Students learn best when they are focused and thinking about the subject at hand. To teach physiology, we must offer opportunities for students to actively participate in class. This approach aids in focusing their attention on the topic and thus generating genuine interest in the mechanisms involved. This study was conducted to determine if offering voluntary active learning exercises would improve student understanding and application of the material covered. To compare performance, an anonymous cardiorespiratory evaluation was distributed to two groups of students during the fall (control, n = 168) and spring (treatment, n = 176) semesters. Students in both groups were taught by traditional methods, and students in the treatment group had the option to voluntary participate in two additional active learning exercises: 1) a small group discussion, where students would discuss a physiology topic with their Teaching Assistant before running BIOPAC software for the laboratory exercise and 2) a free response question, where students anonymously responded to one short essay question after the laboratory exercise. In these formative assessments, students received feedback about their present state of learning from the discussion with their peers and also from the instructor comments regarding perceived misconceptions. As a result of the participation in these activities, students in the treatment group had a better overall performance [χ(2) (degree of freedom = 1) = 31.2, P < 0.001] on the evaluation (treatment group: 62% of responses correct and control group: 49%) with an observed difference of 13% (95% confidence interval: 8, 17). In conclusion, this study presents sufficient evidence that when the opportunity presents itself, students become active participants in the learning process, which translates into an improvement in their understanding and application of physiological concepts.
A formação e atuação do orientador é um tema pouco estudado, porém cada vez mais discutido diante de relatos de dificuldades vivenciadas na pós-graduação. Entendemos que essa atuação dos orientadores não pode ser isolada do contexto de sua área de pesquisa. A área de Ensino, criada em 2010, reflete diversos agrupamentos temáticos e carrega uma polêmica associada ao momento de sua criação agrupando áreas de pesquisa que antes eram independentes. A sociologia da ciência de Bourdieu nos permite estudar esses temas e avançar no seu entendimento. Neste artigo, contribuímos para a compreensão da configuração da área de Ensino, por meio da investigação do perfil socioformativo de aproximadamente 530 orientadores que a compõem, apontando para heterogeneidades e hierarquias sociais entre esses agentes. Os dados desse estudo foram coletados por meio de um questionário online e foram tratados estatisticamente por Análise de Correspondências Múltiplas. Nossos resultados evidenciam perfis muito distintos em relação ao capital cultural e econômico dos orientadores, bem como a condição que eles tiveram para se formar como pesquisadores. Questionamos a implicação desses resultados para a área da CAPES que trata como um único grupo orientadores com perfis tão distintos.
Part of the educator"s mission is to develop new methodologies that promote active learning. This study examines the use of dramatization of the cardiac cycle in medical school. Two groups (n=42, 21 each) of first-year medical students participated. Group A was initially taught through dramatization alone, while Group B was taught through lecture followed by dramatization. Students completed a 13-item assessment (pretest and posttest) designed to measure knowledge of the cardiac system immediately before and after participating in the dramatization activity. Six months later students completed a third posttest assessment (follow-up) to assess their retention of cardiac cycle content. Students also rated their prior knowledge of general physiology and their confidence level in learning the material presented. Students in groups A and B scored at the same approximate level on the initial pretest (57% and 61% respectively, p=0.53). Scores for both groups increased significantly on the immediate posttest compared to pretest (p<0.0001). Both groups scored equally well on the immediate posttest (88% and 89% respectively, p=0.48), even though Group A had been taught the content based on dramatization alone. Both groups subsequently scored equally well on the six-month follow-up assessment (p<0.0001). Levels of self-reported confidence in knowledge also increased in both groups (p<0.05). This interactive teaching method increases student confidence in their knowledge and promotes learning in the short term equally well when compared to more traditional teaching methods. Implications for further research on dramatization as a teaching method are explored.
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