An exploration of anatomists’ views toward the use of body painting in anatomical and medical education: An international study

Previous research has explored the experiences of medical students using body painting as a learning tool. However, to date, faculty experiences and views have not been explored. This international qualitative study utilized a grounded theory approach with data collection through interviews with academics and clinicians who utilized body painting as part of their anatomical teaching. Twenty‐six anatomists participated in the study from 14 centers worldwide. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) the efficacy of body painting, (2) the promotion of knowledge retention and recall, (3) considerations and practicalities regarding the use of body painting as a teaching tool. Subthemes show that body painting is used as an adjunct to the curriculum for teaching surface anatomy and peer examination. Benefits included diffusing the formal curricula, high student engagement and learning for future clinical practice. Body painting was advocated for promoting knowledge retention and recall, particularly learning through the process of cognitive load due to combining the use of color and kinesthetic learning with anatomical theory. Critical discussions surfaced on the topic of undressing in the classroom due to cultural and personal considerations possibly leading to unequal involvement and different learning experiences. Overall results support previous research showing that anatomists appreciate body painting as an effective, enjoyable, engaging and cost efficient adjunct to the multimodal anatomy curriculum. The role of cognitive load theory in learning anatomy through body painting emerged from the data as a possible theoretical framework supporting learning benefits from body painting and is suggested for further investigation. Anat Sci Educ 11: 146–154. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Relative academic performance and its relation to facet and overall satisfaction with interactive telecourses

An investigation was conducted in which 288 undergraduate college students taking 17 live, interactive telecourses at 68 remote sites were asked to report their satisfaction with various aspects of their telecourses as well as their overall satisfaction with those courses. In addition, a measure of relative academic performance was calculated for each student in which performance in the current telecourse was compared to prior academic performance. Results showed that high levels of relative performance were associated with (1) student satisfaction with the technological aspects of the courses, (2) student satisfaction with the promptness of material exchange with the instructor, and (3) overall student satisfaction. Practical implications of these results are discussed.

     

Assessing giftedness with the WISC‐III and the SB‐IV

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Third Edition (WISC‐III) and the Stanford‐Binet Intelligence Scale–Fourth Edition (SB‐IV), were administered to 20 gifted children and 20 non‐gifted children to examine the extent of the difference in IQ scores obtained on the two tests and whether order effects were present. Results show that the SB‐IV Composite Score was significantly higher than the WISC‐III Full Scale IQ for both groups. However, for the gifted group, unlike the non‐gifted group, this difference achieved significance only when the SB‐IV was administered first. When either IQ test was administered to the gifted students for the first time, without the confound of a learning influence, there was no significant difference in mean scores. However, when both tests were administered, it was found that the SB‐IV influenced the WISC‐III Full Scale IQ in a downward direction whereas the WISC‐III influenced the SB‐IV Composite Score in an upward direction. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mainstreaming modification preferences of parents of elementary-age children with learning disabilities

One hundred twenty-nine parents of children with learning disabilities responded to a questionnaire designed to solicit information on the types of modifications deemed most facilitative of parents' acceptance of full-time mainstreaming. Responses indicated that parents' participation in the mainstreaming process was an important factor in successful integration of children with learning disabilities. Parents' preferences for mainstreaming modifications differed from their current options, and they were supportive of full-time mainstreaming for their children, contingent upon implementation of their mainstreaming-related recommendations. Results are discussed relative to mainstreaming and proposed educational reforms.     

Child care choices: A longitudinal study of children,families and child care in partnership with policy makers

Child Care Choices is an example of new early childhood research based on a relationship between policy makers and researchers. It is also an example of large-scale longitudinal team-based research into early childhood in Australia. The ongoing study addresses the professional problem for practitioners and policy makers of the increasing use of multiple care settings and changes to care arrangements in the early years and their possible impacts on child development. The project will follow an initial sample of 693 families with a child aged from birth to three years over a three-year period. An ecological framework is used to include the influences on child development of characteristics of the children and their families, their city or country location, as well as their childcare history and current care arrangements. Development is measured in terms of children’s health, motor development, social and emotional development, language and communication as well as emerging literacy and numeracy. The article discusses the unique features of the project in Australian early childhood research, its history, preliminary findings, and the potential of this kind of large-scale, longitudinal team-based research conducted in partnership with policy makers to contribute to policy as well as to theoretical debate.     

