Using Narratives to Teach Students Enrolled in Science and Medical Science Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Rodrigo, Chaturaka; Tedla, Nicodemus; Thomas, Shane; Polly, Patsie; Herbert, Cristan; Velan, Gary M.; Saunders, Darren N.

doi:10.1007/s40670-019-00698-1

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Perhaps knowledge-level concepts were reiterated in class or described as an anecdote, so students who attended were more to remember. Narrative or storytelling has been linked with increased retention (Rodrigo et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of student pharmacists’ academic performance with and without required attendance in a pharmacotherapy course

Bowers,

Barash,

McKiernan

2024

Pharm Educ

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Background: Studies evaluating the association between absenteeism and academic performance have had mixed results; some demonstrate a positive correlation between course attendance and academic performance. Objective: To compare student pharmacists’ performance in a cohort with graded attendance and those without a graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course and to evaluate student performance within the required attendance cohort on course learning objectives. Methods: All students enrolled during Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 were included in this study. Attendance data for the graded attendance cohort and the Assessment performance data for both cohorts were exported. With the student’s t-test, the average examination performance on college-level learning outcomes (CLLOs) between groups was compared. Results: The comparison between the graded and ungraded attendance cohorts demonstrated a significant difference in academic performance for all three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and one CLLO on Examination One and in all categories on Examination Two. Within the graded attendance cohort, comparing students who met unit attendance competency with those who did not resulted in a significant difference. Conclusion: The results of this study support graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course. Student pharmacists demonstrated better academic performance when attendance was graded than a cohort without a graded attendance requirement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of student pharmacists’ academic performance with and without required attendance in a pharmacotherapy course

Bowers,

Barash,

McKiernan

2024

Pharm Educ

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“…Comic books make science more approachable through visual and written narrative. Several studies report that most students prefer learning from narratives as opposed to traditional learning methods as they find narratives easier to comprehend, and feel that narratives improve their retention of materials (3)(4)(5). Other published lessons have used comics to help make science less intimidating by linking scientific content to a story (6)(7)(8).…”

Section: Exploring the Complexities Of Photosynthesis Through A Comic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Complexities of Photosynthesis Through a Comic Strip

Wisner

2022

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Photosynthesis is a conceptually challenging topic. The small scale at which photosynthesis takes place makes it difficult for students to visualize what is occurring, and students are often overwhelmed by all of the details of the process. This activity uses a freely-available comic to make learning photosynthesis more approachable and to help students identify their own misconceptions and questions about the process. This activity is appropriate for any college-level introductory biology course and although it was designed for an online class, it could be adapted for in-person learning. In this activity, students work through a four-part online module. Each part consists of readings and videos containing background information on the steps of photosynthesis followed by the corresponding portion of a comic on photosynthesis. Students then use the background information in the module and the comic to identify their own misconceptions and questions and post these in an online discussion forum. The online module is followed by a live session in which the instructor uses the student discussion posts to clarify any remaining questions. Learning about photosynthesis in the unique visual format of a comic allows students to more easily visualize a process that they cannot see with their own eyes. Students enjoyed this activity because it makes learning photosynthesis fun and less intimidating. This lesson is powerful because it allows the instructor to hear from all students in the course via the discussion forum and then tailor the live discussion session to cover student identified problem topics.Photosynthesis is a complex process that many students struggle to understand. Students often memorize individual steps of photosynthesis and names of molecules instead of developing a conceptual understanding of how these processes work together. In addition, photosynthesis occurs at the molecular level, making it difficult for students to visualize. This lesson uses a long-form comic to help combat these difficulties by making the topic more fun and approachable.

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“…By 2019 (last iteration delivered fully face-to-face), except for two practical classes in PATH3205, all other activities in both courses were ready to be delivered online, if needed. For example, all lectures were recorded (it is not mandatory to physically attend lectures), tutorials were conducted face-to-face (F2F) but each class worked on communal notes using documents hosted on a cloud server (e.g., Google docs, MS Word online), and the practical classes were redesigned to be online ready using e-learning resources 1 such as virtual slides (Kumar et al, 2006;Herbert et al, 2017) using a novel narrative-based approach has been published previously (Rodrigo et al, 2019). Teaching pedagogy in the Department of Pathology focusses on student-centred learning for both tutorials and practical classes, where students work in small groups (5-6 students per group) to solve problems and time ratio between lectures and group-based activities (practical classes and tutorials) had been adjusted in favour of the latter (2.3 h per week).…”

Section: The Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of COVID-19 restrictions on student satisfaction with undergraduate pathology teaching in an Australian University

et al. 2022

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IntroductionAlmost three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to reflect on student perceptions of online teaching, and more specifically, if mobility restrictions imposed as public health measures significantly influenced how students perceived online teaching. The aim of this study was to investigate if student perceptions of teaching quality of undergraduate courses would differ when evaluated at times of increasing or relaxing COVID-related mobility restrictions.MethodsWe compared student feedback for two third-year undergraduate Pathology courses taken as part of a Bachelor of Medical Sciences / Science degree in an Australian University from 2019 to 2021. Quantitative feedback on five domains (overall satisfaction, belongingness within a learning community, satisfaction with assessments, adequacy of learning resources, satisfaction with teacher feedback) were categorized into groups based on calendar year or prevailing COVID restrictions (times with no, increasing or relaxing restrictions), and compared. There were no significant changes to the course content during this time, but face-to-face teaching in 2019 changed to predominantly online teaching in 2020 and 2021.ResultsFeedback scores were significantly better (p < 0.017) at times of increased COVID restrictions compared to times with relaxing COVID restrictions across all five domains assessed. Interestingly, when grouped by calendar years (instead of prevailing COVID restrictions), there were mostly no significant differences in the feedback scores, despite the shift to online teaching in 2020/21.ConclusionAt times of increasing mobility restrictions, students may appreciate the consistency offered by well-structured online teaching but when restrictions are relaxed, online-only teaching may not meet their expectations. The teaching methods need to adapt to prevailing situation by focusing on more hands on and face-to-face teaching when circumstances allow it.

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Using Narratives to Teach Students Enrolled in Science and Medical Science Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

Comparison of student pharmacists’ academic performance with and without required attendance in a pharmacotherapy course

Comparison of student pharmacists’ academic performance with and without required attendance in a pharmacotherapy course

Exploring the Complexities of Photosynthesis Through a Comic Strip

Influence of COVID-19 restrictions on student satisfaction with undergraduate pathology teaching in an Australian University

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