Small Group Activities Research Articles

Initiating small group learning in a Caribbean medical school.

Initiating small group learning in a Caribbean medical school.

Co‐Teaching the Basic Sciences, Does it Really Influence Student Outcomes?

Traditionally, medical school courses have consisted of team‐taught lectures with little to no integration or coordination between sessions within the same course. Team‐taught lectures generally signify that several faculty independently teach self‐enclosed topics within a course. However, many curriculums have begun to incorporate teaching modalities that increase the integration of the basic sciences. Because lectures play a role in helping students scaffold learning in tandem with small group activities many programs have sessions where faculty of different disciplines or training (different basic science disciplines or clinical medicine) co‐teach together. However, it is not clear in the literature if co‐teaching a topic is actually superior to separate, independent sessions. In this study we examined the influence of integrated co‐teaching on medical students performance in microbiology and pharmacology sessions. We present data comparing final exam score averages for four classes of first year medical school course with or without integrated co‐teaching. Student performance on integrated versus non‐integrated questions will also be presented and discussed. Finally, we will discuss data on how co‐teaching topics affects faculty and course evaluations.

Training Better Medical Students: A 2015 Update of The Graduate Medical Sciences Master's Program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

The TTUHSC Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has developed a 2‐year non‐thesisGraduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Master's program (http://www.ttuhsc.edu/gsbs/mspremedsci.aspx) designed for students seeking additional preparation for medical school or for those students whose ultimate goal is medical education. Graduate students are imperceptibly embedded in the first year medical curriculum and participate alongside medical students in class, lab, and small group activities. In the second year, graduate students function as school of medicine teaching assistants in addition to taking an Advanced Cell Biology course with PhD students. All students design and carry out an instructional project including either the development of self‐directed learning units or the creation of novel educational materials. Evaluation of performance has revealed that first year GMS students performed at the same level as first year medical students. Historically, after graduation, all of our students who applied have been admitted to and excelled in medical school. A key indicator is that GMS graduates have scored dramatically higher on USMLE STEP I exams as compared to our traditional medical students. GMS graduatesthat attended TTUHSC SOM also served as peer leaders and role models who were active in the accreditation process and curriculum design. In summary, this program has improved the educational training of our current medical students, facilitated an active teaching environment, reduced the workload on faculty, and provided our school with excellent future medical students. This project was funded by the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at TTUHSC.

Peer-assisted teaching: An interventional study

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) as an educational philosophy benefits both the peer-teacher and peer-learner. The changing role of paramedicine towards autonomous and professional practice demands future paramedics to be effective educators. Yet PAL is not formally integrated in undergraduate paramedic programs. We aimed to examine the effects of an educational intervention on students' PAL experiences as peer-teachers. Two one-hour workshops were provided prior to PAL teaching sessions including small group activities, individual reflections, role-plays and material notes. Peer-teachers completed the Teaching Style Survey, which uses a five-point Likert scale to measure participants' perceptions and confidence before and after PAL involvement. Thirty-eight students were involved in an average of 3.7 PAL sessions. The cohort was predominated by males (68.4%) aged ≤ 25 (73.7%). Following PAL, students reported feeling more confident in facilitating tutorial groups (p = 0.02). After the PAL project peer-teachers were also more likely to set high standards for their learners (p = 0.009). This PAL project yielded important information for the continual development of paramedic education. Although PAL increases students' confidence, the full role of PAL in education remains unexplored. The role of the university in this must also be clearly clarified.

How undergraduate medical students reflect on instructional practices and class attendance: a case study from the Shifa College of Medicine, Pakistan.

The goal of this study was to assess student perceptions of a variety of instructional practices and attitudes toward class attendance. Data were obtained and analyzed by administering a questionnaire to students of the Shifa College of Medicine, Pakistan in 2011 and 2012. The subjects positively assessed most instructional practices, and in particular felt that teaching sessions conducted in small groups were more valuable than formal lectures in large groups. Students did not like having to give presentations, quizzes, panel discussions, and journal club. A positive correlation was found between the perceived importance of attendance and levels of academic motivation. Of the students surveyed, 11.8% were against mandatory attendance, saying that it reduced motivation and that attendance should be optional. In conclusion, the students had a positive perception of a range of instructional practices, and felt especially positively about practices that involve student activity in small groups. Programmatic improvement in instructional practices might increase class attendance.

Novel school-based health intervention program—a step toward early diabetes prevention

The purpose of this study is to determine the existing knowledge, attitude, practices (KAP), and impact of intervention with diabetes awareness and prevention education among school students in New Delhi, India. The Diabetes Awareness and Prevention Education is a 2-year, school-based intervention, conducted with two cohorts of students who were in the sixth and seventh grade when the study started from six schools of Delhi (n = 3 private and 3 government), India. These schools were purposively selected to represent socioeconomic strata and different geographies within Delhi. Students in these schools were surveyed before the intervention began and after 1-year intervention (n = 1520). The intervention used strategies which included the following: orientation workshops for teacher coordinators and peer leaders, interactive classroom sessions (curriculum) led by trained teachers, peer-led small group activities (peer-led health activism), fun learning games, students’ worksheets, and intraschool competitions, etc. After intervention, significantly more students reported that diabetes is high level of glucose in blood than at baseline. Consumption of junk food items significantly reduced among students post intervention. A total of 6.5 and 13.8 % more students in private and government schools, respectively, reported outdoor activities during leisure time. Teacher-led classroom discussions with active youth engagement and empowerment (peer-led health activism) can be an important strategy with potential long-term benefits for early diabetes prevention.

Development of a manipulative for nephron physiology education.

some physiological concepts, such physiology of filtration and absorption in the different nephron segments, are so detailed that they can be a challenge to be memorized. This article describes an exercise that solidifies learning as students manipulate, using paper models, “transporters” and

Deploying and Visualising Teacher’s Scripts of Small Group Activities in a Multi-surface Classroom Ecology: a Study in-the-wild

There is a fast growing interest in the use of interactive surfaces in collaborative learning contexts. These devices hold the promise to enrich a typical collocated class by enabling learners to interact with digital content while maintaining face-to-face mutual awareness. However, little has been done to help teachers deploy and monitor the learning scripts for their planned small group activities in a classroom enhanced with these kinds of devices. We present an approach for deploying and visualising the teacher's script for small group idea generation and problem solving activities in a multi-surface classroom ecology that is composed of multiple interactive tabletops, public vertical displays and a teacher's dashboard. We frame our study by drawing on design guidelines for classrooms with multiple interactive surfaces and combine these with principles of scripting and orchestration of learning activities. The paper presents the results and experiences of the implementation of our approach, in an authentic deployment of our classroom ecology, held over 8 weeks in a semester, involving 150 university students and 4 teachers. The paper concludes with remarks about the strengths and shortcomings of our approach, to be taken into account by learning practitioners and designers.

Implementation of an education development project in pathology to improve student competency-lessons learnt.

Context:Basic medical sciences and clinical teachings are not coordinated in the present medical education system. They are not taught keeping in mind the outcomes required at the time of actual handling of patients in the community.Aims:An educational development project was implemented in the Department of Pathology with the aim that it will result in the student learning to link the pathophysiology of the disease to clinical scenarios and become fully competent for lifelong medical practice.Subjects and Methods:The pathology teaching of the second professional batch was modified by starting with defining the desired outcomes/competencies in the student's knowledge, skills, and attitude which were then addressed by lectures, demonstrations, practical classes and small group activities where case scenarios and laboratory reports were included. The outcome was assessed by Objectively Structured Clinical/Practical Examination and multiple choice questions. Force field analysis, faculty and student interviews, and questionnaires were used to assess the factors affecting its implementation and impact.Results:Totally 80 students of the 2nd Professional MBBS were exposed to a competency-based education development project. It was found that the system was appreciated by faculty and students, especially the integration with clinical scenarios. There were many factors which influenced the execution of this program, including motivation level of students and faculty, time, logistics and meticulous planning.Conclusions:There was a significant improvement in student's performance and satisfaction. Many factors including prior planning were a major determinant for the success of this education development project.

Pre-service teacher use of communication strategies upon receiving immediate feedback

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of immediate feedback through bug-in-ear eCoaching on early childhood special education pre-service teachers’ use of communication strategies using an activity-based intervention approach. Three early childhood special education pre-service teachers participated in this study. A multiple-probe, single-case design was used to determine the effects of immediate feedback through bug-in-ear eCoaching on teachers’ use of communication strategies. Results indicate that immediate feedback through bug-in-ear eCoaching enhanced pre-service teachers’ use of communication strategies within small-group activities. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Building a Model of Tumorigenesis: A small group activity for a cancer biology/cell biology course

Building a Model of Tumorigenesis: A small group activity for a cancer biology/cell biology course

