Students’ Capabilities and Physiology

On starting University or College students should possess knowledge and skills to successfully engage in their studies. In Physiology the skills include mathematical, language, communication and study skills. The knowledge is that of biological and chemical concepts, although students can learn those while studying Physiology. Anatomy should be a prerequisite or integrated with Physiology. Without these skills and knowledge students find it hard to succeed. Progressing through Physiology units, students develop an understanding of Physiology, as detailed by Michael and Rovick in the book Problem Solving in Physiology . Students need to develop interpretative skills such as understanding graphs; be able predict changes in physiological systems; and have acquired good learning skills. However there is a danger of information overload due to the explosion in detailed knowledge, and we do not want our students’ heads full of facts they do not link together. By the end of their study program, students have developed capabilities, from explaining pathophysiological concepts, integrating concepts across physiological systems, to thinking critically in order to analyse situations and positioning Physiology within Science (for example its experimental nature and relationships to molecular biology) and society (the impact of health on people). In practical units they can expertly formulate a hypothesis and design experiments to test it. Generic skills developed include life‐long learning capabilities and being an independent learner. To enable students to learn, three main principles have been identified: active learning, time‐on‐task and feedback. The role of teachers is to facilitate learning by promoting those principles.