教育学最新文献

The Homeostasis Concept Inventory (HCI) is a validated instrument for measuring students' knowledge of homeostasis. It is comprised of 20 multiple-choice questions covering key components of the previously validated Homeostasis Conceptual Framework (HCF). In this paper, we present the first multi-institutional study of the impact of physiology instruction on students' HCI performance. Five cohorts of physiology or anatomy and physiology (A&P) students at four academic institutions took the HCI both at the start of their academic term (pretest) and at the end of their term (posttest). Statistically significant but relatively modest improvements in overall scores were seen from pretest to posttest. Among the 20 questions, 8 questions had incorrect choices identified as "attractive distractors" on the pretest, meaning that they were chosen at higher-than-random frequencies. From pretest to posttest, there were only modest declines in selections of incorrect answers generally and of attractive distractors in particular. Three attractive distractors that all target one specific misconception, that homeostatic mechanisms are active only when a regulated variable is not at its setpoint, remained persistently attractive except for students of one instructor who directly addressed that misconception in lecture and lab. These data are sobering in that they show a limited impact of instruction on HCI performance. However, these data also include encouraging evidence that instructional targeting of a specific misconception may help students overcome that misconception.NEW & NOTEWORTHY How is undergraduate students' understanding of homeostasis impacted by a physiology course? This study indicates that many students do not improve that much on a validated multiple-choice concept inventory but may improve noticeably on questions about a misconception if that misconception is specifically targeted by the instructor.

Team-based learning (TBL) is an active learning instructional strategy shown to improve student learning in large-enrollment courses. Although early implementations of TBL proved generally effective in an undergraduate exercise physiology course that delivered an online individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) before class, the instructor reported student dissatisfaction with the use of identical questions in the team readiness assurance test (tRAT) in class. This study sought to improve the student experience in this course by including different but related question sets for the online iRAT and in-class tRAT. Two sections of an upper-level undergraduate exercise physiology course received both the traditional and modified tRAT, alternating approaches with each course unit. This crossover research design exposed more students to the proposed modification and provided more student perspectives than would be collected through other research designs. An independent-sample t test indicated that the modified TBL format made no difference on performance on course unit exams (P > 0.05). However, student survey qualitative data revealed that 69% of students preferred the modified tRAT method to the traditional form. Student responses on the benefits of the modification, represented here as major themes in the analysis, included better content interaction, use of higher-order thinking, and more effective social experience with teams. Although this study showed that different sets of questions for the individual and team quizzes improved the experience but not performance for the majority of students, some students suggested changes to the modification that could further improve the student experience with TBL.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In an exercise physiology course using an already-modified team-based learning approach, this crossover-designed pedagogy trial investigated the learning impact and student experience of introducing different (but related) questions in the in-class team readiness assurance test (tRAT) compared to those given in the individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) that students completed online before class. This approach may be of interest for instructors experimenting with partially flipped classroom designs in a team-based context.

Many exercise and sport science (EXSS) undergraduate students enter their programs with weight bias, which can hinder their ability to empathize and effectively work with overweight individuals. This experiential learning activity explored the physiological and emotional responses to exercise with additional mass. Furthermore, this experience sought to address weight bias among EXSS students by promoting a deeper understanding of the difficulties faced by individuals with excess body weight during exercise. Twelve students enrolled in an Exercise for Special Populations course participated in treadmill walking and cycling exercise with and without 15% additional body mass. During exercise, the effects of additional mass on cardiometabolic [e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen uptake (V̇o₂), caloric expenditure] and psychological (e.g., perceived exertion, affective response) measures were evaluated. Before the experiential activity, students engaged in a lecture reviewing preparticipation screening, body composition assessment, and exercise testing procedures. Students reported significant differences in physiological and affective responses to exercise between the two modalities, with treadmill walking with additional mass showing increased exertion. Interestingly, student predictions of psychological responses to walking with additional mass were less negative than their actual experiences, highlighting the difficulty of exercising with additional body mass. Postactivity feedback indicated that students felt highly confident in administering exercise tests and reported enhanced awareness of the challenges faced by overweight individuals. These observations support that incorporating practical activities involving altered body weight can improve practical skills and foster greater empathy toward overweight populations, enhancing student preparedness for careers in allied health fields.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This experience included a didactic lecture and student-led experiential activity where exercise and sport science students simulated overweight conditions during treadmill and cycling exercises to measure the cardiometabolic and psychological difficulties faced by this population during physical activity. The activity not only improved students' ability to conduct exercise tests and other clinical skills but also promoted empathy, reduced weight bias, and helped prepare students to work effectively with overweight individuals in their future professional roles.

Academic stress is one of the primary factors threatening university students' well-being and performance. Undergraduate students who are working toward applying to medical school, defined as being on the premedicine or "premed" pathway, are suspected to have higher academic stress compared to their peers who are not premed. However, what factors contribute to academic stress for premed students is not well understood. We sought to answer the following: Do undergraduates perceive that premeds have higher, the same, or lower stress than nonpremeds? How do academic stress levels between these groups actually differ? What aspects of being premed cause academic stress? Who has left the premed track and why? We surveyed 551 undergraduates from one large institution in the United States and answered our research questions using descriptive statistics, chi-squares, and linear regressions. Overwhelmingly, participants perceived that premed students experience greater academic stress than their counterparts, yet we found no significant differences in academic stress reported among students in our sample (P > 0.05). Premed students reported that their academic stress was exacerbated by not feeling competitive enough to get into medical school and by needing to maintain a high grade point average (GPA). Furthermore, students with lower GPAs were more likely to leave the premed track compared to those with higher GPAs (P = 0.005). Students reported leaving the premed track because another career appeared more interesting and because of the toll the premed track took on their mental health. In conclusion, our findings can inform instructors and universities on how to best support premed students.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Participants perceived that premed students experience greater academic stress than their counterparts; however, we found no significant differences in academic stress reported among students in our sample (P > 0.05). Students with lower GPAs were more likely to leave the premed track compared to those with higher GPAs (P = 0.005).

