PsTL 1135 Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology
CIS Summer July 20 - 24, 2009
Big ideas for PsTL 1135
Fill the bucket at home!
What
does this mean?
Another theme:
Memorize less, understand more
and still another theme:
Collect, interpret and communicate data.
Topic Assignments
Purdy: Blood Vessels (atherosclerosis)
Semmler: Blood
Brown: Heart
Childs: Lymphatic (Vaccinations)
Oconnor: Urinary
Harris: Endocrine System / Diabetes
Youngsma: Nervous System / Senses
Froehle Respiratory
Cone Reproductive
E mail Sent 5.21.09
PsTL 1135 - CIS Instructors
I’m in the process of moving from Appleby Hall to a new home in Burton
Hall. Bottom line — CHAOS!
There is a National Science Teachers Association meeting this next Fall in Minneapolis
and Susan Henderson (she’s in-charge of CIS here at the U of M) has said
that she’ll sponsor two anatomy instructors to attend (pay entry fees).
Here is the web site:
http://www.nsta.org/conferences/2009min/?lid=con
I’m presenting “College in the Schools” on Friday from 2 to
3 PM on Friday
Let me know if you are interested in helping with the presentation and attending
the conference.
A couple things to report for this summer:
FIRST – I need the new folks to activate their Moodle accounts. (Moodle
is the system that we will use for on line quizzes and other stuff.)
Go here for information:
http://www1.umn.edu/moodle/instructor/guides/activate_account.html
Moodle Tech help can be found here (Email):
Moodle Support: moodle@umn.edu
You’ll need your U of M x500 to log-in, and you’ll also need the
x500s to enter grades at the end of the semester. I’ll enclose an
excel file with the information I have at this time. I think there are
three of you without x500s at this time. (You can contact the CIS office
to get your x500 if you are having trouble.)
Here is our Moodle site at this time:
https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=2731
(You first need to activate your account, and then I need to add you to the list
of users, in order to get into the site.)
You can practice your Moodle skills at this site — try out a few things
like making a quiz or uploading a file — everything there is considered “temporary” so
don’t worry about breaking stuff — that’s how you learn. We’ll
learn quite a bit about Moodle this Summer.
SECOND
You have all been given a body system to work on for this summer. A big
question is “What has to be done prior to the workshop?”
Here is a list:
150 questions that you will put into Moodle during our Summer week. Many,
or even most, of your questions should include images.
(See item THREE below for more details.) I would recommend putting your
questions in Word, and then having a separate folder with images (JPEG, GIFs,
etc.) Big note – I think Moodle only supports JPEG — so
you may want to keep that in mind.
Power Point file compliments the easy questions in your test bank. Students
should look at / study this prior to completing the on-line quizzes.
A set of discussion questions for class — items that generate conversations
and arguments.
(For example, the “controversy” behind vaccinations, doping and athletics,
etc.)
A lab activity or two (if possible – lymphatic system, anybody?)
I may add a couple more items in a week or two — but this is a good start.
THREE
I’ve just completed a manuscript on “formative testing” (See
enclosed — it’s “in review” now. Formative tests
are used to help prepare for larger tests – or just to get ready for class. Also
called “pre tests.”) -- We’ve found that small quizzes
completed prior to class are very good at learning a “few facts” --but
not good at promoting higher order thinking (example - problem solving). With
this in mind, I hope to have our students use on-line quizzes prior to showing
up to class, and then in class we’ll do activities that promote higher
order thinking — such as case studies, problem solving, etc..
I encourage you to read the paper and we’ll discuss it this Summer — but
I think it describes how we should, and should not use, on-line testing.
For our students, we need to press further than “learn a few facts” --
we need to push to higher-levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
SO — for your assigned topic — try to think, find, develop, etc...
items that promote higher levels of thought.
Also – in terms of your 150 questions — try to develop about 75 to
100 at the “knowledge and recall” levels, and then about 50 (if possible)
at the higher levels. (Hint – I love questions that require
students to analyze data, interpret graphs, etc. You can look in your textbook’s
testing files — many good questions in there.)
FOUR
One of the easier activities that I use involve concept maps. The enclosed
document shows how I introduce concept maps in my study guide. I create
concept maps with a couple errors in them, and then have groups of students “find
the errors.” Concept maps can be simple or complex — the more complex,
the more time it takes to find the errors. Another simple group activity
is to have groups of student create concept maps to show relationships. Example,
develop a concept map that shows the anatomy of the digestive system and the
location and function of major enzymes.
Side note:
In science education, there are two things that have been shown to promote higher
order thinking:
Cooperative groups
Concept maps
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Units: (15 total)
Chapter 1 Topics (homeostasis) & Chemical Basis of Life (biochemical classification)
Cells (mitosis and cancer) Tissues / Histology / Skin / Integumentary System - (tattoos)
Skeletal system & joints (knee joint reconstruction)
Bones, bone markings, muscles, origins, insertions, actions (bone markings coordinated with muscle attachments)
Muscle physiology and microanatomy (steroids )
Nervous system and senses (drugs)
Endocrine system (diabetes)
Blood (blood doping and anemia)
Heart (myocardial infarction, pacemakers)
Blood vessels and atherosclerosis
Lymphatic system and immunity (HIV)
Respiratory system (VO2 max)
Digestive System (eating disorders)
Urinary system and fluid balance (diuretics and blood pressure)
Reproductive system (pregnancy, reproductive technologies, action of birth control mechanisms)
What we need: (Example materials -- just a start)
150 questions 100 easy, 25 moderate, and 25 difficult - just an estimate
(Many / most questions should include images, data, graphs, etc.)
Power Point files that accompany / compliment the questions
Learning objectives / overviews of what students will learn.
Paragraph / Introduction for students to read.
Teachers guide
Case Studies for class
2, 5, 10 or 30 minutes classroom activities / discussion questions
Group learning activities
Lab activities
Where to find resources:
APS Archive (American Physiology Society)
Case Studies in Science - SUNY - Buffalo
CDC - Health Statistics (lots of data)
Important note: When possible, we want students to engage in the activities of real scientists (scientific inquiry). This means designing and implementing labs, collecting data, interpreting and communicating data (constructing and reading graphs), engaging in discussions and arguments over the meaning of data. Etc.
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Extra Information -- Nature of Science (NOS) - Just FYI
(from Norm Lederman)
(Here is another good introduction to NOS)
Science is based, at least partially, on observations of the natural world
Scientific knowledge is subject to change and never absolute or certain
The crucial distinction between scientific claims (e.g.,
inferences) and evidence on which such claims are based (e.g., observations);
The generation of scientific knowledge involves human imagination and creativity
Scientific knowledge and investigation are influenced by
scientists’ theoretical and disciplinary commitments, beliefs, prior
knowledge, training, experiences, and expectations
Science as a human enterprise is practiced within,
affects, and is affected by, a lager social and cultural milieu
# Myth of the “Scientific Method”: The lack of a universal step-wise
method that guarantees the generation of valid knowledge; and
# Nature of, and distinction between scientific theories and laws (e.g., lack
of a hierarchical relationship between theories and laws).