Teaching and Learning in STEM Enrichment Spaces: From Doing Math to Thinking Mathematically

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment programs can meet the needs of gifted students by providing an intellectual challenge, a motivated peer group, and skilled teachers. In the Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP), 40 students (Grades 4–8) explored challenging math topics not typically taught in their schools. Pre and post questionnaires, video documentation of classes, and field notes indicated that students were less interested in the content of their school math classes after participation in SEP. They also reported that SEP provided a more appropriate pace, challenge, and fun. Analysis of classroom videos revealed four major strategies teachers utilized: (a) fostering of a supportive and collaborative environment, (b) developing the identity of a mathematician, (c) open-ended questions for conceptual exploration, and (d) discovery through play.     

Anatomical knowledge retention in third‐year medical students prior to obstetrics and gynecology and surgery rotations

Surgical anatomy is taught early in medical school training. The literature shows that many physicians, especially surgical specialists, think that anatomical knowledge of medical students is inadequate and nesting of anatomical sciences later in the clinical curriculum may be necessary. Quantitative data concerning this perception of an anatomical knowledge deficit are lacking, as are specifics as to what content should be reinforced. This study identifies baseline areas of strength and weakness in the surgical anatomy knowledge of medical students entering surgical rotations. Third‐year medical students completed a 20–25‐question test at the beginning of the General Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology rotations. Knowledge of inguinal anatomy (45.3%), orientation in abdominal cavity (38.8%), colon (27.7%), and esophageal varices (12.8%) was poor. The numbers in parentheses are the percentage of questions answered correctly per topic. In comparing those scores to matched test items from this cohort as first‐year students in the anatomy course, the drop in retention overall was very significant (P = 0.009) from 86.9 to 51.5%. Students also scored lower in questions relating to pelvic organs (46.7%), urogenital development (54.0%), pulmonary development (17.8%), and pregnancy (17.8%). These data showed that indeed, knowledge of surgical anatomy is poor for medical students entering surgical clerkships. These data collected will be utilized to create interactive learning modules, aimed at improving clinically relevant anatomical knowledge retention. These modules, which will be available to students during their inpatient surgical rotations, connect basic anatomy principles to clinical cases, with the ultimate goal of closing the anatomical knowledge gap. Anat Sci Educ 7: 461–468. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

Longitudinal retention of anatomical knowledge in second‐year medical students

The Radboud University Medical Center has a problem‐based, learner‐oriented, horizontally, and vertically integrated medical curriculum. Anatomists and clinicians have noticed students’ decreasing anatomical knowledge and the disability to apply knowledge in diagnostic reasoning and problem solving. In a longitudinal cohort, the retention of anatomical knowledge gained during the first year of medical school among second‐year medical students was assessed. In May 2011, 346 medical students applied for the second‐year gastro‐intestinal (GI) tract course. The students were asked to participate in a reexamination of a selection of anatomical questions of an examination from October 2009. The examination consisted of a clinical anatomy case scenario and two computed tomography (CT) images of thorax and abdomen in an extended matching format. A total of 165 students were included for analysis. In 2011, students scored significantly lower for the anatomy examination compared to 2009 with a decline in overall examination score of 14.7% (±11.7%). Decrease in knowledge was higher in the radiological questions, compared to the clinical anatomy cases 17.5% (±13.6%) vs. 7.9% (±10.0%), respectively, d = 5.17. In both years, male students scored slightly better compared to female students, and decline of knowledge seems somewhat lower in male students (13.1% (±11.1%) vs. 15.5% (±12.0%), respectively), d = ?0.21. Anatomical knowledge in the problem‐oriented horizontal and vertical integrated medical curriculum, declined by approximately 15% 1.5 year after the initial anatomy course. The loss of knowledge in the present study is relative small compared to previous studies. Anat Sci Educ 10: 242–248. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Separating the research question from the laboratory techniques: Advancing high‐school biology teachers' ability to ask research questions

Inquiry is essentially a process in which research questions are asked and an attempt is made to find the answers. However, the formulation of operational research questions of the sort used in authentic scientific inquiry is not a trivial task. Here, we set out to explore the possible influence of separating the research question from the laboratory techniques used to try and answer this question on teachers' understanding of laboratory techniques and their ability to formulate research questions. We conducted a laboratory course in microbiology in which the laboratory techniques were presented in an explicit and generalized manner, in the context of specific research questions. During the course, teachers' understanding of laboratory techniques improved as reflected in their answers to exercises given throughout. In addition, teachers' ability to ask research questions, analyzed using Dillon's classification of research questions, also improved. When reflecting upon the course, some teachers attributed the change in their ability to ask research questions to their increased knowledge of techniques, whereas others did not. We conclude that to facilitate research‐question‐asking skills among teachers, they should be provided with knowledge of the relevant laboratory techniques in an explicit fashion. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1296–1320, 2012