Pictures are necessary but not sufficient: Using a range of visual methods to engage users about school design

It has been argued by both educationalists and social researchers that visual methods are particularly appropriate for the investigation of people’s experiences of the school environment. The current and expected building work taking place in British schools provides an opportunity for exploration of methods, as well as a need to establish ways to achieve this involvement of a range of school users, including students. This article describes a consultation that was undertaken in a UK secondary school as part of a participatory design process centred on the rebuilding of the school. A range of visual methods, based on photographs and maps, was used to investigate the views of a diverse sample of school users, including students, teachers, technical and support staff and the wider community. Reported here is the experience of using these tools, considering the success of different visually-based methods in engaging a broad cross section of the school community and revealing useful information. Using a range of visual methods allows a complex, but coherent, understanding of the particular school environment to be constructed and developed. It is further argued that such a range of visual and spatial methods is needed to develop appropriate understanding. The study, therefore, contributes to knowledge about specific visual research methods, appreciation of the relationship between tools, and a general methodological understanding of visual methods’ utility for developing understanding of the learning environment.     

Food Safety Knowledge and Beliefs of Middle School Children: Implications for Food Safety Educators

ABSTRACT: To create effective educational interventions that address the food safety informational needs of youth, a greater understanding of their knowledge and skills is needed. The purposes of this study were to explore, via focus groups, the food‐handling responsibilities of middle school youth and obstacles they face in practicing safe food handling and develop recommendations for the design of food safety interventions for youth. Most youth reported that they prepared food at least once weekly and rated learning to prevent foodborne illness as important. Youth knew that food could make them sick, described foodborne illness as resulting from “something” getting into food, not cooking food “right,” or the food going bad. Most responses lacked details, suggesting knowledge was basic. Nearly all were interested in learning about food safety. Barriers that deterred them from learning about food safety were time and feeling they were not susceptible to foodborne illness. To overcome barriers, youth suggested focusing on the seriousness of and risks for foodborne illness, using a serious but comical educational approach, and using hands‐on educational media. Parents highly rated the importance of and degree to which they wanted youth to learn about food safety. Parents felt that their children had moderate levels of food safety knowledge, but many questioned whether they practiced food safety procedures when unsupervised. Parents felt that food safety education needed to be taught and reinforced in school and at home. After having reviewed youth and parent data, food safety experts proposed recommendations for youth‐focused food safety education that paralleled current consumer food safety initiatives.     

The role of medical museums in contemporary medical education

From the early 19th century until the most recent two decades, open‐space and satellite museums featuring anatomy and pathology collections (collectively referred to as “medical museums”) had leading roles in medical education. However, many factors have caused these roles to diminish dramatically in recent years. Chief among these are the great advances in information technology and web‐based learning that are currently at play in every level of medical training. Some medical schools have abandoned their museums while others have gradually given away their museums' contents to devote former museum space to new classrooms, lecture halls, and laboratories. These trends have accelerated as medical school enrollment has increased and as increasing interest in biological and biomedical research activities have caused medical schools to convert museum space into research facilities. A few medical schools, however, have considered the contents of their museums as irreplaceable resources for modern medicine and medical education and the space these occupy as great environments for independent and self‐directed learning. Consequently, some medical schools have updated their medical museums and equipped them with new technologies. The Anatomical Museum of Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and the Medical Museum of Kawasaki Medical School in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan, are two examples of such upgraded museums. Student surveys at Leiden University have indicated that all students (100%) found audio‐guided museum tours to be useful for learning and majorities of them found guided tours to be clinically relevant (87%). However, 69% of students felt that museum visits should be optional rather than compulsory within the medical training curriculum. Anat Sci Educ 3:249–253, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

