Using the Genetics Concept Assessment to document persistent conceptual difficulties in undergraduate genetics courses

To help genetics instructors become aware of fundamental concepts that are persistently difficult for students, we have analyzed the evolution of student responses to multiple-choice questions from the Genetics Concept Assessment. In total, we examined pretest (before instruction) and posttest (after instruction) responses from 751 students enrolled in six genetics courses for either majors or nonmajors. Students improved on all 25 questions after instruction, but to varying degrees. Notably, there was a subgroup of nine questions for which a single incorrect answer, called the most common incorrect answer, was chosen by >20% of students on the posttest. To explore response patterns to these nine questions, we tracked individual student answers before and after instruction and found that particular conceptual difficulties about genetics are both more likely to persist and more likely to distract students than other incorrect ideas. Here we present an analysis of the evolution of these incorrect ideas to encourage instructor awareness of these genetics concepts and provide advice on how to address common conceptual difficulties in the classroom.     

El Carnival de Mitosis

Teachers as well as students often have difficulty formulating good research questions because not all questions lend themselves to scientific investigation. The following is a guide for high-school and college life-science teachers to help students define question types central to biological field studies. The mayfly nymph was selected as the example study organism because they are common in warm humid climates worldwide and are used as key indicators of water quality and stream health. Assessment of students’ work should be a logical extension field investigations. Assessment simply using traditional multiple-choice items after research investigations communicates to students that recall of specific facts (declarative knowledge) is important and investigative processes (procedural knowledge) are not important. Assessment of declarative knowledge should not be ignored, but procedural knowledge should be included. Both are important to science literacy.     

Clinical symptoms of skin, nails, and joints manifest independently in patients with concomitant psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

This study correlated assessment tools for evaluating the severity of skin, nail, and joint symptoms in patients with psoriasis (Pso) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Adults with plaque Pso (with or without PsA) were enrolled from four U.S. institutions. Patients were evaluated using a novel 10-area Linear Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (XL-PASI), Psoriatic Arthritis Assessment (PsAA), Psoriatic Arthritis Screening and Evaluation Questionnaire (PASE), Nail Assessment (NA) and Joint Assessment (JA) tools, Psoriasis Weighted Extent and Severity Index (PWESI), and Lattice Physician Global Assessment (LS-PGA). Correlations between assessment tools and individual items in the assessment tools were performed. Data from 180 patients (55 with PsA) were analyzed. Highest correlations between tools (r = 0.77–0.88) were between the XL-PASI, PWESI and LS-PGA. Individual items in the XL-PASI correlated with items in the PWESI for extent skin symptoms, but not for all body areas. Overall, correlations were seen between hands and feet, between face and scalp, and between buttocks, chest, and back. Only low correlation was seen between items assessing joint symptoms with items assessing skin symptoms. These data support the notion that the complex phenotype of psoriatic disease requires instruments that assess the severity of skin, nails, and joints separately.     

The role of the IOB in the future of biological education

The Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) is a form of school-based assessment that has recently replaced the external practical examination in AL Biology of Hong Kong. This study aimed at understanding the problems encountered by teachers in implementing this innovation. Over 300 teachers expressed their concern about different aspects of the TAS in a questionnaire of 25 items and two open-ended questions. The responses showed that the teachers were deeply concerned about the lack of resource materials and training, as well as the heavy workload involved in designing and assessing practical activities for their students. Other key concerns included the impact of the scheme on student learning, the fairness of school-based assessment, and the need for a critical review on the implementation of the scheme. However, the teachers had a relatively low level of concern on their role in revising or improving the scheme. This paper also considers whether the levels of concern in different areas might change as the teachers gain experience in TAS.     

Learning approaches of undergraduate medical students to physiology in a non-PBL- and partially PBL-oriented curriculum

Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Campus; Manipal, Karnataka, India) conducts the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program, for which the admission intakes are during the months of March and September. The present study was undertaken to study the differences in learning approaches to physiology of undergraduate medical students in a partially problem-based learning (PBL)- and non-PBL-oriented curriculum. PBL was introduced as a curricular reform for the September 2006 batch of students (partially PBL group), whereas it was not incorporated for the March 2006 batch of students (non-PBL group). Learning approaches to physiology of both groups of students were compared using the short inventory of approaches to learning. Mean scores for deep and strategic approaches were found to be significantly higher for the partially PBL group compared with the non-PBL group. The results of the present study support the earlier observation that PBL promotes a deep approach to learning.     

