Medical students as medical educators: opportunities for skill development in the absence of formal training programs

All physicians, at some point in their career, are responsible for the education of their peers and junior colleagues. Although medical students are expected to develop clinical and research skills in preparation for residency, it is becoming clear that a student should also be expected to develop abilities as a teacher. A handful of institutions have student-as-teacher programs to train medical students in education, but most students graduate from medical school without formal training in this area. When such a program does not exist, medical students can gain experience in education through participation in peer teaching, course design, educational committees, and medical education scholarship. In doing so, they attain important skills in the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs. These skills will serve them in their capacity as medical educators as they advance in their careers and gain increasing teaching responsibility as residents, fellows, and attending physicians.     

Integrating information literacy training into an inquiry-based introductory biology laboratory

ABSTRACT

Information literacy is an essential skill for biologists; however, most biology curricula do not intentionally integrate information literacy into classroom and laboratory exercises. There is evidence that developing information literacy skills in undergraduates improves their research skills, writing, and GPAs. Our objective was to integrate information literacy skills into a first semester introductory biology laboratory with a multi-week, inquiry-based module that leverages primary literature. Here we describe the module, which challenges students to develop and test a hypothesis related to parental care behaviour in birds. Students form hypotheses based on literature searching done during librarian-led information literacy sessions, produce an annotated bibliography, collect and analyse video data of barn swallows feeding their offspring, and present their findings. Analysis of students’ annotated bibliographies indicates that 83% of the referenced papers were appropriate for developing their specific hypotheses. The key elements ofa successful information literacy training plan include faculty-librarian collaboration, multiple classroom or laboratory sessions that introduce or utilize information literacy, and relevance ofthe information literacy training to an assignment. By introducing information literacy early inbiology curricula, departments can develop tiered information literacy plans that incorporate opportunities for students to use and refine these skills throughout their studies.     

Using a course-long theme for inquiry-based laboratories in a comparative physiology course

I developed an inquiry-based laboratory model that uses a central theme throughout the semester to develop in undergraduate biology majors the skills required for conducting science while introducing them to modern and classical physiological techniques. The physiology laboratory uses a goal-oriented approach, with students working cooperatively in small groups to answer basic biological questions. The student teams work to develop skills associated with experimental design, data analysis, written and oral communication, science literacy, and critical thinking. The laboratory curriculum is a research-based model that offers the advantage of students asking open-ended questions by use of a variety of techniques. For the students and instructor alike, this presents an exciting and challenging approach for learning physiology and basic biological principles. Another advantage of this laboratory model is that it is flexible and adaptable; the central theme can be any that the instructor chooses, and the goals and techniques developed are based on student and instructor needs and interests. Students who have completed this model at Loyola College in Maryland have become equipped with the skills essential for any area of the biological sciences and, most importantly, showed elevated excitement and commitment to learning.     

The development of activity ranges in juvenile Brown Boobies Sula leucogaster

The post‐fledging dependence period is extremely important because it allows young birds the opportunity to develop behavioural skills required for later life. We raised 12 hatchling Brown Boobies Sula leucogaster and attached a miniaturized GPS logger to each bird to examine how flight improves after fledging. The Boobies made daily trips and increased the maximum distance, total distance travelled each day, trip duration and flight speed. Young Boobies seemed to gradually acquire flight skills towards independence.     

A program for simulated rodent surgical training

For the inexperienced individual, learning surgical techniques can be taxing. The authors developed a rodent surgery dry lab training program to assist educational and research institutions in providing low-stress training for basic surgical techniques using handmade, cost-effective simulation models. The program not only helps students develop essential skills in basic surgery, but also fulfills the mandate of the 3Rs by allowing students to repeatedly practice and refine their skills on models rather than live animals. This type of training is a valuable tool in bridging the gap between computer training and training with live animals.     

Don't forget the learner: an essential aspect for developing effective hypermedia online learning in continuing medical education

There is increasing use of hypermedia online learning in continuing medical education (CME) that presents the learner with a wide range of different learning resources, requiring the learner to use self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. This study is the first to apply an SRL perspective to understand how learners engage with hypermedia online learning in CME. We found that the main SRL skills used by learners were use of strategies and monitoring. The increasing use of strategies was associated with increasing interest in the topic and with increasing satisfaction with the learning experience. Further research is recommended to understand SRL processes and its impact on learning in other aspects of hypermedia online learning across the different phases of medical education. Research is also recommended to implement and evaluate the learning impact of a variety of approaches to develop the SRL skills of hypermedia online learners in CME.     

