Foundational Skills Research Articles

Accelerating Research Careers in Science Through Early Mentored Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Masters' Students at the University of California, San Francisco Center for AIDS Research.

Investments early in the academic pathway are essential to increasing the diversity of the HIV research workforce. Applied mentored research experiences can advance research skills, self-efficacy, and retention in science among scholars considered to be underrepresented minorities. The UCSF Center for AIDS Research Scholars Program is a 16-week program that pairs URM undergraduate and masters-level students from San Francisco State University with URM investigators from the UCSF. The program includes one-on-one mentorship on an independent research project, a core-curriculum on research methods and HIV-specific topics, and clinical shadowing. We evaluated program outcomes and areas for improvement with preprogram and postprogram survey and qualitative data from scholars and mentors from June to October 2022. Outcomes included interest in HIV research and growth on a 20-item measure of research skills, knowledge, and confidence. Six URM scholars enrolled in the inaugural cohort and were paired with 6 mentors. Preprogram and postprogram evaluations showed gains in interest in HIV research, 0% preprogram and 100% of scholars postprogram reporting much or extensive interest in HIV research, and gains across all domains from self-confidence, skills, and clarification of a research career path. Qualitative findings noted the importance of peer support and interpersonal features of mentors, including treating them like equals. Areas for improvement included more opportunities for primary data collection and specific training around mentoring undergraduates for mentors. The UCSF Center for AIDS Research Scholars Program was successful in building foundational skills, knowledge, confidence, and interest in HIV research among URM undergraduates and masters-level students.

A comparison of Expert and Novice marksmanship performance and postural mechanics using inertial measurement units (IMUs) during dynamic live-fire shooting

Marksmanship is a foundational Soldier skill required for all active-duty military personnel regardless of duty position. This research compared shooting performance and underlying postural mechanics of Expert and Novice marksmen during a dynamic, live-fire shooting task. Eighteen military personnel volunteered to participate in this study (n = 9 Experts and n = 9 Novices). All participants completed the dynamic marksmanship task with an M4 carbine under each of two equipment conditions: (I) a No Load Condition (6 kg) and (II) a Loaded Condition (31 kg) using standard-issue military equipment. Marksmanship performance was assessed using lethality measures including total hits and course efficiency. Postural mechanics were collected via body- and weapon-mounted inertial measurement units (IMUs). Significant differences (p < 0.05) in shooting performance and course efficiency were found between Expert and Novice marksmen for both load conditions. Significant differences were also found in postural movement patterns between Expert and Novice marksmen utilizing IMU-derived performance measures, especially when transitioning between targets, though these findings were not always consistent across load conditions. Based on these results, training interventions that focus on target acquisition, increasing torso stability, and maximizing the linkage between the torso and weapon could be recommended to improve performance in Novice marksmen.

Complexities in teaching competencies: a longitudinal analysis of Vietnamese teachers’ sensemaking and practices

ABSTRACT Competency-based education (CBE) has been widely adopted in various educational contexts although research discussing how CBE is implemented in local contexts and how it shifts (or not) teaching practices is limited. This study explores how Vietnamese secondary teachers made sense of general competencies and adapted their teaching towards competency development. Using a sociocultural approach to sensemaking, this study examined secondary teachers’ interpretations and teaching practices of competencies. The study used a qualitative longitudinal design that included teacher interviews and video-cued reflections of their teaching practices. The findings illustrate teachers’ ambivalence about the new curriculum competencies and how to align their practices with the CBE reform. A common pattern across all teachers was that they made sense of competencies as learning foundational knowledge and skills, in addition to developing good attitudes, character, and morality. Over the years, teachers also emphasised the real-life application of competencies towards whole-person development. This study contributes to sociocultural perspectives on teaching and the CBE literature by showing the ways in which teachers used cultural ideas and artefacts to expand and limit their meanings of competencies in practice.

Motivate and Engage Our Youngest Writers

AbstractResearch suggests that when young children have many opportunities to write they start believing they are the sort of people who can write for intellectual, academic, and social purposes. They also learn foundational reading skills. Project‐like compositional writing involving design, strategies, and problem solving versus functional writing or shorter writing episodes, promises even more benefits. A question for teachers is how might we motivate young children toward complex projects when they are still learning basic literacy concepts. We take up this problem by focusing on the conditions under which young children might be motivated to write, specifically through the lenses of self‐determination theory and engagement. We suggest that making books, a complex compositional activity, linked to shared reading and study of multimodal picture books, combine for a vigorous social practice where children's motivational needs can be met. We offer practical recommendations for facilitating motivated, engaged writing in a classroom.

Walking and falling: Using robot simulations to model the role of errors in infant walking.

What is the optimal penalty for errors in infant skill learning? Behavioral analyses indicate that errors are frequent but trivial as infants acquire foundational skills. In learning to walk, for example, falling is commonplace but appears to incur only a negligible penalty. Behavioral data, however, cannot reveal whether a low penalty for falling is beneficial for learning to walk. Here, we used a simulated bipedal robot as an embodied model to test the optimal penalty for errors in learning to walk. We trained the robot to walk using 12,500 independent simulations on walking paths produced by infants during free play and systematically varied the penalty for falling-a level of precision, control, and magnitude impossible with real infants. When trained with lower penalties for falling, the robot learned to walk farther and better on familiar, trained paths and better generalized its learning to novel, untrained paths. Indeed, zero penalty for errors led to the best performance for both learning and generalization. Moreover, the beneficial effects of a low penalty were stronger for generalization than for learning. Robot simulations corroborate prior behavioral data and suggest that a low penalty for errors helps infants learn foundational skills (e.g., walking, talking, and social interactions) that require immense flexibility, creativity, and adaptability. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: During infant skill acquisition, errors are commonplace but appear to incur a low penalty; when learning to walk, for example, falls are frequent but trivial. To test the optimal penalty for errors, we trained a simulated robot to walk using real infant paths and systematically manipulated the penalty for falling. Lower penalties in training led to better performance on familiar, trained paths and on novel untrained paths, and zero penalty was most beneficial. Benefits of a low penalty were stronger for untrained than for trained paths, suggesting that discounting errors facilitates acquiring skills that require immense flexibility and generalization.

A geographic-location-based medical school admissions process does not influence pre-clerkship and licensing examination academic performance.

Students are selected for admission to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University (NOSM U) MD degree program using criteria aiming to maximize access of persons thought most likely to practice in the region, including use of a geographic context score (GCS) which ranks those with lived experience in northern Ontario and/or rurality most highly. This study investigates the effect of this admissions process upon medical school academic performance. We used a retrospective cohort design combined with multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the relationship between admission scores and performance on pre-clerkship courses, and the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Exam Part 1 (MCCQE1).The GCS did not significantly explain performance variance on any pre-clerkship course, nor on the MCCQE1, while the undergraduate Grade Point Average correlated with most assessment scores. The number of prior undergraduate biomedical courses predicted science and clinical skills performance, particularly in Year 1, but not with MCCQE1 scores. Performance on Year 2 courses, particularly foundational sciences and clinical skills, significantly predicted MCCQE1 scores. Our data suggest that admission geographic context scoring is unrelated to future academic performance. Further, students with fewer prior undergraduate biomedical courses may benefit from increased support and/or a modified program during the early years.

Research Ready: a student-initiated workshop model for developing foundational research skills.

Travel restrictions, pandemics, economic downturn, and increasing costs in organizing workshops all impact on face-to-face training of undergraduates planning to undertake research. The inability to obtain basic, first-hand information regarding research in practice causes undue stress for students and leads to unrealistic expectations regarding research projects. Here, we describe how a student initiated online workshop, co-designed by a group of undergraduate leaders in conjunction with a panel of international academic researchers, and enabled the delivery of an introductory workshop on research training to meet student needs. Post-workshop, over 80%-95% of the participants rated their understanding of different aspects of research in practice as either being good or excellent. The design of this workshop provides an innovative template, in particular for resource-restricted countries, on how student-initiated workshops with multi-institutional academic collaboration could enhance training in research practice.

Education for out-of-school children: Unpacking driving factors of vulnerability via digital-learning footprint data in East Africa

Introduction &amp; BackgroundApproximately 617 million children and adolescents worldwide do not possess the foundational skills to live healthy and productive lives. Sub-Saharan Africa is profoundly affected, resulting in social and financial dependency and raising vulnerability to forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and mental health issues. Contextual factors are considered critical in this crisis, yet have received little attention due to a currently insurmountable deficit in traditional census and survey data. Digital footprint data offers a potential route to filling this information gap - particularly in education- and how a learner’s environment can impact digital learning and future well-being.&#x0D; To address the crisis, the ‘Global Learning’ XPRIZE competition challenged teams to develop software empowering marginalised out-of-school children to learn literacy and numeracy skills. Five finalist teams tested their technology with 2041 children using handheld tablets in 172 remote villages in Tanzania.&#x0D; Objectives &amp; ApproachOur study examined factors that can predict improvements in learning outcomes, building on the digital footprint data collected from the children participating in the device intervention in the form of app usage and locational and activity data. Additional geospatial features were engineered based on village coordinates, distance to local amenities, services and transport, variables serving as additional potential indicators of isolation and connectedness. These data were linked with child-level factors, including household composition and literacy levels.&#x0D; After comparative assessment of machine learning regression models, tree-based models (XGB, RF) were used to establish the optimal predictive performance for literacy and numeracy. Variable importance using SHAP was used to determine which specific contextual variables should be considered before deploying digital interventions to support education and well-being.&#x0D; Relevance to Digital FootprintsUtilising digital footprint data to quantify the influence of geospatial and contextual data in digital interventions can offer comprehensive insights to understand and address factors impacting learning outcomes in this context.&#x0D; ResultsPrior school attendance, home reading environments and high familial literacy were found to be predictors of higher learning outcomes after a technology-based learning intervention. Environments featuring an unemployed caregiver and few siblings were surprisingly consistent positive predictors, suggesting accompanying and focussed caregiver support as valuable for effective development via digital interventions. Proximity to police stations and health centres were revealed as key predictors, indicating the importance of social and physical connectedness in positive learning environments.&#x0D; Conclusions &amp; ImplicationsTargeted improvement of EdTech provision with out-of-school learners promises to help the development of learning outcomes in remote villages and reduce vulnerabilities to correlated social and health issues. However, positive outcomes can only be achieved when appropriate supporting environments surround interventions.

How “basic” is basic digital literacy for older adults? Insights from digital skills instructors

IntroductionWith the continuing advancement of digitalization of everyday life, digital literacy becomes more and more a necessity. As a consequence, those who are digitally illiterate experience digital exclusion, which increasingly equals social exclusion. Older adults are typically less digitally active and also less skilled in digital technologies than younger cohorts. Digital inclusion frameworks by governmental and supra-national organizations, on the one hand, and academic definitions of “digital literacy” or “digital skills”, on the other hand, tend to include a broad set of competencies next to technical understanding, such as cognitive and social-emotional skills. However, we argue the problem that expectations of what digital literacy commonly entails are too high level for older adults with no pre-existing digital experience with computers, internet, smartphones, or tablets. Even what is considered as entry-level, basic digital skills, or foundational skills, can be very demanding for older adults with limited or no prior knowledge of and practice with digital technologies.MethodsTo make our point, we draw on own data from interviews with 26 digital skills instructors who give training to older adults in Belgium (collected between December 2020 and February 2021).ResultsWe provide empirical evidence for the circumstances that even seemingly basic digital skills, such as getting a device started or downloading apps, can be very demanding and anything but trivial for older adults without prior experience. We demonstrate evidence along three interrelated domains: (1) ICT-jargon and terminology; (2) Hardware; (3) Software and Internet. Each of these domains entail hurdles of knowledge and understanding that need to be overcome for these older adults before we can start addressing the higher goals of digital literacy frameworks.DiscussionThe main implication from this article is that even the most basic tenets of digital technology are neither trivial nor simple to grasp for older adults with no or limited prior experience — a point not sufficiently addressed by current frameworks of digital skills/literacy/competence.

Effectiveness of Inductive and Deductive Methods in Enhancing the Paragraph Writing of Junior High School Students

Proficiency in paragraph writing has to be developed by individuals who were obliged to participate in the academic endeavor for them to be globally competitive and likewise be a productive citizen. With this, the mentors in the academic society conscientiously played their role in considering various methods in teaching writing to make the acquisition affluent; yet followed the appropriate standards in obtaining the necessary skills in writing. For this reason, the present study was crafted, exploring the effectiveness of the inductive and deductive methods in enhancing the writing proficiency of Grade 9 students in the hinterland in the Division of Misamis Oriental. Using the quasi-experimental research design, the study assigned students to the experimental group (inductive method) and control group (deductive method). The two groups of students were given essay test before and after the interventions, which were given for almost eight weeks. The students’ level of writing proficiency was determined using an analytic rubric that covered the following writing criteria: content, organization, development and use of the language. The essays were inter-rated by the English teachers. Data were analyzed and interpreted using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that the students generally had unsatisfactory to less satisfactory writing proficiency indicating the need to improve their writing proficiency. However, after the interventions, only the deductive method was found to be effective in enhancing their writing proficiency. The inductive method did not work effectively for the hinterland students. Therefore, it was concluded that deductive method was the appropriate method to be applied in teaching paragraph writing to the students who still need guide with the acquisition of the skill. It is recommended that the deductive method be used for students who lack foundational knowledge and skills in writing for such students are not yet ready for the inductive method that requires high thinking skills.

Predicting children’s perceived reading proficiency with prosody modeling

Reading is a foundational skill and the focus of school-level education efforts across countries. The assessment of linguistic competence from oral reading has long been the subject of scientific studies linking the reader’s comprehension of the text to various measures of oral reading fluency. Given the time and resource intensive nature of such assessment, it is of interest to automate the prediction of reading fluency from audio recordings using the same pedagogical rubrics. Given recent findings about the importance of prosody to the communicative purpose of reading aloud, we discuss new approaches to modeling it reliably for the automatic assessment task. We present a new data set of children’s oral reading screened for minimum word decoding skill and rated for comprehensibility by two human experts. We develop a system for the automatic prediction of rater scores that also facilitates insights about the complementarity and inter-dependence of computed lexical accuracy, rate and prosodic features as corroborated by multiple performance measures. With achieved values of correlation and agreement that surpass the corresponding inter-rater measures, we also show how text-dependent prosodic features, informed by speech rate and speaking style, contribute prominently to system performance.

Improving Listening Skills Through English Song at Seven Grade MTs Babusalam Besilam Academic Year 2022/2023

This journal's purpose is to learn how music can be used to develop listening skills. One of the four foundational English language skills is listening. It appears that speaking, reading, and writing are among the other skills. These fundamental abilities are broken down into productive skills like speaking and writing and receptive skills like listening and reading. Songs and music are essential components of development and education. The use of music in the classroom has various benefits. The use of songs in the teaching of foreign languages has both supporters and opponents. The use of songs in the educational process, particularly during listening lessons, helps students develop their listening skills as one of their valuable techniques to deal with listening skill issues English songs are engaging, so they can encourage participation from the students and help them perform better on listening tasks. However, using songs to aid in listening has drawbacks. For example, popular music isn't always accurate, and inadequate sound systems in classrooms can interfere with listening to music.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Listening Skill, English Song, English Students

Exploring the relevance and relative importance of interpreting aptitude constructs and their underlying factors: A data-driven tripartite investigation

AbstractThis study aims to explore the relevance and underlying factors of an array of interpreting aptitude constructs, and, on that basis, the collective and group-specific perception of their relative importance. To meet the research purposes, a questionnaire survey was designed and distributed to interpreting trainers, trainees and professional interpreters, asking respondents to evaluate the relative importance of 40 aptitude constructs drawn from an extensive literature review. A total of 769 valid responses were collected. An explorative factor analysis retained 23 constructs divided into three factors focusing on cognitive skills for online information processing, personality traits and temperaments, and foundational linguistic skills respectively. While personality traits and temperaments were regarded as a stable and distinctive dimension of interpreting aptitude, cognitive skills for information processing were viewed as the most important factor. Particularly, listening and speaking in B enjoyed the highest rating. Although statistically significant differences existed in the relative importance of certain constructs, the substantive differences indicated by the effect sizes were small. Compared with trainees, trainers and professional interpreters demonstrated a more sharpened awareness of market demands and industrial priorities, but otherwise the three groups converged more than they diverged in the evaluation of aptitude constructs and factors.

Emergent literacy: effects of a multi-tier intervention in a COVID-19 pandemic context

ABSTRACT Emergent literacy (EL) interventions are effective at fostering foundational skills for reading and writing. During the COVID-19 pandemic schools faced several challenges to maintain these interventions, namely changing face-to-face to remote modalities. In this study, the effects of a multi-tier emergent literacy intervention are examined, delivered both in face-to-face and remote modalities, during the second COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The intervention was delivered to 102 preschool Portuguese children (aged 5–6 years) according to the Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS) framework and evaluated using a pre and post-test design and a single group. The results showed significant gains after the intervention in all emergent literacy skills evaluated: phonological awareness, vocabulary, print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and emergent writing. These findings highlight the relevance of systematic interventions that implement universal screenings, progress monitoring and decision-making processes based on children’s performance, and the potentialities of using mixed modalities (face-to-face and remote) to deliver such interventions in uncertain times.

(Invited) ultrasensitive Low Cost Flexible Sensors and Bioinspired Sutureless Anastomosis Devices

I will present our efforts for investigating flexible electronic sensors for potential health monitoring applications and bioinspired sutureless anastomosis devices for easier, faster, and safer surgery.Highly sensitive flexible tactile sensors are of continuing interest for various applications including human–machine interface systems, internet of things, and wearable health monitoring devices. Current technologies for high sensitivity piezoresistive sensors tend to rely on costly materials and/or fabrication methods, limiting accessibility and scalability. Here, we report a facile sacrificial casting–etching method to synthesize nanoporous carbon nanotube/polymer composites for ultra-sensitive and low-cost piezoresistive pressure sensors. Our synthesis method overcomes the limitations of the traditional solution-dip-coating method for adhering nanoscale conductive materials to the nanoscale porous surface. Importantly, we show ultra-high sensitivity with a strain gauge factor over 300, which is ∼50 times higher than that of traditional CNT-based piezoresistive sensors. For practical tactile sensing applications, we demonstrate that the sensors can detect both gentle pressures (1 Pa–1 kPa) and low pressures (1 kPa–25 kPa) with a fraction of the cost. Our nanoporous polymer composite could contribute to expanding the scope of using nanocomposite sensors for medical applications from its easy tunability for sensing diverse range of tactile signals.Anastomosis, the surgical connection of adjacent tubular organs is a foundational surgical skill for many surgical procedures. The current standard of anastomosis is manually suturing two tubular structures together around an opening with fine sutures. However, it requires several years of surgical training, a long time (60 to 90 minutes per anastomosis) for procedure, and, at times, specialized equipment, facility and staffs. Thus, it is an expensive (up to $35,000 per procedure).Moreover, even in the hands of skilled surgeons, the anastomosis can be complicated by leakage or thrombosis. To address current challenges, we investigated a sutureless anastomosis device inspired by rose prickles. I will present our approach to design, fabricate, and test devices. Our device showed the failure force comparable to that of the handsewn suture (4.9 N) and no leakage up to 45 mL/min flow rate, well above the physiologic blood flow rate. Compared with handsewn anastomosis, the device resulted in minimum deformation of the anastomotic site. From in-vivo non-survival porcine studies, the device showed successful anastomosis (< 5 min per anastomosis) with no leaking for both arterial and venous anastomoses. We envision our findings can contribute to enabling easier, faster, and safer anastomosis, and making anastomotic techniques more accessible to a broad range of clinicians, researchers, and patients across the world.

Handwriting intervention effectiveness via telehealth delivery

ABSTRACT Background Handwriting improvements have been found to improve foundational academic literacy skills. As telehealth usage has increased, the effectiveness of delivering handwriting interventions using telehealth has not been researched. The additional literacy benefits of handwriting interventions delivered via telehealth have also not been examined. Purpose This repeated baseline case series sought to determine the effectiveness and feasibility of the Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) program via telehealth delivery for handwriting and spelling outcomes for children who present with handwriting and/or spelling delays. Methods A repeated pretest and posttest design was used. The Test of Handwriting Skills-Revised was used to assess handwriting quality and speed. The Test of Written Spelling-5 was used to evaluate spelling. Participants completed 7 synchronous HWT telehealth visits with 14 asynchronous visits offered. Findings Significant gains in handwriting speed were observed. Participants had insignificant changes in handwriting quality and spelling. Satisfaction, consistent attendance, and minimal accommodations required to translate the HWT program to telehealth were noted. However, technological issues and the impact of telehealth devices were also observed. Conclusion Results indicate that handwriting interventions delivered via telehealth can improve handwriting speed; however, further research is warranted to determine if this modality improves handwriting quality and spelling delivered.

Mengatasi Kesulitan Siswa Kelas 1 Sekolah Dasar dalam Menulis Permulaan

This article discusses efforts to overcome the difficulties faced by first-grade elementary school students in their initial writing. Writing is an essential foundational skill in the learning process, but first-grade students often encounter challenges in developing their writing abilities. Some common obstacles they face include difficulties in understanding letter concepts and using appropriate vocabulary. This research aims to find effective methods and strategies to assist first-grade students in overcoming difficulties in their initial writing. This was carried out at SD Negeri 182/1 Muara Bulian Protected Forest. The research methodology involves classroom observations, interviews with teachers, and qualitative analysis of student writing outcomes. The research results demonstrate that an approach focused on playful learning activities, the use of images or visual aids, and involving social interactions can enhance students' interest and motivation to write. Furthermore, providing positive and constructive feedback and introducing diverse reading materials also help improve students' writing skills. By implementing suitable approaches and strategies, it is expected that first-grade elementary school students can overcome their difficulties in initial writing and develop their writing abilities more effectively.

Understanding and optimising support resources to facilitate CALD student and supervisor allied health fieldwork experiences.

Although fieldwork supervisors and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students can experience challenges during allied health placements, there is little holistic understanding of how they view and use support resources to address these challenges. This study sought to identify, codify, and map the perceived value attached to support resources used or sought by CALD students and fieldwork supervisors and to ascertain areas where they could be optimised and better presented to users. We conducted a thematic analysis to examine interview and open-ended survey responses from CALD students (n = 18) and fieldwork supervisors (n = 161) respectively. The six generated themes depicted different patterns of perceived value in university and non-university support resources and spanned three levels of specificity: general, discipline-contextualised, and individualised. Fieldwork supervisors valued a staged approach to support resource design and use for CALD students commencing with general level resources to build foundational language skills and socio-cultural familiarisation and moving on to include disciple-contextualised supports, preplacement mechanisms to monitor student readiness, and formalised mechanisms to enable tailoring of placements. CALD students, however, often undervalued institutional general resources relative to discipline-contextualised resources. The commonality of support resources valued and sought by supervisors from different fields suggests they could be optimised for delivery via an inter-professional community of practice. Identifying and mapping the perceived value attached to support resources provides actionable insights into how to enhance the 'fit' between resources and user needs. Drawing the often-fragmented support resources into a cohesive ecosystem focused around perceived value at different levels of specificity allows CALD students and educators to better conceptualise the types of benefits that can accrue from taking a broader and staged approach to fieldwork placement preparations. Knowing this ecosystem encapsulates what prior uses find of value may enhance perceptions of resource relevance in the minds of new users.

Best Practices and Educator Strategies for Facilitating a Flipped Classroom in Graduate Medical Education.

Effective flipped classroom (FC) education fosters learner engagement, promoting higher-level cognitive skills. FC learning in graduate medical education (GME) has increased, but few educators have significant experience with FC facilitation. There are no evidence-based practices to support professional development of FC facilitation skills in GME. The objective of this study is to identify best practices for effective FC facilitation in GME. We conducted a mixed-methods, cross-sectional study of faculty educators who participated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using FC for physiology education in neonatal-perinatal medicine. Educators completed a 25-question survey about effective strategies for FC facilitation. A subset of educators participated in interviews to share their FC facilitation experiences and strategies to maximize learner engagement. Quantitative survey data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Qualitative survey and interview data were coded and analyzed inductively to identify themes. Seventy-five educators completed the survey (75/136, 55% response rate), and 11 participated in semistructured interviews. While educators facilitated a median of two FC sessions (interquartile range: 1, 5) during the RCT, 43 (57%) had not received prior training in FC facilitation. Qualitative data analyses generated five themes that aligned with quantitative survey results: (1) educator preferences, (2) unique FC facilitation skills, (3) learning environment optimization, (4) subject matter expertise, and (5) learner behavior management. Sixty-two educators (83%) felt they were well prepared to lead FC sessions. Thirty-six educators (48%) reported that unprepared learners disrupt the learning environment, and the provision of clear expectations and adequate time to prepare for FCs improves learner preparation. Strategies to facilitate effective FC sessions included creating a safe learning environment and engaging learners in critical thinking. Educators highlighted faculty development needs, strategies, and actions to promote effective FC facilitation. Further exploration through learner interviews will provide additional evidence for the development of best practices and resources for FC facilitation. · Educators prefer the FC educational modality over traditional didactic lectures.. · Prior experiences in simulation debriefing provide foundational skills for new FC facilitators.. · Setting learner expectations and ensuring safe space in the classroom encourage learner engagement.. · Educator and learner preparation for FC is essential to optimize the learning experience.. · Unique approaches in facilitation are required to support all types of learners..

Primary Palliative Care for Pediatric Residents: A Curricular Framework and Pilot.

Palliative care (PC) is high-value, holistic care for a child and their family across the entire arc of an illness. All physicians should be competent in symptom management and providing goal-concordant care that acknowledges the quality of life; however, there is insufficient education in pediatric residency to develop competence in basic or ..úPrimary..Ñ PC. We completed a needs assessment and developed a longitudinal, comprehensive, and integrated primary PC curriculum for pediatric residents with the goal of developing foundational primary PC skills regardless of eventual career trajectory. After 1 year of implementation, we assessed resident comfort with primary PC skills via a retrospective pre-post survey. We found a statistically significant (P.ß<.ß.05) increase in residents... comfort with pain management, delivering serious news, and discussing goals of care. An increase in comfort with the management of other symptoms was not statistically significant. After 1 year of implementation, residents describe an increase in comfort with primary PC skills. The next steps include more rigorous evaluation and expansion to include more education in medical ethics. While the educational need is universal, resident needs are constantly evolving and each institution should tailor this curriculum to fit their specific trainee needs and institutional expertise.