The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA)

This paper describes the development of a multidimensional self-report measure of interoceptive body awareness. The systematic mixed-methods process involved reviewing the current literature, specifying a multidimensional conceptual framework, evaluating prior instruments, developing items, and analyzing focus group responses to scale items by instructors and patients of body awareness-enhancing therapies. Following refinement by cognitive testing, items were field-tested in students and instructors of mind-body approaches. Final item selection was achieved by submitting the field test data to an iterative process using multiple validation methods, including exploratory cluster and confirmatory factor analyses, comparison between known groups, and correlations with established measures of related constructs. The resulting 32-item multidimensional instrument assesses eight concepts. The psychometric properties of these final scales suggest that the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) may serve as a starting point for research and further collaborative refinement.     

Small group teaching: clinical correlation with a human patient simulator

The popularity of the problem-based learning paradigm has stimulated new interest in small group, interactive teaching techniques. Medical educators of physiology have long recognized the value of such methods, using animal-based laboratories to demonstrate difficult physiological principles. Due to ethical and other concerns, a replacement of this teaching tool has been sought. Here, the author describes the use of a full-scale human patient simulator for such a workshop. The simulator is a life-size mannequin with physical findings (palpable pulses, breath/heart sounds, blinking eyes, etc.) and sophisticated mechanical and software models of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. It can be connected to standard physiological monitors to reproduce a realistic clinical environment. In groups of 10, first-year medical students explore Starling's law of the heart, the physiology of the Valsalva maneuver, and the function of the baroreceptor in a clinically realistic context using the simulator. With the use of a novel pre-/postworkshop assessment instrument that included student confidence in their answers, student confidence improved for all questions and survey items following the simulator session (P < 0.0001). The students give these laboratory exercises uniformly superior evaluations with > 85% of the students rating the workshop "very good" or "excellent".     

DNA barcoding of stoneflies (Plecoptera) in a general genetics course

DNA Barcoding is a powerful molecular biology tool for the identification of species, analysis of gene flow from within and between populations and evaluating species concepts. The process can be incorporated into a college genetics or bioinformatics core curriculum. Here we demonstrate how, by simply using Plecoptera, we actively engaged students in DNA extraction, amplification and DNA Barcoding. As a result, 38 new DNA sequences were accepted by an international DNA database, with potentially three of them being new species to the database. More importantly, through multiple assessment measurements, students showed a high degree of learning took place and that all student learning objectives were met.     

Use of the web to provide learning support for a large metabolism and nutrition class

To support student learning in a large Metabolism and Nutrition class, we have introduced a web-based package, using a commercially available program, WebCT. The package was developed at a minimal cost and with limited resources. In addition to downloadable (PDF) versions of lecture Powerpoint presentations, tutorial outlines and a practical class exercise, web-based self-directed learning exercises were included to reinforce and extend lecture material in an active learning environment. The web-site also contained a variety of formative and summative assessment tasks that examined both factual recall and higher order thinking. Detailed course information, timetables and a bulletin board were also readily accessible. Student usage of the site was generally high, but varied widely between individual students. Students who achieved a high overall score for the course completed on average three times as many formative assessment items and achieved a higher score for all tests than students who did poorly. Student feedback about the site was very positive with the majority of students reporting that the course material and assessment items that were available were useful to their learning. Administration of the course was also facilitated.     

Staff and student perceptions of computer-assisted assessment for physiology practical classes

Effective assessment of laboratory practicals is a challenge for large-size classes. To reduce the administrative burden of staff members without compromising the student learning experience, we utilized dedicated computer software for short-answer question assessment for nearly 300 students and compared it with the more traditional, paper-based method of assessment of the same student cohort. Students were generally favorably disposed toward computer-assisted assessment (CAA): 75% of the students responded that for future assignments, they either had no preference for the method of assessment or would prefer CAA. Advantages were perceived to be remote access to the questions and ease of submission. The most common disadvantage cited was lack of internet access. Various advantages of CAA were mentioned by staff members: notably, the reduction in marking time and reduction of paperwork as well as the potential for the software to detect plagiarism and to administer anonymous marking. Disadvantages to CAA were the need to tailor questions to the technology, having to adapt to reading answers and marking onscreen, and the quality of feedback to students. All of the disadvantages could be overcome by training and improved versions of CAA software, currently under development. The use of CAA has proved to be a welcome addition to the tools available to staff members for the assessment of practical classes, and future improved versions of the software will increase the utility of this assessment method.     

