Hands-on Learning Opportunities Research Articles

Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas

Although resettlement agencies in the United States assist refugees by offering a variety of local social and health services, refugees are still less likely to access these services. Few studies have evaluated refugee health education interventions focusing on barriers to accessing healthcare and overcoming negative social determinants of health. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of a yearlong health education intervention to empower Burmese refugee women living in Houston, Texas. The intervention included workshops, community excursions, question and answer (Q&A) sessions, and home visits. The evaluation was a formative qualitative study including interviews with Burmese refugee women who participated in the intervention and local resettlement agency caseworkers. Qualitative content analysis guided the data analysis and was conducted to identify categories and emergent themes. Key findings indicated that motivation to participate in the intervention was impacted by the women’s perceived relevance of health education material to Burmese cultural values and opportunities for hands-on learning to promote self-efficacy. Recommendations for future interventions include the use of community health workers to train refugee health educators, pairing English lessons with health education material to promote development of English language skills, developing teaching materials for refugees with low literacy, establishing bottom-up support from refugee resettlement agencies, and incorporating the social work ecological model to tailor health-focused interventions to the specific needs of the refugee community.

A New Use for the Makerspace

If you want to elicit a groan and an eye roll from almost anyone in the field of education, you need only whisper two words: test prep. Standardized testing is a reality across the country, but even for those who can see its value, the testing is time consuming and can be soul-crushing for teachers and students. At Warrenton Grade School, a Makerspace was established at the end of last year as a way to create opportunities for hands-on learning. It is housed in the art room, and teachers can bring their classes to work on projects. With this space available, we decided to bundle SBAC Test Prep with fun projects that keep the curriculum hands-on and simultaneously help students build background knowledge for performance tasks they will face.

Let's Do the Twist: Pairing Interdisciplinary Collaborative Teaching, and Hands-On and Service Learning Opportunities, to Spread Awareness of Communication Sciences and Disorders

This article describes an interdisciplinary teaching and outreach initiative in which diverse non–communication sciences and disorders (CSD) undergraduate students were immersed in the discipline o...

Developing a Makerspace as a Vehicle for Partnership Building: The Role of Teacher Education Programs in Guiding Teachers, Librarians, and Communities

As schools consider new ways to enhance hands-on learning opportunities, many have focused on the emerging “Maker Movement.” As a means to support this trend, the authors share how the College of Education at a state university in northern New Jersey designed and facilitated a Makers Day event to help teacher candidates, teachers, and librarians, to develop insights into the activities for their own community based makerspaces. This article first describes the impetus for carrying out such activities, followed by a literature review, a description of how the event was designed, and our future plans for building on these activities.

Low-Cost High-Impact Makerspaces at the Rutgers University Art Library

There has been a resurgence of the do-it-yourself movement in the twenty-first century. As a result, libraries are becoming laboratories in which students learn to think, explore, and meet other like-minded individuals outside the classroom. Although makerspaces in public libraries have received much attention, many academic, museum, and special libraries are seeing the benefits as well. Makerspaces provide opportunities for self-driven hands-on learning that encourages creative thinking and builds problem-solving skills. This article describes the benefits of makerspaces for art libraries, highlights art libraries where “making” is happening, and provides practical examples of ways libraries can create high-impact low-cost makerspaces that engage and educate their communities.

Increasing experiential learning opportunities in food and agriculture

A new report from the Global Food Initiative identifies hands-on learning opportunities for UC students.

Public health teaching in practice, peer learning and partnership working: the Cook School project

