. He later was awarded a Masters of Education at Texas Tech University. His doctorate degree in Physiology was obtained at Texas Tech University Health Science Center-Lubbock. After finishing his degree, he became Director of Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at TTUHSC. His physiology teaching activities have included presentations to students taking undergraduate animal physiology, engineering students, allied health students, medical students, graduate students, residents and fellows.
Herb Janssen’s interest in education started during his undergraduate years where he completed a K-12 teaching certificate. This training proved most useful when he became the assistant chair in orthopedics surgery and was instrumental in designing class activities for the physiology program. Herb remains involved in K-12 education through activities with local school districts. He serves on advisory boards for several health magnet schools in the local area. He also provides presentations to physiology classes in these advanced high schools.
He has received a number of teaching awards from students and colleagues over his teaching career. In 2012 he received the Master Teacher Award from IAMSE and was named the Arthur C Guyton Educator of the Year in 2014.

Creating Core Concepts in Animal Physiology

What happens if you put together a group of instructors who teach animal physiology and ask them to generate core competencies for their particular sub-discipline? Well, Dee Silverthorn found out when we assembled ourselves in her workshop on Core Competencies at last summer’s APS Institute on Teaching and Learning in Bar Harbor, Maine. What our group produced in that short session was a list of distinctive core concepts in animal physiology that we believe are essential for student learning in animal physiology (see Table 1). It is important to note that these concepts are fundamentally applicable to the teaching and learning of ALL of physiology and are most easily distinguished through the study of comparative animal physiology. By using a comparative approach toward these core concepts, students can be successful in their learning.

Table 1. Core Concepts in Animal Physiology

Motivated by this rationale, our group has begun to elaborate and fill in our original brainstormed list. Following the pattern set by AAAS/Vision and Change (2011) and AAMC/HHMI SFFP (2009), we’ve used our core concepts to produce a matching set of student competencies. For each competency we have created specific learning objectives that would demonstrate student level mastery of concepts in different areas of animal physiology. We have started to unpack some of the concepts (e.g. tradeoffs) into their constitutive ideas and sub-concepts (see Table 2). We have also begun to examine the introductory chapters of commonly used textbooks in animal physiology to determine the extent to which these concepts are presented and explained. All of this has involved an interactive collaboration among instructors who teach animal physiology to a diverse group of students in a variety of educational settings. And it all got its start during a 60-minute workshop at the APS ITL!

Table 2. Core Concept of “Trade-Offs” Unpacked

APS ITL – Animal Physiology Group

Beth Beason-Abmayr (Rice University) Patricia Halpin (Univ. New Hampshire)

Jason Blank (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) Kerry Hull (Bishop’s University)

Sydella Blatch (Stevenson University) Patricia Schulte (Univ. British Columbia)

Bill Cliff (Niagara University) Alice Villalobos (Texas A&M)

Have we missed major concepts/competencies that faculty expect from their animal physiology students? Please share your comments and questions below.

Patricia Halpin is an Assistant Professor of Biology and the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. She teaches Principles of Biology, Cell Biology, Animal Physiology, Medical Terminology, Biotechnology & Society, and Diseases of the 21st Century. She also teaches in the summer EXCELL program at UNHM for middle and high school English language learners. Her current research focus is on adding technology and active learning to her teaching as well as bringing science to elementary and middle school students. Patricia is a LifeSciTRC Scholar, PECOP Fellow, and a member of the American Physiological Society (APS). She serves on the APS Education Committee and is active in the APS Teaching Section.