An innovative method to enhance interaction during lecture sessions

The B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, is following an innovative hybrid curriculum. Conventional lectures are replaced by "structured interactive sessions" (SIS). SIS involves increased interchange between teachers, students, and lecture contents by proper planning and organized efforts. It can promote active learning and heighten attention and motivation. The present study was conducted to enhance active interactions during such sessions. The students were divided into two groups and asked to come prepared for the lectures. Students were encouraged to ask questions and interact informally during lectures. A scoreboard was maintained, and student feedback was taken at the end of the lecture block. The entire student response was reduced to a student acceptability index (SAI). Our results show a statistically significant increase in interactions per student per day. A majority of the responses in the questionnaire and SAI were favorable. Specific comments and suggestions of students were also positive. These results show that simple innovative techniques enhance the interactions during a lecture session.     

Student retention of course content is improved by collaborative-group testing

We recently reported that collaborative testing (i.e., group test taking) increased student performance on quizzes. It is unknown, however, whether collaborative testing improves student retention of course content. Therefore, this study was designed to test the hypotheses that collaborative-group testing improves student retention of course content. To test this hypothesis, our undergraduate exercise physiology class of 38 students was randomly divided into two groups: group A (n = 19) and group B (n = 19). During exam 1, students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals. Immediately after completing the exam as individuals, students from group A answered a randomly selected subset of questions from exam 1 in groups of two (1 group had 3 students) to test the effectiveness of collaborative-group testing on test performance and level of student retention. On the next exam (exam 2, 4 wk later), students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals and responded to the same subset of questions from exam 1. The subset of questions was analyzed to determine the level of retention of the original test material. In addition, immediately after completing the exam as individuals, students from group B answered a randomly selected subset of questions from exam 2 in groups of two (1 group had 3 students). Finally, on the next exam (exam 3, 4 wk later), students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals and responded to the same subset of questions from exam 2. This protocol followed a randomized crossover design to control for time and order effects. Student retention of course content was reduced when students completed the original examinations individually. In sharp contrast, student retention was improved (P < 0.05) when students completed the original examinations in groups. Results suggest that collaborative testing is an effective strategy to enhance learning and increase student retention of course content.     

Misanthropy,idealism and attitudes towards animals

Abstract

When evaluating the ethical status of an action that harms a nonhuman animal (henceforth animal), one might weigh the benefit to humankind against the cost of the harm done to the animal. To the extent that one does not like humans (is misanthropic), one will not be likely to think that benefits to humans can justify doing harm to animals. We hypothesized that misanthropy would be less strongly related to support for animal rights among idealists (who tend not to do cost-benefit analysis) than among nonidealists. College students (n=154) completed a questionnaire which included questions designed to measure their ethical idealism (ten items), misanthropy (five items), and attitudes towards animal rights and animal research (28 items). Respondents were classified as being idealistic if their score on the idealism scale was greater than the median score. The regression lines for predicting attitudes towards animals from misanthropy differed significantly between idealists and nonidealists. Among nonidealists there was a significant positive relationship between misanthropy and support for animal rights, but among idealists the regression line was flat.     

Can learning style predict student satisfaction with different instruction methods and academic achievement in medical education?