Authentic learning opportunities replicating working environments will enhance learners’ employability and intrinsic motivation. Within most undergraduate curricula, opportunities for students to experience hands-on learning opportunities which mimic public health practice are limited. A pilot university cook and eat programme (the Cook School) was developed based upon community cook and eat programmes. The aim was to enable trained undergraduate Nutrition students to facilitate healthy eating activities to their peers, as a voluntary co-curricular activity. Two cook and eat programmes, each of five weeks duration, were offered to undergraduate students (12 participants per programme). Cooking was delivered by trained chefs and the healthy eating components were facilitated by trained undergraduate Nutrition students. Participants did not know beforehand that sessions would include nutrition information & activities in addition to cooking. Facilitators identified ‘employability’ as a key driver for their participation in this project. Their post-course evaluations suggested that key employability skills like team work, time management, communication and organisation were enhanced by involvement in the Cook School. Participants suggested that attending Cook School improved their knowledge of healthy eating. Whether this translates into improved diets long term is currently unknown. This pilot project offered undergraduate Nutrition students a unique opportunity to gain key employability skills within an authentic learning environment, working in partnership with their peers. Keywords: Authentic learning, Peer learning, Motivation, Partnership, Employability

Addressing an Overlooked Science Outreach Audience: Development of a Science Mentorship Program Focusing on Critical Thinking Skills for Adults Working toward a High School Equivalency Degree

Adult learners seeking a high school equivalency degree are a highly motivated group of students that almost universally meet outreach audience goals of serving minority, low-income, and other disadvantaged populations. Despite the demonstrated need of this population, these students are not commonly served by university-sponsored science outreach programs. To address this omission, we developed a science outreach program called SciMentors that provides experiment-based lessons to existing science classes at adult learning centers, focusing equally on scientific concepts and critical thinking skills. SciMentors provides an opportunity for hands-on learning that would otherwise not be available to this population of students. The program is run by graduate students and postdoctoral associates in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Evaluation of the impact of the program on both the students and the volunteer teachers was performed by surveying participants. Via the surveys, students reported an increase in knowledge of and interest in science as a result of the program, and learning center staff reported an increased attendance on science experiment days. Volunteers reported increased mastery in a wide range of skills including science communication, leadership, confidence, and cultural awareness. Now entering its fourth year, SciMentors has served over 60 adult learners, provided over 270 volunteer hours to the community, and received positive feedback from all involved.

Presentation highlights of the forthcoming annual conference

As autumn draws closer, preparations continue for future educational events and opportunities for hands-on learning. Julie Brackenbury gives aesthetic nurses a taster of some of the speakers on the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses’ annual conference line-up and talks about the new shadowing programme for members, which the board envisages to be very popular

Engaging the tensions of ecological internships: Considerations for agroecology and sustainable food systems movements

ABSTRACTThis paper examines ecological farm internships and the implications for agroecology and food systems’ sustainability. Drawing on over 60 interviews with farmers and interns in Ontario, Canada, I show that internships offer hands-on learning opportunities to prospective farmers and food systems advocates unavailable through formal institutions. At the same time, many farmers rely on interns as non-waged workers to meet seasonal and labor-intensive production needs. This creates a dynamic tension where internships can simultaneously be innovative models of experiential education and unjust forms of exploitative labor. Engaging these tensions remains a fundamental challenge for the future of agroecology and sustainable food systems movements.

Future Education Leaders' Needs in Serving Students With Severe Disabilities: A Call for Intentional Preparation

AbstractQualitative analysis of three discipline-specific focus groups (graduate students in educational leadership/educational administration, curriculum and instruction, and counseling) revealed that these participants are largely unprepared to serve students with extensive and pervasive support needs. Rather, these professionals reported relying upon their ability to learn from others, their personal experiences, and their capacity to “take risks and fake it.” They cited numerous barriers to effective implementation of inclusion revealing that they were often afraid to ask for clarification and support; had limited opportunities for meaningful collaboration; engaged with a system that often placed form over function; and worked with students who experienced segregation, neglect, and isolation. Participants offered suggestions for improving university-based preparation, enhancing professional development, and increasing hands-on learning opportunities along with the need to create a supportive system for educators, students, and their families.

