Long-Term Impact of Living and Learning at High Altitude: An Altitude Physiology Class for Undergraduate Students

Maurie J Luetkemeier,John E Davis,J Brian Hancock Ii

doi:10.3390/educsci12020112

Abstract

Alma College initiated an Altitude Physiology class in 1997 devoted to living and learning at high altitude (3440 m). The class incorporated several key elements of High-Impact Educational Practice including a strong student-research component and collaborative groups assignments. A retrospective survey was administered to alumni of the class to determine its long-term impact. Student responses ranged from “agree” to “strongly agree” with statements regarding the class’s impact on positive learning outcomes such as critical thinking, knowledge acquisition, synthesis of knowledge, and understanding of research. Students generally favored non-traditional formats such as living at altitude for gaining understanding of environmental physiology.

Highlights

Trekking from sea level to high altitude causes a cascade of physiological challenges all stemming from the reduction in barometric pressure and the ensuing decrease in the partial pressure of oxygen
Athletes have attempted to capitalize on this adaptation by living at high altitude for several weeks prior to athletic competition while maintaining high-intensity training at lower altitude, i.e., live high/train low [1,2]
In an effort to determine background information about the respondents, the students were asked “What prompted you to enroll in Altitude Physiology?” Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer and 31% indicated that they were “interested in the subject matter”, 26% noted they were “interested in travel”, and another 26% said that they were “fulfilling a spring term requirement”

Summary

Introduction

Trekking from sea level to high altitude causes a cascade of physiological challenges all stemming from the reduction in barometric pressure and the ensuing decrease in the partial pressure of oxygen. While it is one thing to lecture students in a classroom about how the human body responds and adapts to this unique environment, it is quite another thing to take students to high altitude and let them experience these changes for themselves [5] Such was the intent of Harper and Webster [6], who took a group of college-aged students on an expedition to the highlands of Bolivia (>4000 m) for 3 weeks. They documented the expected deleterious short-term effects of altitude on oxygen saturation and acute mountain sickness as well as cognitive and visual reaction times. Similar outcomes have been widely reported by other outdoor adventure programs covering a diverse variety of adventure modes [10,11,12,13,14,15]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion