Microbes Against Humanity, a workshop game for horrible students: using a creative card game in higher education microbiology teaching.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Efthimiou G
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8209641 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundAlthough progress has been made in evolution education, many educators face significant barriers in their efforts to teach evolution specifically, and science in general. The purpose of this study was to identify faculty-perceived barriers to teaching evolution, specifically in religiously affiliated institutions or institutions with a highly religious student body, as well as resources faculty feel would help promote discourse around faith, evolution and science. To do this, we held a workshop with teams consisting of a science professor, a theologian and a pastor (of the predominant on-campus faith tradition) from 17 different institutions of higher education with highly religious student bodies for the purpose of helping them to create a curriculum to address perceived conflicts between science and faith. During the workshop, participants created posters identifying barriers they face and resources they perceive as helpful. These posters were analyzed for prevalent themes and framed within an ecological model of behavior.ResultsThese teams identified prevalent barriers at each level of the ecological model. Intrapersonal factors included a fear of rocking the boat and a fear of student conflict. Interpersonal factors included perceived student lack of knowledge, student ideology, and student apathy. Institutional factors included work politics, a lack of relevant discourse surrounding the conflict, and mixed messaging to students. Community factors included social norms associated with various student demographics. And public policy factors included local and state government attempts to limit the teaching of evolution. Additionally, participants identified resources that they felt would facilitate overcoming conflict including colleagues as change agents, various assets, and tools to negate conflict.ConclusionsWe determined that many of the concerns are addressable, and many resources are attainable. We urge the community to work toward these solutions. Additionally, we compare our findings to what the literature has shown and discuss the implications of faculty perceptions as compared to the published literature.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12052-021-00151-1.
| S-EPMC8360818 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study investigates the effectiveness of the online Flash game Disease Defenders in producing knowledge gains for concepts related to the scientific process. Disease Defenders was specifically designed to model how the scientific process is central to a variety of disciplines and science careers. An additional question relates to the game's ability to shift attitudes toward science. Middle school classes from grades six to eight were assigned to the experimental group (n = 489) or control group (n = 367) and asked to participate in a three-session intervention. The sessions involved completing a pretest, a game play session, and taking a posttest. Students in the experimental group played Disease Defenders while students in the control group played an alternative science game. Results showed a significant increase in mean science knowledge scores for all grades in the experimental group, with sixth grade and seventh grade students gaining more knowledge than eighth grade students. Additionally, results showed a significant positive change in science attitudes only among sixth graders, who also rated their satisfaction with the game more favorably than students in higher grades. No differences in mean test scores were found between genders for science knowledge or science attitudes, suggesting that the game is equally effective for males and females.
| S-EPMC3706166 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Using nontoxic craft items and disposable lab consumables, we have developed nine modules to teach fundamental, hands-on microbiology lab skills safely at home. These "Crafty" teaching modules can be paired with virtual instruction and/or data collected by an instructor to replicate traditional microbiology lab exercises that characterize an unknown microbe. Materials and procedures used were carefully chosen to best mimic the texture of media, represent microbial diversity, assess aseptic technique, and produce analyzable data from results. Some protocols build upon and extend previously unpublished ideas, while others provide novel methods. The lab skills include proper personal protective equipment usage and basic biosafety, aseptic technique, microscopy and staining, streaking for isolation, spread plating, serial dilutions, filtering, disk diffusion method, and modeling an epidemic. Each protocol includes a student handout with background, links to videos of the methods performed with microbes, a rationale for the pairing of craft and consumable lab supplies along with technique used, a video or image demonstration of the "Crafty" technique when needed, postlab questions, and an instructor guide. This resource was developed for an undergraduate microbiology course, and each lab is aligned with learning outcomes within the American Society for Microbiology's undergraduate curriculum guidelines. This work would also be useful for outreach and K-12 educators. The development of microbiology lab skills by all students, regardless of economic or health status, will lead to a more scientifically minded society.
| S-EPMC8046657 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Followership is an important but understudied domain. This study adopted a follower-centric perspective to examine the internal process by which followership affects creative performance via work autonomy and creative self-efficacy. The study employed a 3-wave survey of 341 employees of a Taiwanese university to achieve the research purpose. This study showed that effective followership (Time 1) is positively associated with employees' work autonomy (Time 1) and creative self-efficacy (Time 2). Work autonomy and creative self-efficacy mediate the relationship between effective followership and creative performance (Time 3). This study's empirical findings provide an improved way of measuring followership and broaden our understanding of how followership triggers intrinsic motivation to facilitate creative performance.
| S-EPMC9194574 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The present study introduces the qualitative and quantitative results obtained in a pilot study of emergency remote teaching (ERT) evaluation in Indonesian higher education. In particular, this study aims to provide basic principles for future ERT implementation. Seven universities in Indonesia were involved in the first phase of the study, aiming to obtain initial information regarding the relevance, content validity, and readability of fundamental initial principles of ERT. The second phase aims to assess the quality ERT scale quality using confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) procedure, involving 2,957 undergraduate students from 22 universities in ten provinces in Indonesia. The results seem to indicate that the ERT principles can be viewed as 1) a complementary tool for ERT design covering five principles including simplicity, accessibility, affordability, flexibility, and empathy; and 2) In Indonesian higher education, affordability and flexibility are the two principles that are rated the lowest based on students' experiences. The lack of access to a fast, affordable, and reliable Internet connection in some areas of Indonesia is a fundamental problem in implementing ERT. This result is likely to be the case in other developing countries with similar geographical characteristics. The findings provide information based on practical experience - showing that learning design in a crisis is dynamic and open to revision based on socio-economic considerations, technological infrastructure, and students 'and teachers' readiness.
