A Thematic Approach to the History of Physiology

This paper is a brief report of an undergraduate course in the history of physiology. A specific area, the development of the concepts of the cardiovascular system, was examined chronologically through primary readings and laboratory exercises. As an unusual approach to a frequently ignored but important subject, it may be of interest to those concerned with teaching the history of science.     

Student engagement in direct instruction,undergraduate microbiology laboratories

Introductory laboratory courses are a standard component of undergraduate science programmes and historically taught using direct instruction/confirmatory lab models. Previous studies have shown that inquiry-based labs enhance student engagement in science courses. However, research on how direct instruction introductory lab courses effectively engage undergraduate students is lacking. This study, therefore, using a mixed model design, examined student engagement in an introductory direct instruction microbiology lab. Data was collected through self-report surveys, classroom observations, and interviews at a Midwestern, post-secondary institution in the USA. The findings suggest that students found the lab activities engaging. This study provides baseline data which describes student engagement and student perspectives in a direct instruction undergraduate microbiology lab course. This baseline data can be used in further research against which comparisons can be made when studying other types of lab teaching interventions.     

Information literacy in an inquiry course for first-year science undergraduates: a simplified 3C approach

In this article, we describe a simplified approach to teach students to assess information obtained from diverse sources. Three broad categories (credibility, content, and currency; 3C) were used to evaluate information from textbooks, monographs, popular magazines, scholarly journals, and the World Wide Web. This 3C approach used in an inquiry course for freshmen in an undergraduate science program can be readily transferred to other settings.     

Study of physiological responses to acute carbon monoxide exposure with a human patient simulator

Human patient simulators are widely used to train health professionals and students in a clinical setting, but they also can be used to enhance physiology education in a laboratory setting. Our course incorporates the human patient simulator for experiential learning in which undergraduate university juniors and seniors are instructed to design, conduct, and present (orally and in written form) their project testing physiological adaptation to an extreme environment. This article is a student report on the physiological response to acute carbon monoxide exposure in a simulated healthy adult male and a coal miner and represents how 1) human patient simulators can be used in a nonclinical way for experiential hypothesis testing; 2) students can transition from traditional textbook learning to practical application of their knowledge; and 3) student-initiated group investigation drives critical thought. While the course instructors remain available for consultation throughout the project, the relatively unstructured framework of the assignment drives the students to create an experiment independently, troubleshoot problems, and interpret the results. The only stipulation of the project is that the students must generate an experiment that is physiologically realistic and that requires them to search out and incorporate appropriate data from primary scientific literature. In this context, the human patient simulator is a viable educational tool for teaching integrative physiology in a laboratory environment by bridging textual information with experiential investigation.     

Teaching cardiovascular physiology with equivalent electronic circuits in a practically oriented teaching module

Here, we report on a new tool for teaching cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology that promotes qualitative as well as quantitative thinking about time-dependent physiological phenomena. Quantification of steady and presteady-state (transient) cardiovascular phenomena is traditionally done by differential equations, but this is time consuming and unsuitable for most undergraduate medical students. As a result, quantitative thinking about time-dependent physiological phenomena is often not extensively dealt with in an undergraduate physiological course. However, basic concepts of steady and presteady state can be explained with relative simplicity, without the introduction of differential equation, with equivalent electronic circuits (EECs). We introduced undergraduate medical students to the concept of simulating cardiovascular phenomena with EECs. EEC simulations facilitate the understanding of simple or complex time-dependent cardiovascular physiological phenomena by stressing the analogies between EECs and physiological processes. Student perceptions on using EEC to simulate, study, and understand cardiovascular phenomena were documented over a 9-yr period, and the impact of the course on the students' knowledge of selected basic facts and concepts in cardiovascular physiology was evaluated over a 3-yr period. We conclude that EECs are a valuable tool for teaching cardiovascular physiology concepts and that EECs promote active learning.     

Hybrid lecture-online format increases student grades in an undergraduate exercise physiology course at a large urban university

Hybrid courses allow students additional exposure to course content that is not possible in a traditional classroom environment. This exposure may lead to an improvement in academic performance. In this report, I describe the transition of a large undergraduate exercise physiology course from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid lecture-online format. A total of 658 final grades (traditional = 346, hybrid = 312) was used to evaluate the effect of course format on academic performance. The hybrid online portion was delivered using WebCT Vista, enhanced with various instructional technologies. The hybrid lecture portion was enhanced with an in-class response system. PowerPoint files were used to distribute in-class lectures in both formats of the course. Final student grades were 9.9% higher (83% of the increase due to an increase in the exam grade) when the course was administered in a hybrid format (P = 0.01), which translated to a one letter grade increase on a standard grading scale. Transition from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid format significantly enhanced student learning; presumably, this increase is due to the fact that students were able to increase their exposure to course content via access to material on WebCT.     