技能大赛背景下高职生物制药技术综合实训课程教学改革

综合实训是高职学生将理论知识与生产实践有机融合的重要教学环节。本文介绍了技能大赛背景下,学院生物制药技术专业立足“以赛促教、以赛促建、以赛促学、育训结合”特色,以青霉素发酵工艺实验为例,从教学目标、教学内容、教学方法、考核等内容进行的改革与实践,将发酵设备的实践操作与虚拟仿真软件相融合,双向交互式开展课程。突破发酵过程控制的主观依赖性,建立发酵过程参数控制的量化管理和评价,更有利于实现技能大赛与实践教学的高效融合。通过近几年的改革与实践,取得良好的教学效果,为同类课程基于技能大赛的教学实践改革提供了新的思路和借鉴。     

Teaching with soap: Examples of project-based units for students and future educators

This article describes the use of project-based instruction in activities and labs intended to develop higher-order thinking skills with high school students and pre-service teachers through the use of soap making.     

Integration of post-graduate studies with corporately funded biotechnology programs

Post graduate research students need to undertake programs that will develop their potential as a scientist. They need to acquire skills to develop scientific argument, design an experimental approach to test a hypothesis, obtain and analyse data, and effectively communicate their ideas and findings to the scientific community. Many biotechnology-based programs are now funded by industry partnerships and integrating post graduate students into these programs require special considerations.     

Perception and apperception in autism: rejecting the inverse assumption

In addition to those with savant skills, many individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) show superior perceptual and attentional skills relative to the general population. These superior skills and savant abilities raise important theoretical questions, including whether they develop as compensations for other underdeveloped cognitive mechanisms, and whether one skill is inversely related to another weakness via a common underlying neurocognitive mechanism. We discuss studies of perception and visual processing that show that this inverse hypothesis rarely holds true. Instead, they suggest that enhanced performance is not always accompanied by a complementary deficit and that there are undeniable difficulties in some aspects of perception that are not related to compensating strengths. Our discussion emphasizes the qualitative differences in perceptual processing revealed in these studies between individuals with and without ASCs. We argue that this research is important not only in furthering our understanding of the nature of the qualitative differences in perceptual processing in ASCs, but can also be used to highlight to society at large the exceptional skills and talent that individuals with ASCs are able to contribute in domains such as engineering, computing and mathematics that are highly valued in industry.     

Mechanism of Speech Production Based on the Study of Aphasia

If we are to develop a scientifically based methodology for teaching foreign languages, we need not only to understand the laws governing acquisition of speech skills and abilities, but also to have a clear idea of the speech production mechanism in both foreign and native languages. The more precise our understanding of these issues, the greater will be our ability to develop an appropriate methodology, and the more effective the instruction process will eventually be.     

Improving Tree-Thinking One Learnable Skill at a Time

Representations are a critical way to communicate scientific knowledge. Systematists biologists are acknowledged as expert tree thinkers who can both read and build phylogenetic trees (e.g., cladograms) accurately. The purpose of this study was to identify the core skills essential to help college students overcome tree-thinking challenges. In this study, I used pre/posttests, interviews, weekly reflective journal entries, field notes from course observations, and student responses to coursework to learn how upper-level college biology students developed representational competence with phylogenetic trees. I identified essential core skills by investigating students’ tree-thinking progression over the course of the semester. Three major patterns emerged from the data: (1) students became better tree readers than tree builders by the end of the plant systematics course; (2) core skills are essential for students to develop tree-thinking competence; and (3) tree reading skills developed before tree building skills. By diagnosing challenges students face with tree-thinking, identifying core skills necessary to overcome these challenges, and developing a starting point for a context-based framework for representational competence, this study adds to our understanding of critical elements necessary for designing effective instructional interventions and improving student learning with phylogenetic trees.     

The conditions for tool use in primates: implications for the evolution of material culture

In order to identify the conditions that favored the flourishing of primate tool use into hominid technology, we examine inter- and intraspecific variation in manufacture and use of tools in extant nonhuman primates, and develop a model to account for their distribution. We focus on tools used in acquiring food, usually by extraction. Any model for the evolution of the use of feeding tools must explain why tool use is found in only a small subset of primate species, why many of these species use tools much more readily in captivity, why routine reliance on feeding tools is found in only two species of ape, and why there is strong geographic variation within these two species. Because ecological factors alone cannot explain the distribution of tool use in the wild, we develop a model that focuses on social and cognitive factors affecting the invention and transmission of tool-using skills. The model posits that tool use in the wild depends on suitable ecological niches (especially extractive foraging) and the manipulative skills that go with them, a measure of intelligence that enables rapid acquisition of complex skills (through both invention and, more importantly, observational learning), and social tolerance in a gregarious setting (which facilitates both invention and transmission). The manipulative skills component explains the distribution across species of the use of feeding tools, intelligence explains why in the wild only apes are known to make and use feeding tools routinely, and social tolerance explains variation across populations of chimpanzees and orangutans. We conclude that strong mutual tolerance was a key factor in the explosive increase in technology among hominids, probably intricately tied to a lifestyle involving food sharing and tool-based processing or the acquisition of large, shareable food packages.     

