Scientific Skills as Core Competences in Medical Education: What do medical students think?

Background: Scientific excellence is one of the most fundamental underpinnings of medical education and its relevance is unquestionable. To be involved in research activities enhances students' critical thinking and problem-solving capacities, which are mandatory competences for new achievements in patient care and consequently to the improvement of clinical practice. Purposes: This work aimed to study the relevance given by Portuguese medical students to a core of scientific skills, and their judgment about their own ability to execute those skills. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on students attending the first, fourth and sixth years of medical course in the same period. An assessment istrument, exploring the importance given by Portuguese medical students to scientific skills in high school, to clinical practice and to their own ability to execute them, was designed, adapted and applied specifically to this study. Results: Students' perceptions were associated with gender, academic year, previous participation in research activities, positive and negative attitudes toward science, research integration into the curriculum and motivation to undertake research. The viewpoint of medical students about the relevance of scientific skills overall, and the ability to execute them, was independently associated with motivation to be enrolled in research. Conclusions: These findings have meaningful implications in medical education regarding the inclusion of a structural research program in the medical curriculum. Students should be aware that clinical practice would greatly benefit from the enrollment in research activities. By developing a solid scientific literacy future physicians will be able to apply new knowledge in patient care.     

The Use of Memories in Understanding Interactive Science and Technology Exhibits

Framed by a “personal constructivist” perspective, this study analyses visitors’ use of spontaneous memories in understanding different types of interactive exhibits, the nature and sources of the retrieved memories, and the way that visitors relate an exhibit analogically to memories of previous exhibits. One hundred and thirteen visitors (either alone or in groups) were observed during their interaction with exhibits and interviewed immediately afterwards. The majority of the retrieved memories were not used in understanding an exhibit; those memories used were mainly semantic and episodic in nature; and exhibits were mainly associated with memories by means of a superficial similarity between them. Suggestions for enhancing the formation of links between visitors’ memories and the understanding of an exhibit intended by the designer of it are made.     

Using Digital Technologies to Automate Instructional Design

Abstract

Recent advances in computer‐based interactive digital technologies have presented a broad range of possibilities to create powerful presentations and instructional messages. However, incorporating these new technologies effectively is not a simple task because the design of effective computer‐based instructional material is a complex process. Successful design involves interactions between individual learner characteristics, instructional delivery media, the type of specific knowledge and skills being taught, and the strategies and methods used to teach the material.

This paper discusses:

• — The need for an Automated Instructional Design

• — The integration of learning theory, instructional design and technology

• — Some approaches for automating instructional design

• — An exploration of ID Expert, ? an intelligent computer‐based multimedia instructional development system (beta version 1.0).

     

Physical activity and school recess time: Differences between the sexes and the relationship between children's playground physical activity and habitual physical activity

The aims of this study were: (1) to observe participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during school recess periods; (2) to determine the relative importance of physical activity during recesses to overall daily physical activity; and (3) to examine differences in physical activity between the sexes during unstructured recess periods. The participants were 22 school children (10 boys, 12 girls) aged 8?–?10 years (mean = 8.9, s = 0.7) in the third and fourth grades. Daily totals for the physical activity variables were calculated by summing the values for each hour of 14?h of physical activity measurements (08:00 to 22:00?h). Recess times (minutes) were as follows: morning 10:30 to 11:00?h and afternoon 15:30 to 16:00?h. We did not differences between boys and girls in daily total accelerometer counts or the overall time spent in MVPA. However, girls were significantly (P <?0.05) more involved (38%) in MVPA during recess time than boys (31%). Participation in MVPA during recess contributes significantly more (P <?0.05) for girls (19%) than boys (15%) to the total amount of physical activity suggested by international health-related physical activity guidelines, while the percentage of time engaged in MVPA during recess time at school accounts for a small amount of the daily MVPA (6% for boys and 8% for girls). The results of this study suggest that school recess time is an important setting to promote MVPA and contributes to daily physical activity in young children, especially in girls.     

