Integrating Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Medicine Content within a New School of Medicine Curriculum: Process and Outcome

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery curriculum. Results of this collaboration may add to the knowledge base of attitudes and skills needed to practice as full faculty partners in curricular design and instruction.     

Communication disorders in the school: Perspectives on academic and social success an introduction

The critical role of communication in schools cannot be understated. Communication skills are a necessity both in the academic and social atmosphere of the school environment. Unfortunately, there are a large number of children in the schools today identified with speech and language disorders. This special edition of Psychology in the Schools examined issues that impact the academic and social functioning of such children. Several articles are focused on potential early intervention strategies or services surrounding literacy and social skills that may enhance the success of children with communication disorders and/or at risk for communication disorders (e.g., Chapman, Denning, & Jamison, 2008; Thatcher & Fletcher, 2008; van Kleeck, 2008). Two other articles tackle promising strategies that may be used in academic settings with children who stutter (Logan, Mullins, & Jones, 2008) or with children with cognitive impairments (Gillette & DePompei, 2008). Despite promising avenues of intervention and practice, there are also barriers to providing instruction to children with communication disorders in a regular classroom (Pufpaff, 2008). Each article provides insight into the importance of communication skills for academic and social success in the schools. The key to the success of children with or at risk for communication is for all school personnel to be aware of and proactive with children with communication disorders. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Training boys with ADHD to work collaboratively: Social and learning outcomes

This study examined social participation and strategic problem solving behavior of boys diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when collaborating on a planning task with a trained peer partner. Twenty-four 9- to 13-year-old boys with ADHD who were receiving a medication intervention, were individually pre-tested to assess their initial ability to plan an errand route task. They were then observed doing an alternate planning task during collaborative sessions with a female peer partner who had received prior training in the task and in facilitating social interaction. Boys with ADHD were then individually post-tested on the original planning task. Observations of the collaborative sessions revealed significant, positive changes across three phases in the quality of social interactions by boys with ADHD, in their planning strategies, and planning efficiency. Findings suggest positive benefits of collaborative learning structures for boys with ADHD when they are placed in a collaborative learning setting with a partner who has received a prior training intervention.     

Understanding motivational structures that differentially predict engagement and achievement in middle school science

Middle school has been documented as the period in which a drop in students’ science interest and achievement occurs. This trend indicates a lack of motivation for learning science; however, little is known about how different aspects of motivation interact with student engagement and science learning outcomes. This study examines the relationships among motivational factors, engagement, and achievement in middle school science (grades 6–8). Data were obtained from middle school students in the United States (N?=?2094). The theoretical relationships among motivational constructs, including self-efficacy, and three types of goal orientations (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoid) were tested. The results showed that motivation is best modeled as distinct intrinsic and extrinsic factors; lending evidence that external, performance based goal orientations factor separately from self-efficacy and an internal, mastery based goal orientation. Second, a model was tested to examine how engagement mediated the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and science achievement. Engagement mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and science achievement, whereas extrinsic motivation had no relationship with engagement and science achievement. Implications for how classroom practice and educational policy emphasize different student motivations, and in turn, can support or hinder students’ science learning are discussed.     

Voluntary use of online study questions as a function of previous minimal use requirements and learner aptitude

This study investigates voluntary use of online study questions, the relationship of study question use to examination performance, and the relationship of aptitude to study question use following an initial phase during which students either received course points for passing mastery quizzes or for completing a designated number of study questions. The results indicate a) students who first received points for completing study questions later made greater voluntary use of study questions, b) less able readers made less voluntary use of study questions than more able readers, and c) less able readers performed better on course examinations when awarded course points for completing a required number of study questions rather than quizzes.     

Can anatomists teach living anatomy using ultrasound as a teaching tool?

The utilization of bedside ultrasound by an increasing number of medical specialties has created the need for more ultrasound exposure and teaching in medical school. Although there is a widespread support for more vertical integration of ultrasound teaching throughout the undergraduate curriculum, little is known about whether the quality of ultrasound teaching differs if performed by anatomists or clinicians. The purpose of this study is to compare medical students' evaluation of ultrasound anatomy teaching by clinicians and anatomists. Hands‐on interactive ultrasound sessions were scheduled as part of the gross anatomy course following principles of adult learning and instructional design. Seven teachers (three anatomists and four clinicians) taught in each session. Before each session, anatomists were trained in ultrasound by clinicians. Students were divided into groups, rotated teachers between sessions, and completed evaluations. Results indicated students perceived the two groups as comparable for all factors except for knowledge organization and the helpfulness of ultrasound for understanding anatomy (P < 0.001). However, results from unpaired samples t‐tests demonstrated a nonstatistically significant difference between the groups within each session for both questions. Moreover, students' test performance for both groups was similar. This study demonstrated that anatomists can teach living anatomy using ultrasound with minimal training as well as clinicians, and encourage the teaching of living anatomy by anatomists in human anatomy courses using ultrasound. Repeating this study at a multicenter level is currently being considered to further validate our conclusion. Anat Sci Educ 7: 340–349. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

A pedagogy of belonging: troubling encounters with ethnic and religious difference

Understanding the construction of belonging, and how unbelonging might be troubled, is critical work. For schools in many parts of the world one of the many challenges of globalisation is the task of teaching with, and for, ethnic and cultural diversity. This paper examines the exclusionary practices of teaching that construct ethnic and religious minority students in states of unbelonging. These practices are due, in part, to teachers’ failure to really know their students. Alongside this argument, discourses of belonging in rural schools that speak to possibilities for everyday place-sharing for ethnic and religious minority students are examined. Simple and common moments of mutual recognition and understanding speak to the possibilities for belonging that are opened up in everyday relations of knowing. The implications of these ideas for teachers and teacher education in what is framed as a ‘pedagogy of belonging’ are considered.