|
New NSF funding for Physiology |
|
|
|
 Giovanni Casotti, Maureen Knabb, Judith Greenamyer (Department of Biology) and Loretta
Rieser-Danner (Department of Psychology) were recently awarded an NSF
CCLI grant titled ‘Inquiry-based physiology curriculum integration at
West Chester University of Pennsylvania’. $112,049. The
grant aims to introduce computer equipment into three physiology
courses thus enabling inquiry-based student learning.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Recent evidence demonstrates that inquiry-based physiology laboratories
improve students’ critical and analytical thinking skills (Myers and
Burgess, 2003). Furthermore, learning is most effective when
carried out in small groups where students see the results of
experiments for themselves (Springer, et al., 1999). The Biology
department at West Chester University (WCU) offers three courses in
physiology: Comparative Vertebrate Physiology (Bio 468) for our majors,
Human Physiology (Bio 469) for students in our Pharmaceutical and
Product Development and Pre-Professional programs, and Human Anatomy
and Physiology II (Bio 269) for allied health majors. Students in
these courses struggle to understand important physiological concepts
because the labs are designed with step-by-step instructions yielding
expected results and taught using a traditional teacher-centered
approach. This method of teaching is necessary because students rely on
using outdated physiographs to generate much of their data. These
instruments, purchased in 1987, are technically difficult to use,
frequently break down during experiments, and require constant
trouble-shooting. As a result, student creativity and independent
investigation is impeded. Our primary goal is to modify our
physiology laboratory curricula to incorporate inquiry-based learning
that will allow students to test their own ideas, thereby teaching them
to be independent problem solvers and critical thinkers. To
facilitate these curricular goals, funding is requested to purchase
data acquisition and analysis hardware and software (PowerLab) that
will allow students to collect and analyze data easily. The
success of the program will be evaluated using formative and summative
assessment instruments developed and analyzed by Dr. Loretta
Rieser-Danner (recent University Assessment Coordinator), and the
Biology faculty team.
Intellectual merit: This proposal encourages student-led initiatives in
the classroom. We currently use a teacher-centered approach to
learning and plan, with the aid of computer technology, to implement a
student-centered model. Students will design their own
experiments with the professor’s input, and active learning will be
enhanced. To achieve our goals, we plan to organize teaching
workshops at WCU emphasizing novel pedagogy in physiology and present
at meetings, such as the Experimental Biology/ International Union of
Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Teaching Workshop, and the Human Anatomy
and Physiology (HAPS) teaching workshops that features innovative
strategies for teaching and learning physiology. In this
proposal, we detail examples of our proposed curricular changes, and
evaluation instruments to measure the success of our curricular
integration. The investigators in this proposal have a combined
total of 45 years experience in teaching physiology. Another of
the co-PI’s has extensive experience in the assessment of student
learning outcomes.
Broader impacts: The student-centered learning approach has proven to
enhance learning among college level students. Students learn
best through scientific discovery, using ideas that they themselves
formulate, once provided with a basic understanding of concepts by
their teachers. Formulation of ideas is a key concept in science
and necessary to enhance the research potential of students entering
graduate and professional schools, or careers in industry. Part
of WCU’s Strategic Plan aims to enhance the success of women and
minorities in the sciences. These groups currently comprise on
average 85% of the student population in our physiology courses.
Our curricular reforms will enhance success in the work place in these
traditionally under-represented groups. Our curricular
integration will be disseminated to the scientific community in several
ways. We will publish the results of our curricular reforms and
assessment data in the journal Advances in Physiology Education.
We will present the results of our curricular modifications at
pedagogical teaching workshops at WCU, and at the annual meetings of
the American Physiological Society, the National Science Teachers
Association, and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (founded to
promote communication among teachers at universities nationwide).
The experiments we design will also be posted on the ADInstruments,
PowerLab website for other institutions to use in their classes.
|
News 
