Engaging students in active learning has proved to transform reflexive knowledge into true learning of material in medical education. Histology is one subject area that consistently presents as a challenge for medical and undergraduate students. The large amount of complex information needed to completely understand and interpret histological…

Community college students come from a variety of backgrounds and have different levels of educational preparedness compared to undergraduates in 4-year undergraduate schools. Historically, retention rates of these students in human physiology courses have been low, often due to non-passing grades. Incorporation of additional active learning…

Guided inquiry is an active learning technique featuring collaborative group learning with a structured set of models and highly structured questions for students to discuss and answer. Moving this technique to an online delivery format presents challenges, leading to questions about the effectiveness of this technique during online instruction.…

While active learning strategies have been promoted by researchers as practices to increase performance and retention, some practices have been shown to have unintended negative effects on students such as increasing anxiety. Students often report the debilitating effect of test-taking anxiety on their performance. This study investigated the use…

In the United States, there is a demand for registered nurses. To be admitted into the nursing program, students need to complete prerequisite courses such as human anatomy and physiology. Many students find human anatomy and physiology challenging due to the nature of the content. Poor performance in human anatomy and physiology can preclude a…

One of the most challenging aspects of teaching anatomy and physiology is using teaching tools that enhance active learning and keep students actively engaged during the lecture courses. This study explored the use of a student response system that was easy to use, cost-efficient, and re-usable for multiple anatomy and physiology courses. More…

Student response systems (SRSs) are widely used in anatomy and physiology courses as a form of active learning. While traditional SRSs (clickers) are pervasive, gamified SRSs such as Kahoot! are becoming increasingly popular. However, the impact of using both types of systems in the same course is unknown. The goal of this study was to determine…

This paper analyzes the lived experience of Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students participating in the service-learning program, Anatomy Academy. To understand this experience, we performed a phenomenological analysis using the reflections of 31 DPT students as they participated as Mentors to 5th grade elementary students. Mentors used active…

Pre-clinical community college students represent a unique population with varied academic backgrounds and levels of preparedness. Addressing the needs of this population is important for issues of access, equity, and diversity in higher education. As part of a larger National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Community College Anatomy and…

This narrative study tells the teaching and learning story of the recently retired Dr. Peggy LePage, a longtime member of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society with a career as a community college anatomy and biology professor spanning nearly three decades. Drawn from a lengthy narrative interview, this paper describes Dr. LePage's background…

Reflections on the efficacy of pedagogical changes and practices and their effect on student performance are often hindered by incomplete data, small sample sizes, and the confounding variables of multiple instructors and teaching sites. Observations from such retrospective analyses, however, are highly sought after by instructors and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of active learning on student performance in a sophomore-level anatomy and physiology course. Exam grades of students from two consecutive fall semesters were compared. In the first year of the study, students (n=180) used skeletons, plastic muscular manikins, and illustrations to learn the…

The growing movement in STEM education is popularizing active learning, which has benefits for high school and undergraduate students, especially those in rural areas with limited resources. In Mississippi, daunting health disparities in incidence of stroke, cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and obesity warrant the implementation of…

In Anatomy and Physiology courses, students often struggle with visualizing structures, or processes, that occur at the cellular level, such as capillary exchange. Whenever available, models can be vital to students' understanding of a topic, particularly when they can be constructed by students in real time. To demonstrate capillary exchange to…

Students find it hard to understand acid-base homeostasis and the mechanisms involved in compensating for acid-base imbalances, including the role of the lungs and kidneys in this process. We have developed a laboratory activity based on collaborative problem-based learning and human patient simulators (HPSs) to teach this topic. Students (n=50)…