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“An inexplicable disease”‐ Prion disease as a ‘choose‐your‐own‐ experiment’ case to introduce students to scientific inquiry
Author(s) -
Hines Justin K.,
Serrano Antonio,
Miller Sarah
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.612.3
Subject(s) - mirroring , psychology , class (philosophy) , disease , mathematics education , medical education , medicine , computer science , social psychology , pathology , artificial intelligence
The study objective was to develop and test a case study which simulates scientific inquiry within the limits of a single course period and which can be used in large lecture‐format courses. Students unknowingly take the roles of the initial investigators of the Kuru epidemic of Papua New Guinea in 1957 and work in groups to iteratively conduct simulated investigations, evaluate the results, and form hypotheses regarding the nature of the disease. The activity culminates in a mock‐scientific conference, in which student groups collaborate by sharing findings, mirroring real events which led to the discovery of prion diseases. Learning goals focus on student opinions, attitudes and skills related to the nature of science, causes of disease epidemics, and prions as atypical infectious agents. The activity has been implemented successfully at five schools in seven courses which span five fields: biology, microbiology, genetics, zoology, and biochemistry. We present aggregated data from five courses measuring cognitive and affective learning gains. In addition to positive content learning gains and overwhelmingly positive affective responses from students, we were successful in using a modified CLASS‐BIO survey to measure objective changes in attitudes toward biology as a result of the activity alone. We hope that both the activity and approach can be used broadly by life sciences educators.