高等院校环境科学专业实验课程体系的建设与思考

实验教学效果直接影响本科生实践能力的培养,建立一套科学合理的适合环境科学专业本科生的实验课程体系意义重大.文中主要介绍了厦门大学环境科学专业以系统性、综合性、模块化的方式建立了一套"基础→专业→综合"的实验课程体系.在加大实验室建设投入,加强实验室管理等软硬件设施配套的情况下,实验课程体系不断完善,培养的学生能够满足人...     

Evaluation of the medical curriculum: why, when, by whom and for whom should questionnaires be used

The undergraduate medical curriculum has been modified or even totally reorganized in many countries in recent years, and there are plans to make departmental budgets and the salaries of university professors partially dependent on the outcome of teaching. Questionnaires are often used in such situations as a means of curriculum evaluation. Based on our own experience such evaluations should be done not only during and immediately after a course in the curriculum, but also at later time points, e.g., at the end of the undergraduate and also the postgraduate phase. The clinical relevance of lectures and courses can only be graded adequately after some years of clinical experience. Gross anatomy was graded top at all time points evaluated and reached higher levels of 'clinical relevance' than other typical preclinical and even clinical subjects. Efforts should be made to obtain a high response rate for representative results. After modifying parts of a course detailed questionnaires should also include space for students' suggestions. The results of such evaluations are not only relevant to the head of department as feedback on the individual lecturers but also important for the curriculum committee and the dean. Anatomists should utilize these evaluations to improve teaching.     

Introducing experimental design by evaluating efficacy of herbal remedies (Do herbal remedies really work?)

This paper is based upon experiments developed as part of a Directed Research course designed to provide undergraduate biology students experience in the principles and processes of the scientific method used in biological research. The project involved the evaluation of herbal remedies used in many parts of the world in the treatment of diseases producing diarrhea as a major symptom. Methods used for testing the efficacy of these remedies vary greatly, and this provides an opportunity for inquiry in the classroom. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is used as the test organism. Survival of this worm is easily determined by assessing motility using a dissection microscope. The influence of two solvents commonly used for testing these treatments, M9 salt solution and purified water, on survival of worms is examined. The results were important to a graduate project evaluating the influence of these solvents on bioassay sensitivity testing partially purified extracts of the West African plant, Anogeissus leiocarpus, used for treatment of diarrhea. Directed research projects allow undergraduate biology students to become engaged in science and develop a deeper understanding of science process skills. The experiments can be extended to examine other variables as directed research projects or modified to use as experimental case examples as part of a laboratory exercise.     

Biological methods: a novel course in undergraduate biology

We describe a novel course in first year undergraduate practical biology, which introduces students to the principles and practice of a variety of biological techniques. In addition, students develop conceptual skills in experimental design, problem solving, gathering and analysis of data and report writing. The course provides a theoretical foundation and repeated practice of a range of laboratory tasks. Students proceed to higher levels of study with experience in the application and use of basic spectrophotometry and light microscopy, the estimation of unknowns from standard curves, volumetric work including the performance of serial dilutions, and gram stains and the maintenance of bacterial cultures. The unit content can be modified to suit specific curriculums without loss of efficiency or impact.     

A simple ballistocardiographic system for a medical cardiovascular physiology course

Ballistocardiography is an old, noninvasive technique used to record the movements of the body synchronous with the heartbeat due to left ventricular pump activity. Despite the fact that this technique to measure cardiac output has been superseded by more advanced and precise techniques, it is useful for teaching cardiac cycle physiology in an undergraduate practical course because of its noninvasive application in humans, clear physiological and physiopathological analysis, and practical approach to considering cardiac output issues. In the present report, a simple, low cost, easy-to-build ballistocardiography system is implemented together with a theoretical and practical session that includes Newton's laws, cardiac output, cardiac pump activity, anatomy and physiology of the vessel circulation, vectorial composition, and signal transduction, which makes cardiovascular physiology easy to understand and focuses on the study of cardiac output otherwise seen only with the help of computer simulation or echocardiography. The proposed system is able to record body displacement or force as ballistocardiography traces and its changes caused by different physiological factors. The ballistocardiography session was included in our medical physiology course six years ago with very high acceptance and approval rates from the students.     

Restoring physiology to the undergraduate biology curriculum: a call for action

The National Research Council-sponsored report, BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists, describes a number of significant changes that should be made to the undergraduate biology curriculum if we are to adequately train students to become the researchers of the 21st century. What should be of concern to the physiology community is the lack of identifiable physiology in the proposed revisions. This article describes the report and suggests some steps that physiologists can take to enhance our discipline in the undergraduate biology curriculum.     

Birdcage volume coils and magnetic resonance imaging: a simple experiment for students

Background

This article explains some simple experiments that can be used in undergraduate or graduate physics or biomedical engineering laboratory classes to learn how birdcage volume radiofrequency (RF) coils and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) work. For a clear picture, and to do any quantitative MRI analysis, acquiring images with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is required. With a given MRI system at a given field strength, the only means to change the SNR using hardware is to change the RF coil used to collect the image. RF coils can be designed in many different ways including birdcage volume RF coil designs. The choice of RF coil to give the best SNR for any MRI study is based on the sample being imaged.