Academic Internships: To Take or Not to Take? Students’ Assessments of Public Health Fieldwork

While academic internships can play irreplaceable roles by providing students hands-on learning opportunities, allowing them to collaborate with faculty, and strengthening ties between colleges and their communities, continued assessment of these experiences is still imperative. An academic internship has been described as a three-way partnership among a college or university, the internship site, and the student, but the role the institution plays can differ significantly. Several years ago, the Association of Schools of Public Health included field experience (such as internships) as a Critical Components Element of an Undergraduate Major in Public Health. Hence, this study investigates not only how Public Health students evaluate their internship site but also their experience with their school during the internship process. Survey data from 219 undergraduate students, on completion of their internships from Fall 2012 to Spring 2016, were collected. Results posit that public health students report the academic institution provided support and guidance, while their internship site provided a valuable learning experience both interpersonally and professionally. Also, students recommend this experience and provide valuable feedback for future internship partnerships. Considering internships are integral parts of many preprofessional degree programs, it is imperative that programs develop and implement systematic ways to assess these programs. This study provides valuable insight into this process along with identifying students’ perceptions of the academic internship and the role that both the site and the institution played in facilitating their learning.

Does current provision of undergraduate education prepare UK medical students in ENT? A systematic literature review

ObjectiveTo systematically identify and analyse all published literature relating to the provision of undergraduate education for preparedness in ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery, as perceived by medical students and...

A Novel Peritonsillar Abscess Simulator.

In response to the growing demand for a peritonsillar abscess simulator, we developed a novel model to teach needle aspiration as well as incision and drainage of this common oropharyngeal disorder. The objectives of this study were to describe the construction of the simulator and to assess its realism and usefulness in the acquisition of drainage skills. The training model was created with reusable and readily available materials. During an otolaryngology emergencies boot camp, expert otolaryngologists performed abscess drainage and subsequently instructed novice learners on the techniques of the procedure. Each participant completed a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert-type scale to assess simulator realism and training usefulness. A peritonsillar abscess drainage model was created using readily available materials. A total of 18 experienced attending otolaryngologists and senior otolaryngology residents (postgraduate year 4 and postgraduate year 5) participated in this study. All participants rated the trainer realistic, and 94% agreed that the model correlates with the essential skills needed for peritonsillar abscess management. All participants felt that this model would be useful in residency training to help develop dexterity, accuracy, and precision with peritonsillar abscess drainage instruments. An easily reproducible peritonsillar abscess simulator was highly rated as a means of teaching peritonsillar abscess anatomy and provided opportunity for hands-on learning of drainage skills.

Phage on the stage.

The resurgence of interest in bacteriophages for use in combating antibiotic resistant bacteria is coincident with an urgent call for more effective science education practices, including hands-on learning opportunities. To address this issue, a number of solutions have been proposed, including a large educational experiment, begun in 2007 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and currently involving over 85 colleges and universities, which has students discovering unique phages, obtaining images, and purifying phage DNA. A subset of these phage genomes is sequenced and analyzed using bioinformatics tools. Papers describing individual phage discoveries and comparative genomic studies are being published regularly. The vast majority of students in the program are in their first year of college, a critical time in capturing their interest and retaining them as science majors. This viral discovery model is being adopted and modified by a wide variety of educational institutions using a number of different bacterial hosts. In the opinion of the authors, this program and others like it represent a model accessible to virtually any undergraduate setting. And because of these programs, bacteriophage enthusiasts (academics, health professionals, biotechnology companies) can look forward to more well prepared students entering their ranks and should anticipate many more potentially useful phages discovered and characterized.

