Anatomical Sciences Education Vol. 5, Issue 3, 2012 Cover Image

Medical students at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada, learn clinical facts about the hepatobiliary system as transplant surgeon Dr. Vivian McAlister (at the far right) demonstrates Whipple's procedure in the anatomy laboratory. In this issue of ASE, Ullah and colleagues describe an extracurricular student initiative known as the Surgically Oriented Anatomy Program (SOAP), which aims to deliver anatomy teaching from a surgical perspective through the philosophy of “education through recreation”.     

Defining the Difference: Comparing Integrated and Traditional Single-Subject Lessons

Early childhood curricula should be authentic and child-centered, however, many teachers still rely on direct instruction lessons. To better define how an integrated curriculum meets the needs of students, this study examined teacher talk and actions during instructional activities with first and second graders under two conditions: (1) subject-integrated social studies lessons of an integrated curriculum unit (experimental condition); and (2) single subject-focused mathematics lessons of a traditional separate subject curriculum (control condition). The mixed-methods study sought to define and compare characteristics of both curriculum approaches. Fourteen hours of observations were collected in each setting. In the integrated curriculum setting, the teacher was a facilitator of teamwork, offering choices, and giving praise; students made choices, decisions, and worked collaboratively. In the traditional setting, the teacher delivered direct instruction and controlled behavior; students followed directions, recalled knowledge, and worked individually. Less teacher energy was expended for behavior management in the integrated curriculum setting, indicating intrinsic motivation of students. Implementation of integrated curricula is recommended because of the student-centered focus that results in greater motivation, ownership, and teamwork, along with deeper knowledge connections. Because many factors hinder implementation, teachers need support when first teaching with this approach.     

Collaboration modality, cognitive load, and science inquiry learning in virtual inquiry environments

Educational multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have been shown to be effective platforms for situated science inquiry curricula. While researchers find MUVEs to be supportive of collaborative scientific inquiry processes, the complex mix of multi-modal messages present in MUVEs can lead to cognitive overload, with learners unable to effectively process the rich information encountered in virtual space. In this study, we investigated the effect of communication modality on cognitive load and science inquiry learning in students completing a science inquiry curriculum in an educational MUVE. Seventy-eight undergraduate education majors from a large southwestern university participated in this control-treatment study. Significant positive results were found for reducing cognitive load for participants communicating through voice-based chat, although this reduction was not found to influence learning outcomes. We conclude that use of voice-based communication can successfully reduce cognitive load in MUVE-based inquiry curricula.     

Filling the Information Gap: Radio Free Europe–Radio Liberty and the Politics of Accreditation at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

Due to the decision of the Soviet Union and nearly all of its East European satellites to withdraw from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games, the communist media provided audiences in the Soviet bloc with few reports on the sporting events in the Olympic city. When Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, broadcasters funded by the US government, attempted to fill this ‘information gap’ by beaming coverage of the Los Angeles Games behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union protested to the International Olympic Committee. They claimed, with a mixture of fact and fiction, that the Radios were tools of the American intelligence establishment and accused them of broadcasting ‘subversive’ propaganda to Eastern Europe and the USSR. Stirred into action by this Soviet manoeuvre, leading spokesmen for the Radios were joined by government officials, private citizens, US Olympic Committee members and the American media in a concerted attempt not only to defend the work of the broadcasters, but also to secure their press accreditation for Los Angeles.