Reflections on core concepts for undergraduate physiology programs.

Undergraduate education should help students build a deep, conceptual understanding of their discipline, not merely compel them to acquire factual knowledge. The core concepts for physiology (described in 2011), conceptual frameworks, and conceptual assessments are available to focus undergraduate physiology education on helping students understand and apply principles that govern and describe physiological processes. We review the context in which physiology core concepts were identified by a community of physiology educators. We explain the structure of conceptual frameworks and concept inventories and their benefit. We describe how core concepts have been used in physiology courses and departments, as communicated in publications, through presentations at physiology and biology education meetings, and within the Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG). Finally, we share our recommendations and hopes for the next decade.

Mental models and meaningful learning.

If you understand something, you can use the information you have acquired to solve problems to which that knowledge is relevant. Meaningful learning is learning with understanding. Achieving meaningful learning begins with the building of correct, appropriate mental models, or representations, of the knowledge being acquired. The next step is learning to use the available mental models to solve problems. In many of the biomedical sciences, this means being able to either calculate something, predict the responses of the system, or explain the responses of the system. Since only the learner can do the learning, the only possible role for the teacher is to help the learner to learn. This means creating an active learning environment in which the learner can acquire the needed information, continually test the mental models being built, and correct or refine those models as needed. In an active learning environment, students are given ample opportunities to learn to solve problems. If the goal of the course is the achievement of meaningful learning, it is essential that the students then be assessed to determined whether they have reached that goal.

Enhancing active learning in the student laboratory.

We previously examined how three approaches to directing students in a laboratory setting impacted their ability to repair a faulty mental model in respiratory physiology (Modell, HI, Michael JA, Adamson T, Goldberg J, Horwitz BA, Bruce DS, Hudson ML, Whitescarver SA, and Williams S. Adv Physiol Educ 23: 82-90, 2000). This study addresses issues raised by the results of that work. In one group, a written protocol directed students to predict what would happen to frequency and depth of breathing during exercise on a bicycle ergometer, run the experiment, and compare their results to their predictions ("predictor without verification"). In a "predictor with verification" group, students followed the same written protocol but were also required to show the instructor their predictions before running the experiment. Students in a third group reported their predictions verbally to an instructor immediately before exercise and reviewed their results with that instructor immediately after exercise ("instructor intervention group"). Results of this study were consistent with our earlier work. The predictor with verification and predictor without verification protocols yielded similar results. The instructor intervention protocol yielded higher success rates in repairing students' mental models. We subsequently assessed the efficacy of a prediction period at the beginning of the lab session and a wrap-up period at the end to compare predictions and results. This predict and wrap-up protocol was more effective than the predictor without verification protocol, but it was not as effective as the instructor intervention protocol. Although these results may reflect multiple factors impacting learning in the student laboratory, we believe that a major factor is a mismatch between students' approaches to learning and the intended learning outcomes of the experience.

Undergraduates' understanding of cardiovascular phenomena.

Undergraduates students in 12 courses at 8 different institutions were surveyed to determine the prevalence of 13 different misconceptions (conceptual difficulties) about cardiovascular function. The prevalence of these misconceptions ranged from 20 to 81% and, for each misconception, was consistent across the different student populations. We also obtained explanations for the students' answers either as free responses or with follow-up multiple-choice questions. These results suggest that students have a number of underlying conceptual difficulties about cardiovascular phenomena. One possible source of some misconceptions is the students' inability to apply simple general models to specific cardiovascular phenomena. Some implications of these results for teachers of physiology are discussed.