Surgical Études

BACKGROUND: A challenge to education is offering adequate hands-on learning opportunities to residents without compromising safety. Surgical residents may be able to apply artistic training habits to their residency training. PURPOSE: The first goal is to determine the opinion of surgery residents regarding the degree of attending involvement in difficult procedures. The second goal is to describe the artistic inclinations residents and how this may relate to training techniques in acquiring manual skills. METHODS: An anonymous survey was distributed to 691 UHCMC residents questioning learning preferences, efficacious teaching, and artistic skills. Survey questions were adjusted dependent upon previous answers. RESULTS: 152 residents attempted the survey, of which 22.4% were surgery, 26.3% were some surgical/some medical, and 51.3% were medicine. Of surgery residents, 85.3% agreed that allowing a resident to struggle through a procedure was effective teaching and 75.8% preferred being allowed to struggle. 61.3% of surgery residents felt struggle was effective teaching most or all of the time and 74.2% found struggle to be preferable most or all of the time. 45.2% of residents reported that attendings perform procedures too often for residents, and 45.2% reported that their opinion depended upon the attending. The remaining 9.7% felt attendings perform procedures with appropriate frequency. When asked about artistic inclination, 61.3% of surgical residents agreed that they were artistic. Of these, 89.5% were musical and 73.7% visual; 94.7% felt their artistic training could be of help in residency. A targeted sub-study of plastic surgery residents revealed that 90.9% of residents were artistic, with 72.7% being musical and 72.7% visual; 80% reported this training could be of help in residency. 59.1% of strictly medical residents reported being artistic, of which 76.9% felt this training could be of help in residency. CONCLUSIONS: Allowing a resident to struggle through a difficult procedure is both an efficacious and preferable teaching method from the resident perspective. A majority of surgery residents felt that attendings performed procedures too often. Most residents identify as artistic and believe that their artistic training may help them in their residency training.

THE EVOLUTION OF A NETWORKING LAB TO SUPPORT UNDERGRADUATE NETWORKING AND INFORMATION ASSURANCE CURRICULUM IN A BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY

The curriculum of a program in Information Technology must be current and competitive to remain relevant and valuable. The authors of this paper outline the evolution of an Information Technology networking lab that is used to support undergraduate courses in networking and information assurance. An explanation of the processes, opportunities, challenges, and outcomes are available in the Evolution of the Lab section. Finally the paper concludes with implications for students and recommendations for other higher education institutions that are considering implementing similar laboratory environments as a means of enhancing theory with practical hands-on learning opportunities for students.

Identifying STEM Concepts Associated with Junior Livestock Projects

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is intended to provide students with a cross-subject, contextual learning experience. To more fully prepare our nation’s students to enter the globally competitive workforce, STEM integration allows students to make connections between the abstract concepts learned in core subject classrooms and real-world situations. FFA and 4-H programs are intended to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities where abstract core subject princi- ples can be applied and more fully understood. Junior livestock projects through FFA and 4-H can pro- vide rich connections for students between what they learn in school and how it is applied in the real world. Using a modified Delphi technique, this study identified 21 STEM concepts associated with junior livestock projects. According to the panel of experts, math and science concepts were more prevalent in junior livestock projects. Conversely, experts identified fewer technology and engineering concepts as being present within junior livestock projects. The link between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, core subject education, and the concepts present in junior livestock projects should be em- phasized in curricular and programming efforts.

What factors in rural and remote extended clinical placements may contribute to preparedness for practice from the perspective of students and clinicians?

Background: Community-based rural education opportunities have expanded in Australia, attracting more medical students to placements in rural and remote settings.Aim: To identify the factors in an integrated, community-engaged rural placement that may contribute to preparedness for practice (P4P) from the perspective of students and clinicians.Method: Forty-two semi-structured interviews with medical students, supervisors and clinicians analysed thematically.Results: Opportunities for clinical learning, personal and professional development and cultural awareness were reported by students and clinicians as key factors that contribute to P4P. Potential barriers in rural and remote settings included geographical and academic isolation, perceived educational risk and differing degrees of program engagement.Conclusions: A longitudinal clinical placement in a rural setting may enable development of enhanced competencies leading to P4P. A rural setting can provide a unique experience through hands-on learning, enhanced personal and professional development opportunities and observation of the cultural and contextual impact on health.

Delivering an MPA Emphasis in Local Governance and Community Development through Service Learning and Action Research

This paper describes an action-based model for a Master of Public Administration emphasis in Local Governance and Community Development, along with preliminary observations during pilot implementation. This series of four courses delivers substantive and sustained community outreach in a proven developmental process while providing students hands-on learning opportunities that build core professional competencies by putting theory into practice in a real-time, reflective manner. Students who complete all four courses are uniquely prepared to step into local governance activities that build community capacity and engage community stakeholders in collaborative planning and action. Readers are encouraged to adapt and adopt this integrated outreach, service learning, and action research model to most effectively meet these dual technical assistance and learning objectives.