Assessing how students value learning communication skills in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology course.

Students, particularly those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and healthcare-related programs, should develop proficient interpersonal skills, including communication. To help students develop effective communication skills, instructors need to consider the value students give to learning these skills. The Student Attitudes Toward Communication Skills Survey (SATCSS) was developed to measure how undergraduate students value learning communication skills based on Expectancy-Value Theory across three modes of communication (verbal, written, non-verbal). The survey was given to students interested in healthcare professions and enrolled in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology (A&P) course (n = 233) at a Midwest research active university. The survey showed evidence of validity, measuring two components: (1) "Value to Profession" (attainment and utility value) and (2) "Value to Self" (intrinsic value and cost). There was a significant difference in sub-scores among the four task values such that students thought that learning communication skills was important and relevant (high attainment and utility value) but not interesting (low intrinsic value) and costly. Students with high total scores valued communication skills across all four task values. As total value scores decreased, it was first due to students finding learning communication skills to be time prohibitive and then a lack of interest in learning communication skills. Based on these results, it is recommended that instructors incorporate communication skills training into content that is already part of their A&P course to reduce time concerns. Additional recommendations include using reflective activities and humor to increase student interest.

Preparing for Class: Actions and Resources of Introductory Biology Students.

Instructors want students to be prepared for class. There are several different resources and activities available to help students prepare for class, but very little is known about how students choose to prepare for class in the context of undergraduate biology. In this study, we used content analysis to investigate what students do to prepare for an introductory biology course and if and how that preparation differed under two different conditions. Students were either directed to search out and choose their resources to prepare for class (choice treatment) or assigned specific pages from a textbook (text treatment). Students in the choice treatment reported preparing for class slightly more often than students in the text treatment, with both groups reporting that they prepared for over three-quarters of classes. However, students assigned specific textbook passages engaged more while preparing than students who had to find their resources. The textbook was a popular resource but second to websites for students who got to choose. Students in both groups performed similarly in the course. This work helps instructors understand what their students may be doing to prepare for class. We provide recommendations to guide instructors on how to help their students prepare for class.

Establishing a baseline of science communication skills in an undergraduate environmental science course.

BACKGROUND: Seminal reports, based on recommendations by educators, scientists, and in collaboration with students, have called for undergraduate curricula to engage students in some of the same practices as scientists-one of which is communicating science with a general, non-scientific audience (SciComm). Unfortunately, very little research has focused on helping students develop these skills. An important early step in creating effective and efficient curricula is understanding what baseline skills students have prior to instruction. Here, we used the Essential Elements for Effective Science Communication (EEES) framework to survey the SciComm skills of students in an environmental science course in which they had little SciComm training. RESULTS: Our analyses revealed that, despite not being given the framework, students included several of the 13 elements, especially those which were explicitly asked for in the assignment instructions. Students commonly targeted broad audiences composed of interested adults, aimed to increase the knowledge and awareness of their audience, and planned and executed remote projects using print on social media. Additionally, students demonstrated flexibility in their skills by slightly differing their choices depending on the context of the assignment, such as creating more engaging content than they had planned for. CONCLUSIONS: The students exhibited several key baseline skills, even though they had minimal training on the best practices of SciComm; however, more support is required to help students become better communicators, and more work in different contexts may be beneficial to acquire additional perspectives on SciComm skills among a variety of science students. The few elements that were not well highlighted in the students' projects may not have been as intuitive to novice communicators. Thus, we provide recommendations for how educators can help their undergraduate science students develop valuable, prescribed SciComm skills. Some of these recommendations include helping students determine the right audience for their communication project, providing opportunities for students to try multiple media types, determining the type of language that is appropriate for the audience, and encouraging students to aim for a mix of communication objectives. With this guidance, educators can better prepare their students to become a more open and communicative generation of scientists and citizens. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40594-021-00304-0.

Challenging endocrinology students with a critical-thinking workbook.