Criterion-related validity of the 20-m shuttle run test in youths aged 13–19 years

Abstract

We assessed the agreement between maximal oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O_2max) measured directly when performing the 20-m shuttle run test and estimated [Vdot]O_2max from five different equations (i.e. Barnett, equations a and b; Léger; Matsuzaka; and Ruiz) in youths. The 20-m shuttle run test was performed by 26 girls (mean age 14.6 years, s = 1.5; body mass 57.2 kg, s = 8.9; height 1.60 m, s = 0.06) and 22 boys (age 15.0 years, s = 1.6; body mass 63.5 kg, s = 11.5; height 1.70 m, s = 0.01). The participants wore a portable gas analyser (K4b2, Cosmed) to measure [Vdot]O₂ during the test. All the equations significantly underestimated directly measured [Vdot]O_2max, except Barnett's (b) equation. The mean difference ranged from 1.3 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Barnett (b)) to 5.5 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Léger). The standard error of the estimate ranged from 5.3 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Ruiz) to 6.5 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Léger), and the percentage error ranged from 21.2% (Ruiz) to 38.3% (Léger). The accuracy of the equations available to estimate [Vdot]O_2max from the 20-m shuttle run test is questionable at the individual level. Furthermore, special attention should be paid when comparisons are made between studies (e.g. population-based studies) using different equations. The results of the present study suggest that Barnett's (b) equation provides the closest agreement with directly measured [Vdot]O_2max (cardiorespiratory fitness) in youth.     

Through race-colored glasses: Preschoolers’ pretend play and teachers’ ratings of preschooler adjustment

This study investigated relations between preschoolers’ pretend play, examiner-rated adjustment, and teachers’ reports of educational and social adjustment in a large and racially diverse sample. Preschoolers (N = 171; M_age = 49.25 months, SD = 2.76; 89.5% non-White; 50.9% female) completed a standardized assessment of pretend play during a laboratory visit and teachers rated their academic and relational adjustment 3 months later. Interactive effects by child race were evaluated in light of prior suggestions that relations between children's creative expression and teacher-rated adjustment may vary by child race. There were no significant race differences in observers’ ratings of preschoolers’ pretend play, examiners’ ratings of child adjustment, or teachers’ ratings of child adjustment. Imaginative and expressive play features were positively related to examiners’ ratings of child ego-resilience for all children in the laboratory setting. However, child race moderated relations between these same play features and teachers’ ratings of preschooler adjustment in the classroom, even after child age, child IQ, family socioeconomic status, teacher–child racial congruence, teacher familiarity with the child, and child gender were held constant. Among Black preschoolers, imaginative and expressive pretend play features were associated with teachers’ ratings of less school preparedness, less peer acceptance, and more teacher–child conflict, whereas comparable levels of imagination and affect in pretend play were related to positive ratings on these same measures for non-Black children. These results suggest that teachers may ascribe differential meaning to child behaviors as a function of child race. Implications for child development, teacher training, and early education are discussed.     

Short animation movies as advance organizers in physics teaching: a preliminary study

Background : Advance organizers are instructional materials that help students use previous knowledge to make links with new information. Short animation movies are a possible format and are well suited for physics, as they can portray dynamic phenomena and represent abstract concepts.

Purpose : The study aimed to determine guidelines for the construction of an instructional short animation movie, with the role of an advance organizer. A film was created in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach, making part of a physics lesson and concerning the subject ‘moment of a force’.

Sample : The study took place in a Brazilian school in the city of Arapoti, in the south region of the country. Thirty-eight students participated, having an average age of 16 and following the third year of high school.

Design and methods : Criteria drawn from a literature review directed the construction of the movie and the lesson. Data were collected using pre- and post-tests; registers of oral comments were also done during the class. The post-test included open-ended questions, allowing students to write remarks concerning the lesson and the animation.

Conclusions : The article describes steps and guidelines to orient the process of designing an animation movie with the role of advance organizer. Data indicated that the movie facilitated the construction of links between pre-existent knowledge and the new information presented in the lesson. The proposed methodology can be considered a valid framework to derive similar approaches.     

Reminiscence,Psychological Well-Being,and Ego Integrity in Portuguese Elderly People

This paper analyzes the impact of a reminiscence program on the psychological well-being and ego integrity of elderly people with depressive symptomatology. Ninety people aged 65 and over participated in a quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest evaluations. They were assigned to one of three groups: (a) experimental group (reminiscence sessions); (b) control group or (c) control-placebo group (weekly relaxation sessions). The results indicate that only the experimental group had significant increases in its overall psychological well-being and ego integrity. This suggests that the promotion of instrumental and integrative reminiscences is an important therapeutic tool for psychological well-being in elderly people with depressive symptomatology.