Anatomy as a Model Environment for Acquiring Professional Competencies in Medicine: Experiences at Harvard Medical School

Anatomy education provides students with opportunities to learn structure and function of the human body, to acquire professional competencies such as teamwork, interpersonal skills, self-awareness, and to reflect on and practice medical ethics. The fulfillment of this wide potential can present challenges in courses that are part of an integrated curriculum and shorter than traditional courses. This new reality, together with students' increasing concern about the stresses within medical education, led to efforts at Harvard Medical School to implement practical steps toward an optimal learning environment in anatomy. These were based on core elements of ethical anatomy education and principles of trauma-informed care. Anatomy is conceptualized here as the “first clinical discipline,” with relational interactions between anatomical educators, medical students, and body donors/patients. Essential prerequisites for the implementation of this work were support by the medical school leadership, open partnership between engaged students and faculty, faculty coordination, and peer-teaching. Specific interventions included pre-course faculty development on course philosophy and invitations to students to share their thoughts on anatomy. Student responses were integrated in course introductions, combined with a pre-dissection laboratory visit, an introductory guide, and a module on the history and ethics of anatomy. During the course, team-building activities were scheduled, and self-reflection encouraged, for example, through written exercises, and elective life-body drawing. Students' responses to the interventions were overall positive, but need further evaluation. This first attempt of a systematic implementation of an optimal learning environment in anatomy led to the identification of areas in need of adjustment.     

Modeling Student Test‐Taking Motivation in the Context of an Adaptive Achievement Test

This study examined the utility of response time‐based analyses in understanding the behavior of unmotivated test takers. For the data from an adaptive achievement test, patterns of observed rapid‐guessing behavior and item response accuracy were compared to the behavior expected under several types of models that have been proposed to represent unmotivated test taking behavior. Test taker behavior was found to be inconsistent with these models, with the exception of the effort‐moderated model. Effort‐moderated scoring was found to both yield scores that were more accurate than those found under traditional scoring, and exhibit improved person fit statistics. In addition, an effort‐guided adaptive test was proposed and shown by a simulation study to alleviate item difficulty mistargeting caused by unmotivated test taking.     

The BBC's Educational Posture

The BBC has a lasting and massive commitment to education. At a time of difficulty for education and of momentous changes to broadcasting technology and opportunities, it is time to confirm and strengthen that commitment. Among concerns requiring the special attention of educational broadcasting are unemployment and retraining, the ageing population and health care, and ethnic minorities. The opportunities for educational broadcasting in the future can only be enhanced, and certainly not diminished.     

Child abuse in institutions: the case of day-care centers in Nigeria

The authors examine the day-care center in Nigeria as a potential locus for child abuse and neglect by reanalyzing the data from available studies which were originally designed to assess quality of care in centers and not child abuse or neglect. A slightly modified version of the categories of abuse and neglect, delineated by Giovannoni and Becerra, is employed. Preliminary results suggest that substance abuse, verbal abuse and aspects of physical neglect related to housing and cleanliness of the facility may be the categories where research should be focused. The authors note the lack of normative data with reference to determining abuse and neglect in the Nigerian context.     

Young children’s overestimation of performance: A cross-cultural comparison

Western literature suggests that young children overestimate their performance across a range of tasks. Research in non-Western cultures, however, is lacking. In 2019, 101 Chinese (52% girls) and 98 Dutch (49% girls) children, ages 4 and 5, were asked to estimate how well they would perform on both a motor and a memory task. Children from both countries overestimated their performance to the same extent ( = .077 and .027 for the motor and memory tasks, respectively). They generally persevered in doing so despite receiving realistic performance feedback. Yet, children overestimated their peers’ performance about as much as their own performance, in some cases even more. This is the first demonstration of performance overestimation in children growing up in a non-Western culture.     

Does adviser mentoring add value? A longitudinal study of mentoring and doctoral student outcomes

This study of the impact of doctoral adviser mentoring on student outcomes was undertaken in response to earlier research that found (a) students with greater incoming potential received more adviser mentoring, and (b) adviser mentoring did not significantly contribute to important student outcomes, including research productivity [Green, S. G., and Bauer, T. N. (1995). Personnel Psychology 48(3): 537–561]. In this longitudinal study spanning 5 1/2 years, the effect of mentorship on the research productivity, career commitment, and self-efficacy of Ph.D. students in the ‘hard’ sciences was assessed, while controlling for indicators of ability and attitudes at program entry. Positive benefits of mentoring were found for subsequent productivity and self-efficacy. Mentoring was not significantly associated with commitment to a research career.