The curriculum of our medical school has a hybrid structure including both traditional training (lectures) and problem-based learning (PBL) applications. The purpose of this study was to determine the learning styles of our medical students and investigate the relation of learning styles with each of satisfaction with different instruction methods and academic achievement in them. This study was carried out with the participation of 170 first-year medical students (the participation rate was 91.4%). The researchers prepared sociodemographic and satisfaction questionnaires to determine the characteristics of the participants and their satisfaction levels with traditional training and PBL. The Kolb learning styles inventory was used to explore the learning styles of the study group. The participants completed all forms at the end of the first year of medical education. Indicators of academic achievement were scores of five theoretical block exams and five PBL exams performed throughout the academic year of 2008-2009. The majority of the participants took part in the "diverging" (n = 84, 47.7%) and "assimilating" (n = 73, 41.5%) groups. Numbers of students in the "converging" and "accommodating" groups were 11 (6.3%) and 8 (4.5%), respectively. In all learning style groups, PBL satisfaction scores were significantly higher than those of traditional training. Exam scores for "PBL and traditional training" did not differ among the four learning styles. In logistic regression analysis, learning style (assimilating) predicted student satisfaction with traditional training and success in theoretical block exams. Nothing predicted PBL satisfaction and success. This is the first study conducted among medical students evaluating the relation of learning style with student satisfaction and academic achievement. More research with larger groups is needed to generalize our results. Some learning styles may relate to satisfaction with and achievement in some instruction methods.     

Undergraduate education in gerodontology in Germany: the Leipzig Programme

Objective: To evaluate students’ attitude towards the clinical component of the Leipzig Programme of undergraduate Education in Gerodontology (LPEG). Background: Undergraduate student education has long been recognised as a mainstay of fostering the aims of gerodontology. Extramural clinical education with direct exposure to various groups of vulnerable elderly is known to contribute to the formation of positive attitudes. LPEG has been designed to include didactic components and six visits to a long‐term care facility (LTC) spread over 4 of the 5 years of the dental course. Methods: A structured questionnaire with 10 items was administered to 230 students (60.9% female) on three occasions in 2004–05. Total return was 411 questionnaires. The mean age of respondents was 24.3 (SD 2.67) years. Students were asked to indicate the degree of their agreement with seven statements presented using a 5‐point scale. A choice of responses which characterised the course was offered to mark all those deemed agreeable. Results: The vast majority of students responded positively. In the students perception there was no significant difference (Kruskal–Wallis p = 0.24) in the amount of knowledge acquired between subjects participating once, twice or three times. ‘Interesting’ and ‘feel pity for patients’ were the two items that received the most support. Respondents expressed the wish to accompany up to 10 patients during their course with a mean of 3.5 (SD 2.9) but 31 (7.5%) subjects did not wish to see any frail elderly patients at all. Conclusion: The LPEG is well received by dental students. A complex subject including overarching social skills has been integrated seamlessly into the dental curriculum.     

Effect of personal response systems on student perception and academic performance in courses in a health sciences curriculum

To increase student engagement, active participation, and performance, personal response systems (clickers) were incorporated into six lecture-based sections of four required courses within the Health Sciences Department major curriculum: freshman-level Anatomy and Physiology I and II, junior-level Exercise Physiology, and senior-level Human Pathophysiology. Clickers were used to gather anonymous student responses to questions posed within the class period after individual thought and peer discussion. Students (n = 293, 88% of students completing the courses) completed a perceptual survey on clicker effectiveness inserted into the Student Assessment of Learning Gains online instrument. Across courses and years, students uniformly rated several dimensions of clicker use as providing good to great gain in engaging them in active learning, increasing participation and involvement during class, maintaining attention, applying material immediately, providing feedback concerning their understanding, and offering an anonymous format for participation. Within these four sections, quiz grades were compared between clicker and nonclicker years. Significant increases in pre- and posttest scores were seen in Exercise Physiology in clicker years and on some, but not all material, in Anatomy and Physiology I and II based on content quizzes. Human Pathophysiology results were unexpected, with higher quiz scores in the nonclicker year. The results support the hypothesis of increased engagement with clicker use. The hypothesis of increased student performance was not consistently supported. Increased performance was seen in Exercise Physiology. In Anatomy and Physiology I and II, performance improved on some content quizzes. In Human Pathophysiology, performance did not improve with clickers.     