Results

The data collected in the simple experiments show that the SNR varies as inverse diameter for the birdcage volume RF coils used in these experiments. The experiments were easily performed by a high school student, an undergraduate student, and a graduate student, in less than 3 h, the time typically allotted for a university laboratory course.

Conclusions

The article describes experiments that students in undergraduate or graduate laboratories can perform to observe how birdcage volume RF coils influence MRI measurements. It is designed for students interested in pursuing careers in the imaging field.

     

Using the protein folding literature to teach biophysical chemistry to undergraduates

An understanding of physical chemistry principles enhances student understanding of biochemical phenomena; however, the application of these principles to biological examples is frequently missing in the standard undergraduate physical chemistry curriculum. The topics of protein folding and stability are based in thermodynamics and can serve as a vehicle for presenting essential thermodynamics in a context that is highly relevant to undergraduate biochemistry majors. The outline of a course that replaces the standard thermodynamics offering in physical chemistry is described. The protein folding literature is used to illustrate thermodynamic concepts in this course and students are expected to read and comprehend the assigned literature. The course is offered as a separate biophysical chemistry course for B.S. Biochemistry majors; however, elements of this course may be useful in crafting a more standard thermodynamics course for B.S. Chemistry majors in chemistry departments seeking to fulfill ACS guidelines for approved B.S. Chemistry majors.     

Introductory biology courses: a framework to support active learning in large enrollment introductory science courses

Active learning and research-oriented activities have been increasingly used in smaller, specialized science courses. Application of this type of scientific teaching to large enrollment introductory courses has been, however, a major challenge. The general microbiology lecture/laboratory course described has been designed to incorporate published active-learning methods. Three major case studies are used as platforms for active learning. Themes from case studies are integrated into lectures and laboratory experiments, and in class and online discussions and assignments. Students are stimulated to apply facts to problem-solving and to learn research skills such as data analysis, writing, and working in teams. This course is feasible only because of its organizational framework that makes use of teaching teams (made up of faculty, graduate assistants, and undergraduate assistants) and Web-based technology. Technology is a mode of communication, but also a system of course management. The relevance of this model to other biology courses led to assessment and evaluation, including an analysis of student responses to the new course, class performance, a university course evaluation, and retention of course learning. The results are indicative of an increase in student engagement in research-oriented activities and an appreciation of real-world context by students.     

军校预防医学专业本科学员临床课程教学现状及建议

随着医学模式的转变,预防医学已经成为现代医疗体系的重要组成部分,在提高公共卫生健康水平方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。为了更好地开展预防医学工作,预防医学专业学员不仅要掌握牢固的预防医学专业知识,更要具备丰富的临床医学知识。针对预防医学专业本科学员的临床课程教学,我校经过多年的探索与改革,已经积累了丰富经验,教学质量较高;但现阶段仍然存在着一些问题。本文分析我校预防医学专业本科学员临床课程的教学现状及存在的主要问题,并提出建议;从而为进一步提高预防医学专业本科学员的临床课程教学质量提供依据。     

农业院校微生物学课程教学改革与实践

微生物学是农业院校面向植物生产类和资源环境类专业的一门重要专业基础课程,课程组在教学实践中结合课程特点,通过树立现代教育观念、优化课程教学体系、创新教学模式、建设课程质量保证体系等改革探索,全面推进素质教育在课程教学中的实践,切实培养学生的学习能力、实践能力和创新能力.     

高师院校微生物实验教学改革的实践与思考

针对中学新课改下的微生物学实验教学体系对高师院校现行微生物实验教学进行了改革,提出以培养学生的动手能力为出发点,从实验内容改革,实验教学手段改革和实验教学人员等方面入手,尝试建立一套适合高师院校生物科学专业本科生的微生物实验课程的创新教学体系。     

Teaching bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the name that has become associated with the theoretical and applied field of study that links computer science with modern biology. Within molecular biology specifically, bioinformatics is a generic term used to describe many of the analytical manipulations that can be carried out on sequences. Familiarity with the resources available and fundamental methods used for such analyses should be an essential part of a modern biology course, especially given the availability of WWW resources. In this article, some of these resources are summarised and their possible integration into a short practical undergraduate teaching unit is described.     

以循环系统为例谈组织学与胚胎学精品课程建设

为全面提升本科生教学质量,第四军医大学在本科教学中实施“精品课程计划”,培育一流师资。笔者成功申报了我校组织学与胚胎学精品课程,本次精品课程讲授的内容是“循环系统”,不仅要使学生在有限的学时内尽可能多地掌握相关知识,更重要的是要给学生传授组织学的学习方法和审视角度,培养学生的观察能力和空间思维能力,从而变“应试性教育”为“素质教育”,从根本上改革人才培养模式。