Familiarity with Latin and Greek anatomical terms and course performance in undergraduates

Commonly used technical anatomy and physiology (A&P) terms are predominantly rooted in Latin and Greek vocabulary, so it is commonly inferred that a solid grounding in Latin and Greek roots of medical terminology will improve student learning in anatomy and related disciplines. This study examines the association of etymological knowledge of A&P terms and A&P course performance among 446 undergraduates in their first semester of the study of human gross anatomy and physiology, with a more detailed analysis of the characteristics of 52 students who filled out surveys about their prior knowledge and experiences related to medicine or anatomy. In both data sets, there was only a weak positive correlation between the performance on a quiz of Latin and Greek medical terms and the students' performance on regular assignments. The presumption that familiarity with Latin and Greek word roots has a strong influence on successful learning of anatomy is not supported by these data. Future research should address whether or not there are particular skills associated with using etymological knowledge in improving A&P course performance.     

Applying computerized-scoring models of written biological explanations across courses and colleges: prospects and limitations

Our study explored the prospects and limitations of using machine-learning software to score introductory biology students’ written explanations of evolutionary change. We investigated three research questions: 1) Do scoring models built using student responses at one university function effectively at another university? 2) How many human-scored student responses are needed to build scoring models suitable for cross-institutional application? 3) What factors limit computer-scoring efficacy, and how can these factors be mitigated? To answer these questions, two biology experts scored a corpus of 2556 short-answer explanations (from biology majors and nonmajors) at two universities for the presence or absence of five key concepts of evolution. Human- and computer-generated scores were compared using kappa agreement statistics. We found that machine-learning software was capable in most cases of accurately evaluating the degree of scientific sophistication in undergraduate majors’ and nonmajors’ written explanations of evolutionary change. In cases in which the software did not perform at the benchmark of “near-perfect” agreement (kappa > 0.80), we located the causes of poor performance and identified a series of strategies for their mitigation. Machine-learning software holds promise as an assessment tool for use in undergraduate biology education, but like most assessment tools, it is also characterized by limitations.     

Learning of musculoskeletal ligament stress testing in a gross anatomy laboratory

Human anatomy in physical therapy programs is a basic science course serving as a foundation for subsequent clinical courses. Integration of anatomy with a clinical emphasis throughout a curriculum provides opportunities for reinforcement of previously learned material. Considering the human cadaver laboratory as a fixed cost to our program, we sought opportunities to add value to the resource via vertical integration into a clinical skills course taught later in the curriculum. We designed an opportunity for second-year physical therapy students to revisit the human anatomy laboratory to study select clinical musculoskeletal tests and the associated anatomy in a clinically relevant context. Students performed select orthopedic ligament test on human cadavers, then incised specific structures and repeated the tests. Students were able to feel and visualize the function of pertinent anatomy associated with the clinical tests. Ninety-five percent of respondents reported that the ligament stress testing experience enhanced their understanding of orthopedic clinical tests with 91% reporting an enhanced understanding of anatomy related to specific clinical tests. Likewise, the experience was perceived as enjoyable and valuable with 86% of respondents reporting the experience as enjoyable and 100% responding the experience should continue as part of the curriculum.     

Harnessing technology to improve formative assessment of student conceptions in STEM: forging a national network

Concept inventories, consisting of multiple-choice questions designed around common student misconceptions, are designed to reveal student thinking. However, students often have complex, heterogeneous ideas about scientific concepts. Constructed-response assessments, in which students must create their own answer, may better reveal students' thinking, but are time- and resource-intensive to evaluate. This report describes the initial meeting of a National Science Foundation-funded cross-institutional collaboration of interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education researchers interested in exploring the use of automated text analysis to evaluate constructed-response assessments. Participants at the meeting shared existing work on lexical analysis and concept inventories, participated in technology demonstrations and workshops, and discussed research goals. We are seeking interested collaborators to join our research community.     

Medical students' attitudes toward the anatomy dissection room in relation to personality

Assessment of the personalities of medical students could enable medical educators to formulate strategies for the best development of academic and clinical competencies. In this article, we focus on the experience of students in the anatomy dissecting room. While there have been many attempts to evaluate the emotional responses of medical students to human cadaveric dissection, there has been no investigation into how different personality traits affect the responses. The main hypothesis tested was that there is a relationship between personality traits and attitudes toward the dissection room. For the present study, a group of French medical students (n = 403; mean age 21.3 ± 1.6; 65.3% female) completed a "Big Five" personality inventory and a questionnaire to assess their attitudes in regard to human dissection. The findings are consistent with our hypothesis, in that we found a relationship between reporting anxiety and four of the "Big Five" dimensions (all except openness). The rated level of anxiety was positively correlated with negative affectivity, more strongly at the beginning than at the end of the course. There were significant gender differences in attitudes toward dissection. The findings are discussed in relation to the possibility of preparing students for the dissecting room experience and also in relation to the students' understanding of mortality issues.     

