Human physiology is a prerequisite to pathophysiology for baccalaureate of nursing sciences students and requisite for undergraduate exercise sciences students, in an undergraduate health sciences curriculum of Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Division. This is the first human physiology course required for these first-year students…

Teaching physiology can be challenging as students are initially required to understand basic and abstract concepts. Thus students typically view physiology as a "difficult" subject and place an emphasis on rote learning and memorization. Here, we attempted to address this knowledge gap by introducing a pedagogical intervention into the…

Biology education research often utilizes the terms learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding without providing their specific definition. When definitions have been provided, they are often inconsistent across publications. As part of a larger research study, we interviewed 11 participants on 2 occasions while they were enrolled in a…

The traditional case study has been used as a learning tool for the past 100 years, and in our program, graduate physiology students are presented with a real-world scenario and must determine the diagnosis and treatment of the patient. We found that students defaulted to memorization of disease with treatment and bypassed gaining an understanding…

Cognitive flexibility is defined as the ability to assimilate previously learned information and concepts to generate novel solutions to new problems. This skill is crucial for success within ill-structured domains such as biology, physiology, and medicine, where many concepts are simultaneously required for understanding a complex problem, yet…

This article provides a qualitative examination of student responses to an enjoyable online experience illustrating structure-function relationships of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the human nervous system via text messaging emojis (often employed during mobile phone messaging). The "N.A.M.E." (Neurotransmitters as…

Renal transport is a central mechanism underlying electrolyte homeostasis, acid base balance and other essential functions of the kidneys in human physiology. Thus, knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the nephron is essential for the understanding of kidney function in health and disease. However, students find this content difficult to…

Functional Neuroanatomy is a course designed to help students learn the function and anatomy of the human nervous system. Historically, students have had difficulty with the spinal tract curricular unit and frequently resorted to memorization to "learn" the material. They performed poorly on exams and failed to demonstrate competence in the…

For students pursuing careers in medical fields, knowledge of technical and medical terminology is prerequisite to being able to solve problems in their respective disciplines and professions. The Dean Vaughn Medical Terminology 350 Total Retention System, also known as Medical Terminology 350 (25), is a mnemonic instructional and learning…