Innovation,research and professional development in higher education: Learning from our own experience

This paper describes and analyses an innovative experience carried out by a group of lecturers from the Psychopedagogy Faculty of the University of Alcala, involved in an action research process with the purpose of reflecting about our own practice and constructing alternative teaching strategies to facilitate students’ reflective, autonomous and critic learning. The experience consists of a didactical proposal through which we intend to establish connections and interdisciplinary relationships among courses, in order to break down the isolation that usually characterizes the work of university teachers, and move towards a more global and complex formula for curriculum development. We also propose the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as tools to support the learning process and expand opportunities for reflection, dialogue and collaboration beyond the classroom activities. The results of this experience show a dialectic interaction amongst innovation, research and professional development processes.     

The Influence of Specific Supervisor Support Types on Transfer of Training: Examining the Mediating Effect of Training Retention

The aim of this study was to examine the differential effects of specific types of supervisor support on transfer of training, taking into account established trainee characteristics, such as trainees’ motivation to learn, motivation to transfer, and training self-efficacy. More specifically, nine types of supervisor support were examined (pre-training information, role modelling & facilitation, request sharing, favourable attitude, coaching & feedback, openness, involvement & accountability, work coverage, and training participation). In addition, the mediating effect of training retention is explored, as learning outcomes may present an intervening variable that connects supervisor support to transfer of training. A time-lagged design was used to investigate the relationships in the proposed model and it was evaluated using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM). Data was gathered in Belgium through online questionnaires at three points in time from 111 participants of work-related training. Participants were employees from a retail organisation and different government agencies. Results indicate that only supervisors’ accountability and involvement positively predicted employees’ transfer of training three months after training. In addition, it was found that supervisors’ involvement and accountability had an indirect effect on transfer of training through training retention.     

The Legacy of Early Abuse and Neglect for Social and Academic Competence From Childhood to Adulthood

This study used data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 267) to investigate whether abuse and neglect experiences during the first 5 years of life have fading or enduring consequences for social and academic competence over the next 3 decades of life. Experiencing early abuse and neglect was consistently associated with more interpersonal problems and lower academic achievement from childhood through adulthood (32–34 years). The predictive significance of early abuse and neglect was not attributable to the stability of developmental competence over time, nor to abuse and neglect occurring later in childhood. Early abuse and neglect had enduring associations with social (but not academic) competence after controlling for potential demographic confounds and early sensitive caregiving.     

Color,Caste and the Public Sphere

Broadcast network newsrooms are powerful gatekeepers, setting cultural standards and attitudes for America at large via the stories they tell and the images they project. In 1968, the federal Kerner Commission chastised American news media for ignoring race, and seeing through the “white man’s eyes” and speaking from “the white perspective.” Grounded in critical and cultural studies and organizational theory, this study analyzes the experiences of 23 post-Civil Rights generation black journalists working in broadcast newsrooms who continue to struggle against anti-black cultural norms and attitudes at great physical, psychological and financial cost.     

Promoting metacognition in first year anatomy laboratories using plasticine modeling and drawing activities: a pilot study of the "blank page" technique

Many first year students of anatomy and physiology courses demonstrate an inability to self-regulate their learning. To help students increase their awareness of their own learning in a first year undergraduate anatomy course, we piloted an exercise that incorporated the processes of (1) active learning: drawing and plasticine modeling and (2) metacognition: planning, monitoring, reaction, and reflection. The activity was termed "blank page" because all learning cues were removed and students had to create models and diagrams from reflection and recall. Two hundred and eighty-two students responded to a questionnaire reporting qualitative feedback on the exercise. Based on student responses, the "blank page" activity was a positive learning experience and confirmed a need to teach metacognitive skills. From this pilot study, we established that drawing or plasticine modeling is an excellent vehicle for demonstration of the metacognitive processes that enable self-regulation: a known predictor of academic success.