Improving cross-cultural skills of medical students through medical school-community partnerships.

Postulating that a program integrating language skills with other aspects of cultural knowledge could assist in developing medical students'' ability to work in cross-cultural situations and that partnership with targeted communities was key to developing an effective program, a medical school and two organizations with strong community ties joined forces to develop a Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultural Competence Project. Medical student participants in the program improved their language skills and knowledge of cultural issues, and a partnership with community organizations provided context and resources to supplement more traditional modes of medical education.     

Self-regulation in an undergraduate psychology course: results from a performance examination

Forty-four undergraduate students enrolled in a psychology course entitled "Biofeedback and Self-Regulation" over a period of three semesters. Twenty percent of each student's grade in the course was derived from the level of self-regulation skills, as measured in an individual performance examination. Results show students can develop impressive self-regulation skills in a course format. Results also indicate that the performance examination measures abilities which are altogether different from those utilized in written examinations.     

适应医学创新人才培养的生物化学实验教学改革初探

生物化学实验教学是医学教育的重要组成部分,为了培养学生的创新思维、科研素质和综合能力,充分调动学生学习的主动性和创造性,最大限度地挖掘学生的学习潜力,作者所在教研室就生化实验课的实验内容、教学方法、实验室的建设和师资队伍的培养等方面进行了改革尝试,获得了很好的实验课教学效果。     

The Occurrence of Postconflict Skills in Captive Immature Chimpanzees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes</Emphasis>)

Conflict management strategies can reduce costs of aggressive competition in group-living animals. Postconflict behaviors such as reconciliation and third-party postconflict affiliation are widely accepted as social skills in primates and have been demonstrated in many species. Although immature primates possess a repertoire of species-specific behaviors, it is thought that they gradually develop appropriate social skills throughout prolonged juvenility to establish and maintain complex social relationships within their group. We examined the occurrence of postconflict skills in five immature chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over 15 mo, focusing on interactions that were not with the subject’s mother. We observed reconciliation, with conciliatory tendencies comparable to adults, and provide the first evidence that captive immature chimpanzees commonly reconciled using social play. However, immatures were not more likely to reconcile valuable than nonvaluable relationships. We also observed third party postconflict affiliation although at a lower level than reported for adults. Our results provide evidence for postconflict skills in immature chimpanzees but the lack of higher conciliatory tendency with valuable partners and low occurrence of third-party affiliation indicates extended juvenility may be required refine these skills. Further work is needed to investigate whether these behaviors have the same function and effectiveness as those found in adults.     

基于问题教学法在骨科实习医生教学中的应用

摘要目的：通过基于问题教学方法（problem based learning,PBL）对骨科临床实习医师教学培训,探索提高实习医师临床实践的能力。方法：在骨科临床实习过程中,我们根据学生实习前平均成绩将实习医生分为2组,对18名实习医生采用传统教学模式,而对另18名实习医生采用基于问题教学模式,在临床实习过程进行问诊、初步诊断和分析、治疗处理、写病历、查房,骨科实习结束进行临床基本技能考核比较。结果：在体格检查、辅助检查、问题回答和患者评价项目考核比较,实验组实习医生出科成绩优于对照组;病历书写和病史采集两组没有区别。结论：通过对两组实习医师的临床实践成绩比较,在临床教学实践中,采用基于问题教学方法能够更好地提高实习医师掌握临床知识和技能的能力。     

Fostering critical thinking, reasoning, and argumentation skills through bioethics education

Developing a position on a socio-scientific issue and defending it using a well-reasoned justification involves complex cognitive skills that are challenging to both teach and assess. Our work centers on instructional strategies for fostering critical thinking skills in high school students using bioethical case studies, decision-making frameworks, and structured analysis tools to scaffold student argumentation. In this study, we examined the effects of our teacher professional development and curricular materials on the ability of high school students to analyze a bioethical case study and develop a strong position. We focused on student ability to identify an ethical question, consider stakeholders and their values, incorporate relevant scientific facts and content, address ethical principles, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of alternate solutions. 431 students and 12 teachers participated in a research study using teacher cohorts for comparison purposes. The first cohort received professional development and used the curriculum with their students; the second did not receive professional development until after their participation in the study and did not use the curriculum. In order to assess the acquisition of higher-order justification skills, students were asked to analyze a case study and develop a well-reasoned written position. We evaluated statements using a scoring rubric and found highly significant differences (p<0.001) between students exposed to the curriculum strategies and those who were not. Students also showed highly significant gains (p<0.001) in self-reported interest in science content, ability to analyze socio-scientific issues, awareness of ethical issues, ability to listen to and discuss viewpoints different from their own, and understanding of the relationship between science and society. Our results demonstrate that incorporating ethical dilemmas into the classroom is one strategy for increasing student motivation and engagement with science content, while promoting reasoning and justification skills that help prepare an informed citizenry.