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Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students' Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills.

ABSTRACT: Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide an avenue for student participation in authentic scientific opportunities. Within the context of such coursework, students are often expected to collect, analyze, and evaluate data obtained from their own investigations. Yet, limited research has been conducted that examines mechanisms for supporting students in these endeavors. In this article, we discuss the development and evaluation of an interactive statistics workshop that was expressly designed to provide students with an open platform for graduate teaching assistant (GTA)-mentored data processing, statistical testing, and synthesis of their own research findings. Mixed methods analyses of pre/post-intervention survey data indicated a statistically significant increase in students' reasoning and quantitative literacy abilities in the domain, as well as enhancement of student self-reported confidence in and knowledge of the application of various statistical metrics to real-world contexts. Collectively, these data reify an important role for scaffolded instruction in statistics in preparing emergent scientists to be data-savvy researchers in a globally expansive STEM workforce.

SUBMITTER: Olimpo JT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5969435 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students' Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills.

Olimpo Jeffrey T JT Pevey Ryan S RS McCabe Thomas M TM

Journal of microbiology & biology education 20180427 1

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide an avenue for student participation in authentic scientific opportunities. Within the context of such coursework, students are often expected to collect, analyze, and evaluate data obtained from their own investigations. Yet, limited research has been conducted that examines mechanisms for supporting students in these endeavors. In this article, we discuss the development and evaluation of an interactive statistics workshop that was ...[more]

PMID: 29904549

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Project description:BackgroundThe goal of this study was to assess the value and acceptance of Standardized or Simulated Patients (SPs) for training clinically inexperienced undergraduate medical students in psychiatric history taking, psychopathological assessment, and communication with psychiatric patients.MethodsAs part of a newly developed introductory course to psychiatry, pairs of 3rd year medical students conducted psychiatric assessments of SPs, including history and psychopathological state, under the supervision of a clinical lecturer. Prior to the assessment, students attended introductory lectures to communication in psychiatry and psychopathology but were clinically inexperienced. After the interview, the students' summary of their findings was discussed with other students and the lecturer. Students, lecturers, and actors were invited to a survey after the course. Questions for the students included self-reports about perceived learning success and authenticity of the interviews.Results41 students, 6 actors and 8 lecturers completed the survey (response rates of 48%, 50%, and 100%, respectively). The survey results indicated that, despite their lack of clinical experience, students learned how to conduct a psychiatric interview, communicate in a non-judgmental and empathetic manner, take a psychiatric history and perform a psychopathological examination. SPs were perceived as authentic. The survey results suggested that this setting allowed for an enjoyable, non-distressful and motivating learning experience within a restricted time frame of just two afternoons.ConclusionThe results indicated that the SP approach presented is useful for teaching clinical skills in psychiatry to students with limited previous clinical experience and knowledge of psychiatry. We argue that SPs can be used to teach practical psychiatric skills already during an early phase of the curriculum. Limitations of our study include a limited sample size, a temporal gap between the course and the survey, reliance on self-reports, and lack of comparison to alternative interventions.

Project description:Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing society today, yet a wide range of misconceptions exist in society about whether or why climate change is happening, what its consequences are, and what can be done to address it. Large introductory biology courses present an opportunity to teach a large number of students-some of whom may never take another course focused on climate, ecology, or the environment-about climate change. However, content knowledge alone may not be enough to prepare students to transform their knowledge into action. To begin understanding how content knowledge interacts with student constructions of climate change solutions, we administered and quantitatively analyzed a survey that examined student views of climate change and how they shifted with instruction during an undergraduate introductory biology course at a large Midwestern university. Almost all participants entered the course agreeing that climate change is occurring, and their certainty about the science of climate change increased after instruction. After taking the course, more participants described climate change as having more immediate impacts, reporting that climate change is already harming people and that climate change will harm them personally. However, both at the beginning and end of the course, participants tended to think that humans would either be unable or unwilling to reduce climate change. They were also more worried about climate change at the end of the course than they were before. Increased concern might result from students becoming more certain of the science and severity of climate change, while remaining pessimistic that humans will effectively act on climate change. This pattern suggests instructors have opportunities to modify curricula in ways that leave students with a greater sense of empowerment and efficacy; we suggest questions that instructors can ask themselves in order to modify their courses with this goal in mind.