Teaching baroreflex physiology to medical students: a comparison of quiz-based and conventional teaching strategies in a laboratory exercise

Quiz-based and collaborative teaching strategies have previously been found to be efficient for the improving meaningful learning of physiology during lectures. These approaches have, however, not been investigated during laboratory exercises. In the present study, we compared the impact of solving quizzes individually and in groups with conventional teaching on the immediate learning during a laboratory exercise. We implemented two quizzes in a mandatory 4-h laboratory exercise on baroreflex physiology. A total of 155 second-year medical students were randomized to solve quizzes individually (intervention group I, n = 57), in groups of three to four students (intervention group II, n = 56), or not to perform any quizzes (control; intervention group III, n = 42). After the laboratory exercise, all students completed an individual test, which encompassed two recall questions, two intermediate questions, and two integrated questions. The integrated questions were of moderate and advanced difficulty, respectively. Finally, students completed an evaluation form. Intervention group I reached the highest total test scores and proved best at answering the integrated question of advanced difficulty. Moreover, there was an overall difference between groups for student evaluations of the quality of the teaching, which was highest for intervention group II. In conclusion, solving quizzes individually during a laboratory exercise may enhance learning, whereas solving quizzes in groups is associated with higher student satisfaction.     

Formal Psychological Assessment in Evaluating Depression: A New Methodology to Build Exhaustive and Irredundant Adaptive Questionnaires

Psychological Assessment can be defined as a complex procedure of information collection, analysis and processing. Formal Psychological Assessment (FPA) tries to improve this procedure by providing a formal framework to build assessment tools. In this paper, FPA is applied to depression. Seven questionnaires widely used for the self-evaluation of depression were selected. Diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder were derived from the DSM-5, literature and Seligman’s and Beck’s theories. A Boolean matrix was built, including 266 items from the questionnaires in the rows and 20 selected attributes, obtained through diagnostic criteria decomposition, in the columns. In the matrix, a 1 in a cell meant that the corresponding item investigated the specific attribute. It was thus possible to analyze the relationships between items and attributes and among items. While none of the considered questionnaires could alone cover all the criteria for the evaluation of depressive symptoms, we observed that a set of 30 items contained the same information that was obtained redundantly with 266 items. Another result highlighted by the matrix regards the relations among items. FPA allows in-depth analysis of currently used questionnaires based on the presence/absence of clinical elements. FPA allows for going beyond the mere score by differentiating the patients according to symptomatology. Furthermore, it allows for computerized-adaptive assessment.     

Collaborative testing enhances student learning

Examinations and quizzes should be used as learning as well as assessment tools. To achieve this goal, an assessment procedure was developed to enhance as well as assess student learning. Students were tested on four different topics of cardiovascular physiology. Each topic was tested by a different type of quiz (fill in the blanks, single best response multiple choice, short essay, or true/false). The students first completed a quiz individually. Once the quiz was completed individually, the students completed the same quiz in groups. Eighty percent of the score on the quiz was based on the individual results, and 20% of the score on the quiz was based on the group results. The performance on the quizzes was significantly higher (P < 0.001) when students completed the quizzes in groups than when they completed the quizzes individually. Results document that completing the quizzes in groups enhances the understanding of the material. In addition, students rated this format superior to the traditional method.     

Addressing Undergraduate Student Misconceptions about Natural Selection with an Interactive Simulated Laboratory

Although evolutionary theory is considered to be a unifying foundation for biological education, misconceptions about basic evolutionary processes such as natural selection inhibit student understanding. Even after instruction, students harbor misconceptions about natural selection, suggesting that traditional teaching methods are insufficient for correcting these confusions. This has spurred an effort to develop new teaching methods and tools that effectively confront student misconceptions. In this study, we designed an interactive computer-based simulated laboratory to teach the principles of evolution through natural selection and to correct common student misconceptions about this process. We quantified undergraduate student misconceptions and understanding of natural selection before and after instruction with multiple-choice and open-response test questions and compared student performance across gender and academic levels. While our lab appeared to be effective at dispelling some common misconceptions about natural selection, we did not find evidence that it was as successful at increasing student mastery of the major principles of natural selection. Student performance varied across student academic level and question type, but students performed equally across gender. Beginner students were more likely to use misconceptions before instruction. Advanced students showed greater improvement than beginners on multiple-choice questions, while beginner students reduced their use of misconceptions in the open-response questions to a greater extent. These results suggest that misconceptions can be effectively addressed through computer-based simulated laboratories. Given the level of misconception use by beginner and advanced undergraduates and the gains in performance recorded after instruction at both academic levels, natural selection should continue to be reviewed through upper-level biology courses.