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The use of a case study from pop culture improves student test scores and evaluations in a cardiovascular physiology class
Author(s) -
Berg Ronan
Publication year - 2017
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.31.1_supplement.576.51
Subject(s) - test (biology) , curriculum , judgement , class (philosophy) , intervention (counseling) , medicine , psychology , physiology , nursing , pedagogy , paleontology , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law , biology
Background According to Zehr's ‘middle ground hypothesis’, the use of case studies from pop culture provides students with a basis for discovery learning by providing familiar and comfortable mental landscape where various scientific principles can be explored (Zehr, 2014). In the present study, I sought to examine the effects of this approach on student learning of cardiovascular physiology. Method During a 5‐week course on cardiovascular physiology for 2 nd ‐year medical students, I used a scene from Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), where the fictional character Miles Dyson suffers multiple fatal gunshot wounds, to teach the cardiovascular effects of severe hemorrhage in two classes (intervention group; n = 50), while a conventional patient case study on severe hemorrhage was used to teach the same physiological principles in a third class (control group; n = 28). At the end of the term, the students filled out an evaluation form, and then underwent a 10‐minute multiple choice test on the related core curriculum in cardiovascular physiology. Results The test scores were significantly higher in the intervention than in the control group ( Figure 1). The two groups rated their own skills in physiology similarly (NS), while the intervention group rated the quality of the teaching in physiology higher than the control group (p < 0.05). The majority of the students in the intervention group acknowledged that the use elements from pop culture made the teaching more fun, and enhanced both their understanding of the physiological principles taught, while also motivating them to participate more during class; however, less than half of the students found that the approach led to more self‐study ( Figure 2). Conclusion Although the use of a narrative from the Terminator franchise did not improve student's perception of their own skills in physiology, they rated this teaching approach higher than conventional teaching, and it did improve their test scores in the relevant core curriculum at the end of term. In accordance with Zehr's ‘middle ground’ hypothesis, my findings thus suggest that the use of case studies from pop culture in the physiology classroom improves student learning. Support or Funding Information None