| S-EPMC8384910 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that spread globally in 2020, higher education courses were subsequently offered in fully remote, online formats. A plethora of primary studies began investigating a range of topics exploring teaching and learning in higher education, particularly during the initial semester. In order to provide an overview and initial understanding of this emerging research field, a systematic mapping review was conducted that collates and describes the characteristics of 282 primary empirical studies. Findings reveal that research was carried out mostly descriptively and cross-sectionally, focusing predominantly on undergraduate students and their perceptions of teaching and learning during the pandemic. Studies originate from a broad range of countries, are overwhelmingly published open access, and largely focused on the fields of Health & Welfare and Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics. Educational technology used for emergency remote teaching are most often synchronous collaborative tools, used in combination with text-based tools. The findings are discussed against pre-pandemic research on educational technology use in higher education teaching and learning, and perspectives for further research are provided.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41239-021-00282-x.
| S-EPMC8403509 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This position paper describes the legal framework requirements when crediting digital teaching formats towards the teaching load in higher education medical teaching, as exemplified by the Federal State of Bavaria in Germany. It reveals the need for precise rules adapted to the advances in technology, if the process of digitalisation in higher education (HE) is not to come to a halt. If HE institutions are to act as centres of innovation with respect to the implementation of digital teaching and learning formats, then structural and strategic positioning with regard to e- and blended learning above all is called for in addition to financial resources, as well as the distribution and sustainable incorporation of digital offerings in faculties and HE institutions. There is a great deal of insecurity however with respect to the legal framework requirements and how best to count digital teaching towards one's own teaching load. This results to some extent from the complexity of current laws and regulations partially overtaken by didactic and methodological changes in education, with decentralised educational federalism only adding to the complexity. Bearing in mind teaching and learning formats that are undergoing change or have already been transformed, ways of adapting the (legal) framework to the digital shift need to be found, last but not least in order to offer enthusiastic teaching staff incentives to develop and expand digital formats.
| S-EPMC6120158 | biostudies-other
Project description:ObjectiveThis study aims to compare the effect of blended teaching and traditional teaching in higher medical education during the pandemic era.MethodsTaking the teaching of neurology as an example, 293 Yangzhou University Clinical Medicine 2016 undergraduate students were selected as the research subjects, and were randomly divided into 2 groups a blended teaching group (n = 148) and a traditional teaching group (n = 145), and received blended teaching and traditional teaching, respectively. The blended teaching was based on a Massive Open Online Course, problem-based learning, and case-based learning and supplemented by Tencent video conferences, QQ messaging groups, and other auxiliary teaching tools. At the end of the course, the teaching effect and satisfaction rate were evaluated through theory assessment, practical skills assessment, and an anonymous questionnaire survey.ResultsThere were significant differences in theoretical achievements (81.83 ± 6.23 vs 76.79 ± 6.87, P < 0.001) and practical skill achievements (84.74 ± 6.50 vs 78.48 ± 6.53, P < 0.001). In addition, significant differences in all aspects of satisfaction rate were observed between the two groups (all P < 0.001).ConclusionBlended teaching is beneficial to students' learning and stimulates their enthusiasm, cultivates clinical thinking ability, and improves teaching quality. Thus, it has played a positive role in the reform of higher medical teaching during the pandemic era.
| S-EPMC9678442 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Emergency online teaching (EOT) due to COVID19 is different to well-planned online learning. This small-scale qualitative case study explored the impact of EOT upon undergraduate students in a regional university and a metropolitan university in Australia. Each university had some experience in online or distance learning, however, courses in this study were on-campus face-to-face courses in education and performing arts. Differentiating factors considered are location, course of study, year of study and innovations that arose during the EOT period. To assist in the interpretation of findings, this case study utilises the "emergency remote teaching environments'' (ERTE) developed by Whittle, Tiwari, Yan and Williams (2020) as an interpretive lens; and the findings of this study are also compared with the findings in the Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TESQA) November 2020 report. Implications derived from the present case study for consideration in the development of future online learning include technology selected, upskilling tertiary educators and unexpected benefits to students.
| S-EPMC8718377 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSerious games can be a powerful learning tool in higher education. However, the literature indicates that the learning outcome in a serious game depends on the facilitators' competencies. Although professional facilitators in commercial game-based training have undergone specific instruction, facilitators in higher education cannot rely on such formal instruction, as game facilitation is only an occasional part of their teaching activities.ObjectiveThis study aimed to address the actual competencies of occasional game facilitators and their perceived competency deficits.MethodsHaving many years of experience as professional and occasional facilitators, we (n=7) defined requirements for the occasional game facilitator using individual reflection and focus discussion. Based on these results, guided interviews were conducted with additional occasional game facilitators (n=4) to check and extend the requirements. Finally, a group of occasional game facilitators (n=30) answered an online questionnaire based on the results of the requirement analysis and existing competency models.ResultsOur review produced the following questions: Which competencies are needed by facilitators and what are their training needs? What do current training courses for occasional game facilitators in higher education look like? How do the competencies of occasional game facilitators differ from other competencies required in higher education? The key findings of our analysis are that a mix of managerial and technical competencies is required for facilitating serious games in higher educational contexts. Further, there is a limited or no general competence model for game facilitators, and casual game facilitators rarely undergo any specific, formal training.ConclusionsThe results identified the competencies that game facilitators require and a demand for specific formal training. Thus, the study contributes to the further development of a competency model for game facilitators and enhances the efficiency of serious games.
| S-EPMC8135020 | biostudies-literature