A central goal of science education is to help students develop higher order thinking skills to enable them to face the challenges of life. Accordingly, science instructors are now urged to craft their classrooms such that they serve as not only spaces for disseminating information, but also an arena through which students are encouraged to think scientifically and develop critical-thinking skills. This project aimed to develop a workbook that helps postsecondary students learn endocrinology and engages them in critical thinking. Each of the five chapters focuses on a different topic rooted within core biological concepts relevant to endocrinology. Such topics were identified on cross-referencing seminal reports on science education. Tenants of Numrich's Sequence of Critical-Thinking Tasks were used to guide the development of chapter sections with the intent of engaging students in critical thinking over time by way of practice and scaffolded guidance. Chapter sections of modeling, event sequencing, clinical application, research and communication, and simulation, target different skills presented in Numrich's framework. Students' learning, experiences, and behaviors were used to evaluate the workbook and inform the revision of the workbook into the publicly available second edition.

The growth hormone signaling system: Insights into coordinating the anabolic and catabolic actions of growth hormone.

Although growth hormone (GH) is a multifunctional factor that coordinates various aspects of feeding, reproduction, osmoregulation, and immune system function, perhaps two of its most studied actions are the regulation of growth and metabolism, particularly lipid metabolism. In this review, we describe the major growth-promoting and lipid metabolic actions of GH and then discuss how the GH system regulates these actions. Numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors provide information about the metabolic status of the organism and influence the production of release of GH. The actions of GH are mediated by GH receptors (GHR), which are widely distributed among tissues. Teleosts possess multiple forms of GHRs that arose through the evolution of this group. Modulation of tissue responsiveness to GH is regulated by molecular and functional expression of GHRs, and in teleosts GHR subtypes, by various factors that reflect the metabolic and growth status of the organism, including nutritional state. The action of GH is propagated by the linkage of GHRs to several cellular effector systems, including JAK-STAT, ERK, PI3K-Akt, and PKC. The differential activation of these pathways, which is governed by nutrient status, underlies GH stimulation of growth or GH stimulation of lipolysis. Taken together, the multi-functional actions of GH are determined by the distribution and abundance of GHRs (and GHR subtypes in teleosts) as well as by the GHR-effector system linkages.

Insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 modulate the lipolytic action of growth hormone by altering signal pathway linkages.

Growth hormone (GH) has many actions in vertebrates, including the regulation of two disparate metabolic processes: growth promotion (anabolic) and the mobilization of stored lipids (catabolic). Our previous studies showed that GH stimulated IGF-1 production in hepatocytes from fed rainbow trout, but in cells from fasted fish GH stimulated lipolysis. In this study, we used rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to elucidate regulation of the mechanisms that enable cells to alter their lipolytic responsiveness to GH. In the first experiment, cells were removed from either fed or fasted fish, conditioned in medium containing serum (10%) from either fed or fasted fish, then challenged with GH. GH stimulated the expression of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), the primary lipolytic enzyme, in cells from fasted fish conditioned with "fasted serum" but not in cells from fasted fish conditioned in "fed serum." Pretreatment of cells from fed fish with "fasted serum" resulted in GH-stimulated HSL expression, whereas GH-stimulated HSL expression in cells from fasted fish was blocked by conditioning in "fed serum." The nature of the conditioning serum governed the signaling pathways activated by GH irrespective of the nutritional state of the animals from which the cells were removed. When hepatocytes were pretreated with "fed serum," GH activated JAK2, STAT5, Akt, and ERK pathways; when cells were pretreated with "fasted serum," GH activated PKC and ERK. In the second study, we examined the direct effects of insulin (INS) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), two nutritionally-regulated hormones, on GH-stimulated lipolysis and signal transduction in isolated hepatocytes. GH only stimulated HSL mRNA expression in cells from fasted fish. Pretreatment with INS and/or IGF-1 abolished this lipolytic response to GH. INS and/or IGF-1 augmented GH activation of JAK2 and STAT5 in cells from fed and fasted fish. However, INS and/or IGF-1 eliminated the ability of GH to activate PKC and ERK from fasted cells. These results indicate that INS and IGF-1 determine the signaling pathways activated by GH and whether or not a lipolytic response ensues. Such hormone-receptor-signal pathway linkages provide insight into the molecular basis of GH multifunctionality and into how cellular responses to GH can be adjusted to meet physiological (e.g., nutritional), developmental, or other conditions.