Premium
Development and assessment of group problem solving exercises to advance student reasoning skills (531.17)
Author(s) -
Beedle Aaron
Publication year - 2014
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.28.1_supplement.531.17
Subject(s) - bachelor , medical education , mathematics education , population , class (philosophy) , psychology , critical thinking , group work , medicine , computer science , environmental health , archaeology , artificial intelligence , history
The development and application of reasoning skills in scientific disciplines is important for student success in undergraduate education. To promote these skills in undergraduates of the new Bachelor in Pharmaceutical Sciences program at the University of Georgia, the required didactic course in human physiology was designed to incorporate six small group problem solving sessions dispersed throughout the course. Sessions were designed for groups of four to five students and used current course topics as a basis for critical thinking exercises. Students were assigned to random groups to work through a series of quests in content areas such as muscle metabolism, the baroreceptor reflex, drug absorption in the GI tract, and autoimmune endocrine disorders. Quests were designed to address skills such as identifying a problem/question, evaluating sources of medical information (bias), understanding limitations of individual studies, and logical application of homeostasis and negative feedback. Group interactions were reinforced by providing unique materials or tasks to individual group members that were necessary for completion of the exercise. Concepts from group sessions were reinforced with individual reflective homework assignments. The efficacy of group sessions was evaluated with pre‐ and post‐course assessments of reasoning skills in the inaugural class of fifteen students. Overall, student responses to problem solving sessions were positive; however, application of the exercises in a larger student population is necessary to better determine their impact on reasoning skills. Grant Funding Source : Supported by the Lilly Teaching Fellow program, Univ. of Georgia Center for Teaching and Learning