Assessing the impact of the Graduate Certificate in Anatomical Sciences Instruction: A post‐degree survey

There are few graduate programs available for pursuing a doctorate in anatomy where students gain specific training in gross anatomy dissection and the responsibilities of a medical educator. In light of this fact, the University of Kentucky created a Graduate Certificate in Anatomical Sciences Instruction in 2006. This 12‐credit hour curriculum includes detailed training in gross anatomy and/or neuroscience courses, practicum experiences, a seminar class in pedagogical literature, and a course in educational strategies for the anatomical sciences. The award of certificate completion affirms that the candidate has demonstrated faculty‐supervised proficiency in anatomy dissection, instruction in anatomy topics, and teaching strategies for anatomy. Seventeen graduate students have earned the certificate since its inception; nine students accepted teaching positions in anatomy following their graduate training and currently nine certificate graduates have assistant (six) or associate (three) professor positions in academia. In 2016, an anonymous survey including Likert‐style and open‐ended questions was emailed to all certificate graduates. Graduates favorably responded (each question averaged 4.4 or greater out of 5) that the certificate increased their awareness of teaching‐faculty responsibilities, adequately prepared them for teaching‐related duties, and positively contributed toward their first employment. Graduates indicated that the lecturing and dissection experience, awareness of faculty responsibilities, and job preparation (e.g., teaching philosophy development) were the most helpful aspects of the certificate. These results indicate that the Graduate Certificate in Anatomical Sciences Instruction is viewed by its graduates and their employers as a valuable teaching credential that can be attained alongside a basic science degree. Anat Sci Educ 11: 516–524. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Task Switching Effects in Anticipation Timing

Abstract

In an effort to devise a simple but effective test to indicate the overall volleyball playing ability of high school boys, a thorough review of published tests was made. From this review, it was determined that there were four important aspects of a wall-volley test. Preliminary studies investigated each of these aspects and, as a result, a test similar to Brady's test was devised.

Data regarding the finalized form of the test were gathered by administering it to three classes of grade 10 and 11 boys (total N=71). The test for validity produced a correlation coefficient of .767. The reliability test yielded a coefficient of .817.

It was concluded that the test gave evidence of being worthy of further experimentation and use in its present form.     

Social Problems as a Basis for a Vitalized Arithmetic Curriculum

Ninety-six high-achieving fourth-graders performed a memory task before which either positive or negative expectancy statements were made by an adult and after which either positive or negative feedback statements were given. The resulting dissonant or consonant expectancy-feedback combinations were delivered over a four-day period. Results indicated that for high IQ children, performance was higher for those given discrepant rather than consonant combinations of expectancy-feedback statements. However, for low IQ children, performance was higher when given negative rather than positive feedback regardless of expectancy. The results are discussed in light of an uncertainty theory of motivation and arousal.     

Learning to detect error in movement timing using physical and observational practice

Three experiments assessed the possibility that a physical practice participant's ability to render appropriate movement timing estimates may be hindered compared to those who merely observed. Results from these experiments revealed that observers and physical practice participants executed and estimated the overall durations of movement sequences similarly and more accurately than those who were not privy to any previous practice. This was true for a case in which (a) the execution demands for the physical practice participant were relatively high when multiple movement sequences were practiced with a consistent relative time structure but different overall durations (Experiment 1) and (b) the execution demands were relatively modest when only a single sequential motor task was learned (Experiment 2). Moreover, this general set of findings remained true for individuals who had previous experience with physical or observational practice, even when timing estimations were made during tests with no execution demands (Experiment 3). Thus, executing a movement sequence does not appear to interfere with the development of a learner's subjective evaluation of overall timing performance. Specifically, these data provided evidence that recognizing error in movement timing can be accomplished via observation, and, more generally, they add to the growing evidence supporting the claim that observational practice is a legitimate method facilitating the acquisition of sequential movement behaviors.     

Visualising Famagusta: interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George of the Greeks in Famagusta,Cyprus

This paper explores a recent interdisciplinary project which brought together a visualization expert, an art historian, and an architectural historian, to study the ruins of Saint George of the Greeks Cathedral in Famagusta, eastern Cyprus, then create a virtual three-dimensional reconstruction of it. The motivation for this work, funded by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, was to apply existing knowledge and expertise to a difficult, and very particular, heritage question on this Eastern Mediterranean Island. The creation of such a model could, it was felt, not only reiterate the academic value of thorough archival work married to state of the art technology, but also have very practical reverberations in terms of future heritage welfare and education via this ‘borderless’ domain.