Competitions outside the medical curriculum provide a platform for medical students to acquire advanced knowledge in specific medical subjects. The Indonesian Medical Physiology Olympiad (IMPhO) is the first and the largest competition in the field of physiology at the national level in Indonesia. It was held for the first time in 2017 and has been an annual physiology competition since then. This competition offers several challenges in different forms, including writing tests and oral rounds, to assess both individual and team capabilities in analyzing and comprehensively understanding human physiology. Consequently, the participants in this competition must have an in-depth understanding of human physiology concepts and develop a winning strategy to become a successful team. This article outlines the preparation strategies employed by the participants of IMPhO in 2022 and how they can be adopted to promote effective study skills for medical students. We conducted a semistructured interview with participants and their accompanying lecturers to explore their strategies for the competition. We highlighted several important strategies, including utilizing resource materials effectively, fostering teamwork, providing mentorship, and emphasizing the role of lecturers as team supervisors. These competition-based learning strategies also can be adopted to promote effective study skills in formal curricula for medical students.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article outlines several important strategies to become a successful team in a physiology competition. These strategies include utilizing resource materials effectively, seeking mentorship, and recognizing the role of lecturers as team supervisors to improve their understanding of human physiology concepts. Furthermore, fostering teamwork and understanding how the competition is structured are crucial for achieving success as a team. These approaches can also be adapted to improve effective study techniques for medical students.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students are typically taught content delivered didactically and closely aligned with the laboratory demonstration of concepts, which facilitates the development of experimental skills. Because of the volume of content delivered across multiple courses, student cognitive abilities can be affected, leading to lower student performance. In physiology and related biological sciences, educators have turned to delivering content with virtual teaching technologies, including virtual and augmented reality, simulations, and other immersive platforms. At the University of South Australia, Articulate Storyline, Unity-based simulations, and immersive software platforms have been implemented across the entire Laboratory Medicine program to assist students in learning lecture and laboratory content. The impact of these individual interventions is outlined in this article. In addition, the final year 2024 cohort is the first group who have used simulations throughout their degree program. Evidence of the benefits and impact of the scaffolded implementation of simulations and immersive software was obtained through a Likert-style questionnaire. The deployment of simulations and immersive software across the degree program has significantly enhanced student learning and engagement with the content, effectively bridging the gap between understanding lecture and laboratory content of students in the Laboratory Medicine program. We suggest that a similar approach could readily be embedded within individual courses as well as across science programs to provide the same benefits to student learning.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We cover the effective application of computer-based simulation and immersive software programs throughout a 4-year laboratory medicine degree. We demonstrate that these technologies significantly improved student learning and engagement. Such an approach is applicable to all disciplines.

Generative AI (GenAI) offers transformative potential for exercise and sports science education, addressing traditional data analysis and visualization barriers while promoting real-world learning. This Perspectives article explores how integrating GenAI into exercise and sports science degrees can enhance students' ability to interpret complex physiological data, improve their analytical skills, and foster creativity in problem-solving. By automating routine technical tasks such as data cleaning and visualization, GenAI allows students to focus on critical interpretation, inquiry-based learning, and evidence-based application. An example lesson plan is provided, incorporating GenAI tools to simulate real-world data analysis tasks, helping students develop hands-on data interpretation and decision-making skills. Additionally, the article discusses strategies for responsible implementation, ensuring that ethical considerations and foundational learning are prioritized.

Physiology graduates are well-positioned to pursue a career path in the high-demand healthcare industry, but students may lack awareness of the available opportunities. At Monash University, there has been a marked increase in student completion of the Physiology Major for the Bachelor of Science degree. Despite the projected employment growth across health professions, medicine remains the prioritized career aspiration for many physiology students. Alumni career paths are insightful to understanding career trends and possibilities, but there is currently no published information on the employment outcomes of Physiology Major graduates. The professional networking LinkedIn platform was used to track Monash University Bachelor of Science alumni, who graduated with a Physiology Major in 2017 and 2018 (n = 286). Searching the alumni by name on LinkedIn identified 63% of these graduates (n = 180), each of whose further study and profession at the time of data collection in 2023 was noted and categorically analyzed using a coding protocol. Physiology graduates were most commonly employed in health professions (43%) followed by research-related careers (18%) and business or law practice (14%). Of the health professions, a quarter of graduates were studying or working in medicine while the rest were working in allied health areas, with physiotherapy being the most common. Among those in research-related careers, just over half pursued doctoral qualification followed by 24% in research assistant roles and 15% in clinical trial coordination. These findings will reinvigorate the undergraduate physiology curriculum to broaden student awareness of and preparedness for career opportunities within the health professions and research workforce.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to report on Physiology Major graduate employment outcomes, using LinkedIn. The data show that almost half of graduates pursued a career in a health profession after completion of their science degree, followed by 18% in a research career and 14% in business or law practice. With gaps in the health profession workforce, greater efforts are necessary to enhance career awareness for Physiology graduates.