Use of deterministic models in sports and exercise biomechanics research

A deterministic model is a modeling paradigm that determines the relationships between a movement outcome measure and the biomechanical factors that produce such a measure. This review provides an overview of the use of deterministic models in biomechanics research, a historical summary of this research, and an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using deterministic models. The deterministic model approach has been utilized in technique analysis over the last three decades, especially in swimming, athletics field events, and gymnastics. In addition to their applications in sports and exercise biomechanics, deterministic models have been applied successfully in research on selected motor skills. The advantage of the deterministic model approach is that it helps to avoid selecting performance or injury variables arbitrarily and to provide the necessary theoretical basis for examining the relative importance of various factors that influence the outcome of a movement task. Several disadvantages of deterministic models, such as the use of subjective measures for the performance outcome, were discussed. It is recommended that exercise and sports biomechanics scholars should consider using deterministic models to help identify meaningful dependent variables in their studies.     

Customized USB flash drives used to promote library resources and services to first-year medical and dental students

In line with its institution's commitment to keep new student orientation/welcome events "green," Columbia University's Health Sciences Library (HSL) applied for a National Network of Libraries of Medicine Middle Atlantic Region (NN/LM MAR) Small Projects Award(1) in Spring/Summer 2009 to explore paperless modes of outreach. This article describes the project that resulted from this funding, whose purpose was to determine whether customized 1 GB USB flash drives are a good vehicle for distributing library promotional materials to incoming medical and dental students. This project gave HSL librarians the opportunity to connect with students in a way that had not been done before and to consider how these new students use/view the information the library produces.     

Are you too young for the Nobel Prize?

Although age is not supposed to be a criterion for the award of the Nobel Prize, it is commonly believed that it does play a role. Indeed, econometric evidence in this paper also suggests such a role. However, the paper finds that, if there is a preference for older Nobel candidates, this is introduced during the nomination process. The paper actually finds that the Nobel Committee does not favor older nominees and that, if anything, it seems to partially offset the age premium introduced by the nominators.     

“Follow the Water”: Steve Squyres and the Mars Exploration Rovers

Steve Squyres was responsible for assembling the team of scientists, engineers and instruments that formed the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Squyres developed a vision that small-scale observations made by a robotic geologist on Mars would be the key for resolving the mystery of water on Mars. Prior to the MER missions, planetary scientists were divided between groups holding that ancient fluvial-like surface features on Mars were formed by water and those holding that the erosive and depositional forces were tied to liquid and gaseous CO₂. At issue was a fundamental understanding not only of early Martian geological processes and early solar luminosity, but also the possibility of life on Mars. To resolve these questions, Squyres and his team developed a new breed of rovers that were capable of identifying minerals and collecting textural observations. The resulting twin rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, have successfully resolved the single most important question about Mars that scientists have been debating for the past 30 years, providing compelling evidence for the action of water on the Martian surface. Squyres and the MER team have also initiated a new era in planetary exploration and inspired a new generation of students to become scientists and explorers. Steve Squyres and the MER team produced fundamental insights into the geology and climatology of Mars. These have resulted in major advances in our understanding of the potential for life on other planets and of life’s evolution on Earth. For the discovery and elucidation of water on Mars through the “robotic geologists” of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Steve Squyres was awarded the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science.     

Do RFIDs (radio frequency identifier devices) provide new ethical dilemmas for librarians and information professionals?

This paper provides an analysis of the current and potential ethical implications of RFID technology for the library and information professions. These issues are analysed as a series of ethical dilemmas, or hard-to-resolve competing ethical obligations, which the librarian has in relationship to information objects, library users and the wider social and political environment or state. A process model of the library is used as a framework for the discussion to illustrate the relationship between the different participants in the library system and it is argued that ethical analysis should involve the identification of future developments as well as current issues. The analysis shows that RFIDs do currently pose some dilemmas for librarians in terms of the conflicts between efficient service, privacy of users and an obligation to protect the safety of society as a whole, and that these are likely to become more problematic as the technology develops. This paper is part 2 of a series of papers on RFIDs and the library and information professions.