만 5세 누리과정 교사용 지도서에 수록된 유아인권 관련 교육내용 분석

본 연구는 만 5세 누리과정 교사용 지도서에 수록된 유아인권 관련 교육내용을 활동 유형 및 흥미영역, 5개영역, 생활주제별로 분석준거에 의해 분석되었다. 연구결과 첫째, 활동 유형 및 흥미영역에 나타난 유아인권 관련 교육내용은 대 소집단 활동, 자유선택활동, 바깥놀이 활동순의 빈도로 높게 나타났으며 그 가운데 교육과 휴식이 가장 높은 빈도를 보였다. 둘째, 5개 영역 가운데 유아인권 관련 교육내용을 가장 많이 다루고 있는 영역은 사회관계 영역으로 나타났으며, 그 중 참여가 가장 많이 다루어지고 있는 인권관련 교육내용으로 파악되었다. 반면 가장 적게 다루어지고 있는 영역은 신체운동 건강영역으로 나타났다. 셋째, 유아인권 관련 교육내용을 가장 많이 다루고 있는 주제는 '봄, 여름, 가을, 겨울'이었으며, '나와 가족'의 주제에서는 가장 낮은 빈도의 유아인권 관련 교육내용을 다루고 있었다. 또한 전체 생활주제 가운데 교육과 휴식이 가장 높은 빈도의 유아인권 관련 교육내용으로 다루어지고 있는 반면, 학대와 방임(폭력)의 유아인권 관련 교육내용은 전체 생활주제에서 전혀 다루어지고 있지 않았다. 본 연구결과를 통해 유아인권 관련활동을 균형 있게 계획하고 전개하는데 도움을 주며, 초등학교와 연계된 인권교육 프로그램의 활동을 구성하는 데에도 중요한 기초자료를 제공하고자한다. 더 나아가 유아를 위한 체계적인 유아인권교육에 관한 프로그램을 개발하는데 있어서도 기초적인 정보를 제공하는데 의의가 있다. This study analyzed the educational contents related with child's human rights in a manual of the Nuri Curriculum for 5-year-olds based on the type and area of activity, 5 areas, and by life theme. The research results are as follows: First, the educational contents on child's human rights in activity type and area showed high frequency in the order of large and small group activity, child selected play activity, and outdoor activity, and among them, right to an education and right to play showed the highest frequency. Second, among the five categories, the area that conducts educational contents on child's human rights was the social relation category, and the area that showed the highest participation was the educational contents on human rights. On the other hand, the areas that were treated the least were physical activity and health. Third, the topic that treated the educational contents related with child's human rights was 'spring, summer, fall, winter,' and 'my family and I' treated educational contents on child's human rights in the lowest frequency. Also, whereas the right to education and right to play showed the highest frequency of educational contents on child's human rights among entire life themes, the educational contents on child's human rights of abuse and neglect(violence) were not treated at all in the entire life themes. Through the results of this study, it will be helpful in planning and deploying activities related with the child's human rights harmoniously, and intends to provide important basic data in organizing activities of human rights program linked with the elementary school. Furthermore, this study intended to provide basic information for developing a program of systematic child's human rights education for children in addition to the curriculum at a national level.

Overcoming Barriers to Heterogeneous-Group Learning in the Political Science Classroom

ABSTRACTDespite positive findings, small-group activities continue to lag behind lectures in political science classrooms. This article argues that one barrier to wider adoption of more innovative activities is uncertainty about how to efficiently and fairly create teams that each are heterogeneous and as a set are balanced across relevant characteristics. We first describe recent findings and strategies for creating teams; we then detail our concrete, general approach for incorporating several student characteristics into team creation. We then describe implementations of this approach using freely available software in two undergraduate political science courses—one in American politics and one in political methodology. In these applications and in a variety of simulated data, we demonstrate that teams created using our method are better balanced than those created by randomly allocating students to teams.

Transitioning to a communication-oriented pedagogy: Taiwanese university freshmen's views on class participation

This study investigated 354 Taiwanese university freshmen's attitudes toward oral participation in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom as they transitioned to an English-medium, communication-oriented pedagogy. It aimed to elucidate the causes of students' participation and non-participation in class discussions and the relationship between participation and English language performance. Data were gathered from two questionnaires and two English performance measures. Results showed that students' class participation significantly correlated with their course achievement and English listening proficiency. In addition, they revealed an apparent contradiction between students' views and their reported behaviors. Though students valued class participation and were reluctant to be passive learners, they demonstrated low overall involvement. Analysis further suggested that limited verbal contributions to class discussion among EFL students may signal an evolving desire for learner autonomy and active participation deterred by a complex mix of linguistic and non-linguistic variables. On the other hand, students indicated that being prepared for class, feeling assured of their answers before speaking, and engaging in small group activities were conducive to participation. This study proposes several pedagogical implications to aid instructors in promoting second and foreign language students' engagement and learning outcomes in a communication-oriented pedagogy.

Face-to-Face Peer Evaluation Improved Student Perception of Feedback in a Preclinical Course

A possible solution to assessment of professionalism and communication skills is peer evaluation. To determine if non-anonymous feedback could improve student perception of the peer-feedback process and result in better feedback, we implemented a face-to-face feedback approach in a large, preclinical course. Student pairs were asked to meet in person to discuss their contributions in small group activities. A post-course survey suggested that this approach was well received by students and that a majority of the students felt the feedback they received was more useful than feedback they had previously received when using an online, anonymous approach.