The gross anatomy course: An analysis of its importance

The gross anatomy dissection course is a cost‐intensive piece of undergraduate medical education that students and professionals alike describe as very important within the overall medical curriculum. We sought to understand more explicitly students' valuation of gross anatomy as an “important” course and so developed a quantitative longitudinal questionnaire. Medical students (n = 124) enrolled in the winter term 2006/2007 gross anatomy course at the Ulm University Faculty of Medicine were surveyed anonymously prior to, in the middle of, and at the end of the dissection course. Subgroups of students expressing rising or falling opinions of course value were identified and correlated with student opinions about the course's ability to convey professional competencies. Five‐point Likert scales were used for each survey item, which included such standardized instruments as the NeoFFI, BSI, and FBM. The study confirmed that medical students believe dissection to be valuable. Students indicated that participation in the course facilitated acquisition of anatomy knowledge as well as skills related to teamwork, coping with stress, and, to a lesser extent, time management. Students also noted that they developed less empathy than expected beforehand. Significant subgroup differences were observed relative to the competencies of teamwork, stress coping strategies, and empathy, as well as in students' stress levels associated with having to take a dissection course. Our study builds on previous work that has shown dissection courses help students develop professional competencies. The increase in professionalism might be a reason for the generally high value students place on the gross anatomy dissection course, Anat Sci Educ 3:3–11, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

Socialization of coping with community violence: influences of caregiver coaching, modeling, and family context

A socialization model of coping with community violence was tested in 101 African American adolescents (55% male, ages 9-13) and their maternal caregivers living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized, southeastern city. Participants completed interviews assessing caregiver coping, family context, and child adjustment. Caregiver-child dyads also discussed a film clip depicting community violence. Parental coaching (caregivers' strategies suggesting how to cope) and child-reported coping were coded from the discussion. Coaching, modeling (caregivers' own coping), and family context each contributed to children's coping with violence. Children's problem-focused coping in response to violence had the strongest associations with changes in their adjustment 6 months later. Implications for interventions with youth and families are discussed.     

Chinese primary school mathematics teachers working in a centralised curriculum system: a case study of two primary schools in North‐East China

Mainland China has a highly centralised curriculum development system. A study of two schools in northeast China, one in a rural area and the other in an urban area, indicates that the primary mathematics curriculum has been widely adopted by teachers at the classroom level. Feeling the intense pressure generated by the national mathematics Olympiad,1 1. The mathematics Olympiad is a type of ‘extracurricular’ activity that aims to promote students' interest and improve their ability in mathematics. Students participating in the competition are required to complete some challenging and non‐routine mathematical operations. The international mathematics Olympiad is held every year. In Mainland China, this competition is commonly organised at city, provincial and national level. Students who perform exceptionally well are exempted from the highly competitive national university entrance examinations for entry to universities View all notes teachers in the urban school tended to give more difficult mathematics problems to their students in the hope that above‐average students would perform well in the competition. In the rural school, the ability of students was more varied and generally lower. Teachers there worked very hard to push their students to meet the national requirements. The driving force behind this was the county‐wide public examination in which students' performance was taken as an indicator of teachers' competence. Teachers in both schools also have not taken effective steps to adapt the curriculum for students' individual differences. A comparison of the practices between the teachers in the two schools suggests that teachers' beliefs, their professional knowledge and skills shape their inclination and ability in curriculum adaptation and differentiation.     

Pharmacists’ online information literacy: an assessment of their use of Internet‐based medicines information

Introduction: Pharmacists need effective skills in accessing and using Internet‐based medicines information (IBMI) for themselves and their consumers. However, there is limited information regarding how pharmacists use the Internet. Objectives: To develop and use a research instrument to measure pharmacists’ Internet knowledge, search skills, evaluation of and opinions about using IBMI. Methods: A structured questionnaire examining general Internet knowledge, ability to search for and select pertinent IBMI, evaluation of IBMI, opinions about using IBMI and current Internet use was developed. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyse IBMI evaluation. Results: 208 pharmacists responded (response rate 20.6%). There was a large variation in pharmacists’ scores. Mean scores were low for General Internet Knowledge (mean 7.91 ± 3.62; scale 0–16), Search and Selection of IBMI (4.98 ± 2.91; 0–10) and Opinions on IBMI (44.51 ± 9.61; 0–80). Four factors [Professionalism of website (4 items; factor loading 0.62–0.87; Cronbach’s α 0.84), Disclosure (5; 0.37–0.79; 0.73), Appropriateness of content (5; 0.32–0.50; 0.65), Standard of information (6; 0.31–0.48; 0.58)] were extracted from the evaluation scale, explaining 36.89% of the total variance. Conclusions: A tool was developed to evaluate pharmacists’ skills and opinions in using IBMI. A wide range of skills and opinions highlighted the need for training in online information literacy.