Project description:OBJECTIVE:Fostering clinical reasoning is a mainstay of medical education. Based on the clinicopathological conferences, we propose a case-based peer teaching approach called clinical case discussions (CCDs) to promote the respective skills in medical students. This study compares the effectiveness of different CCD formats with varying degrees of social interaction in fostering clinical reasoning. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS:A single-centre randomised controlled trial with a parallel design was conducted at a German university. Study participants (N=106) were stratified and tested regarding their clinical reasoning skills right after CCD participation and 2 weeks later. INTERVENTION:Participants worked within a live discussion group (Live-CCD), a group watching recordings of the live discussions (Video-CCD) or a group working with printed cases (Paper-Cases). The presentation of case information followed an admission-discussion-summary sequence. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:Clinical reasoning skills were measured with a knowledge application test addressing the students' conceptual, strategic and conditional knowledge. Additionally, subjective learning outcomes were assessed. RESULTS:With respect to learning outcomes, the Live-CCD group displayed the best results, followed by Video-CCD and Paper-Cases, F(2,87)=27.07, p<0.001, partial η2=0.384. No difference was found between Live-CCD and Video-CCD groups in the delayed post-test; however, both outperformed the Paper-Cases group, F(2,87)=30.91, p<0.001, partial η2=0.415. Regarding subjective learning outcomes, the Live-CCD received significantly better ratings than the other formats, F(2,85)=13.16, p<0.001, partial η2=0.236. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates that the CCD approach is an effective and sustainable clinical reasoning teaching resource for medical students. Subjective learning outcomes underline the importance of learner (inter)activity in the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills in the context of case-based learning. Higher efficacy of more interactive formats can be attributed to positive effects of collaborative learning. Future research should investigate how the Live-CCD format can further be improved and how video-based CCDs can be enhanced through instructional support.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Over-testing of patients is a significant problem in clinical medicine that can be tackled by education. Clinical reasoning learning (CRL) is a potentially relevant method for teaching test ordering and interpretation. The feasibility might be improved by using an interactive whiteboard (IWB) during the CRL sessions to enhance student perceptions and behaviours around diagnostic tests. Overall, IWB/CRL could improve their skills. METHODS:Third-year undergraduate medical students enrolled in a vertically integrated curriculum were randomized into two groups before clinical placement in either a respiratory disease or respiratory physiology unit: IWB-based CRL plus clinical mentoring (IWB/CRL + CM: n = 40) or clinical mentoring only (CM-only: n = 40). Feasibility and learning outcomes were assessed. In addition, feedback via questionnaire of the IWB students and their classmates (n = 233) was compared. RESULTS:Analyses of the IWB/CRL sessions (n = 40, 27 paperboards) revealed that they met validated learning objectives. Students perceived IWB as useful and easy to use. After the IWB/CRL + CM sessions, students mentioned more hypothesis-based indications in a test ordering file (p < 0.001) and looked for more nonclinical signs directly on raw data tests (p < 0.01) compared with students in the CM-only group. Last, among students who attended pre- and post-assessments (n = 23), the number of diagnostic tests ordered did not change in the IWB/CRL + CM group (+ 7%; p = N.S), whereas it increased among CM-only students (+ 30%; p < 0.001). Test interpretability increased significantly in the IWB/CRL + CM group (from 4.7 to 37.2%; p < 0.01) but not significantly in the CM-only group (from 2.4 to 9.8%; p = 0.36). CONCLUSIONS:Integrating IWB into CRL sessions is feasible to teach test ordering and interpretation to undergraduate students. Moreover, student feedback and prospective assessment suggested a positive impact of IWB/CRL sessions on students' learning.

Project description:Comprehensible communication by itself is not sufficient to overcome health literacy related problems. Future doctors need a larger scope of capacities in order to strengthen a patient's autonomy, participation, and self-management abilities. To date, such comprehensive training-interventions are rarely embedded in curricula, nor systematically evaluated. We assessed whether comprehensive training increased these health literacy competencies, in a randomized controlled trial (RCT), with a waiting list condition. Participants were international undergraduate medical students of a Dutch medical faculty (intervention: 39; control: 40). The 11-h-training-intervention encompassed a health literacy lecture and five interactive small-group sessions to practise gathering information and providing comprehensible information, shared decision-making, and enabling of self-management using role-play and videotaped conversations. We assessed self-reported competencies (knowledge and awareness of health literacy, attitude, self-efficacy, and ability to use patient-centred communication techniques) at baseline, after a five and ten-week follow-up. We compared students' competencies using multi-level analysis, adjusted for baseline. As validation, we evaluated demonstrated skills in videotaped consultations for a subsample. The group of students who received the training intervention reported significantly greater health literacy competencies, which persisted up to five weeks afterwards. Increase was greatest for providing comprehensible information (B: 1.50; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.15 to 1.84), shared decision-making (B: 1.08; 95% CI 0.60 to 1.55), and self-management (B: 1.21; 95% CI 0.61 to 1.80). Effects regarding demonstrated skills confirmed self-rated competency improvement. This training enhanced a larger scope of health literacy competences and was well received by medical students. Implementation and further evaluation of this training in education and clinical practice can support sustainable health literacy capacity building of future doctors and contribute to better patient empowerment and outcomes of consultations.

Dataset Information

Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students' Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills.

Publications

Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students' Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills.

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