Challenges in Implementing an Integrated Curriculum in Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba

Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM) is a private medical school in Aruba shifted to an integrated, organ system-based curriculum from January 2014. There is greater emphasis on problem-based learning, small group activities, early clinical exposure, and self-directed learning. In this article the author describes challenges faced while implementing the integrated curriculum. Among the challenges faced were faculty apprehensions about an integrated curriculum, faculty apprehensions regarding self-directed learning, providing early clinical exposure to the students, organizing activities and practical sessions for students, learning the art of medicine, developing student skills for critical appraisal of scientific literature and developing closer links with the community and the health system. The strategies adopted for overcoming some of these challenges is also described.

Designing and conducting a two day orientation program for first semester undergraduate medical students.

Designing and conducting a two day orientation program for first semester undergraduate medical students.

Simultaneous cellular-resolution optical perturbation and imaging of place cell firing fields.

Linking neural microcircuit function to emergent properties of the mammalian brain requires fine-scale manipulation and measurement of neural activity during behavior, where each neuron's coding and dynamics can be characterized. We developed an optical method for simultaneous cellular-resolution stimulation and large-scale recording of neuronal activity in behaving mice. Dual-wavelength two-photon excitation allowed largely independent functional imaging with a green fluorescent calcium sensor (GCaMP3, λ = 920 ± 6 nm) and single-neuron photostimulation with a red-shifted optogenetic probe (C1V1, λ = 1,064 ± 6 nm) in neurons coexpressing the two proteins. We manipulated task-modulated activity in individual hippocampal CA1 place cells during spatial navigation in a virtual reality environment, mimicking natural place-field activity, or 'biasing', to reveal subthreshold dynamics. Notably, manipulating single place-cell activity also affected activity in small groups of other place cells that were active around the same time in the task, suggesting a functional role for local place cell interactions in shaping firing fields.

Clinical Quality Improvement Curriculum for Faculty in an Academic Medical Center.

Interested faculty enrolled in this 6-month-long quality improvement (QI) course to facilitate independent QI project work. The course included monthly 1.5-hour sessions: 20-minute presentations covering key QI concepts, then small group activities to facilitate project work. Faculty were required to identify, construct, and implement an independent QI project. They met individually with mentors twice during the course, with additional guidance offered virtually via phone or e-mail, and completed pretests and posttests of QI knowledge (maximum score = 15) and self-assessed confidence. A statistically significant difference in knowledge (pre-course mean = 7.75, standard deviation [SD] = 3.06; post-course mean = 11.75, SD = 3.28; P = .02) and self-assessed confidence (pre mean = 3.08, SD = 0.65; post mean = 4.5, SD = 0.68; P < .0001) was found. Of 8 faculty, 5 were able to conduct small tests of change; 3 studied the current processes and planned to run tests of change. Positive responses to this course helped obtain buy-in from leadership to develop a leadership program in QI.

Making Active Learning Effective

The term “active learning” is a concept that is known more for what it is not. The emphasis on active learning originated as a contrast to the perceived “passive” atmosphere of the lecture. It quickly acquired a “face validity” since it is an instructional method that can be both seen and heard. However, a consideration ofmetacognition in this report will reveal that effectiveness is not assured for active learning, regardless of the appearance. These same insights also reveal that lectures do not have to be passive learning experiences.When the metacognition of active learning is truly understood, then its effectiveness will be assured and lectures could even regain some respect as an active learning environment. Active learning in the medical curriculum usually involves the scheduling of small group activities to replace a portion of the lecture schedule. But, active learning has been defined more broadly to include all activities that are involved in information gathering and problem solving whether individual or with a group. For example, it has been proposed that active learning occurs as the result of the following tasks: (1) active construction of meaning (constructivism), (2) learning declarative knowledge (what?) and procedural knowledge (how?), (3) integration (transference between domains), (4) collaborative comparison of reasoning, and (5) meaningful learning through articulation [9]. Although these attempts to define and understand the process of active learning are comprehensive regarding pedagogical principles, the one element that determines effectiveness is still missing. That element is metacognition. One of the three key findings of studies conducted by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council revealed that the educational process can be hampered without an understanding of metacognition on the part of both students and teachers [3]. An understanding of the active learning process is essential to an understanding of effective teaching. Metacognition helps students take control of their own learning by defining goals and monitoring progress in achieving those goals. It also helps teachers to understand the responsibilities of the student in learningmore than content. They must also learn how to learn. Lack of attention to metacognitive awareness results in an inefficient use of curriculum time by teachers and of learning time by students. By comparison, inclusion of metacognitive awareness facilitates the ultimate goal of medical education to assure transformation of the student into a self-directed, lifelong learner. Metacognition is thinking about thinking. It is an examination of how information is processed and the factors both psychological and biological that contribute to learning from thinking. The use of metacognition is supported by research on the Growth Mindset, a belief that intelligence can be increased through hard work.