Research shows that when students use core concepts to guide their reasoning, they are able to construct more accurate, mechanistic explanations. However, there is scant research exploring student's perceptions of the usefulness of core concepts. Knowing students' perceptions could be influential in encouraging faculty to adopt core concept…

Students often fail to utilize what they know about one topic (e.g., hemodynamics) when attempting to master another topic involving a similar phenomenon (e.g., airflow in airways). What accounts for this difficulty that students have? And how can students be assisted in doing a better job of applying what they already know to new topics? The…

Complex subjects such as physiology can be challenging for students to learn. These challenges are not uncommon in implementing the learning process in physiology and affect learning outcomes. Dramatization is an interactive and effective method to improve learning outcomes. In a project designed by senior medical students, junior medical students…

The analysis of spontaneous tail coiling (STC) in zebrafish embryos is a functional parameter that allows the study of motor development. It has recently gained relevance as a biomarker to assess the neurotoxicity of environmental substances. Its practicability in the laboratory makes it an excellent pedagogical tool for promoting students'…

A 3-year study (2017-2019) was conducted to obtain the views of nonmajor undergraduate students about discussions in learning physiology. The teaching methods used were lecture only (lecture), group discussion alone (discussion), and a combination of lecture and discussion (lecture + discussion). Students were assigned homework in a textbook, and…

Endocrine physiology is a complex subject for students. Game-based learning (GBL) and case-based learning (CBL) are active methodologies that are widely used because of their potential for motivation and greater proximity to the reality of modern students. We evaluated the effectiveness of GBL and CBL among veterinary medicine students compared…

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered language models presents new opportunities and challenges in education. By teaching students how to craft prompts that elicit insightful responses, faculty can scaffold activities where AI acts as a supplemental resource to amplify critical thinking and support student learning. Ongoing dialogue…

We created the "3-dimensional synaptic puzzle" (3Dsp) as an educational resource for the physiology teaching of synaptic transmission (ST). In this study, we aimed to apply and evaluate the use of 3Dsp. For this, we divided 175 university students from public and private universities into two groups: (1) control (CT; students that were…

Traditionally teachers display the learning outline at the beginning and conclusions at the end of didactic teaching sessions, and students may find it difficult to understand how teaching activities relate to learning objectives and what they should study for assessments. We introduced the "concept-sharing approach" in our…

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…

Large language models (LLMs)-based chatbots use natural language processing and are a type of generative artificial intelligence (AI) that is capable of comprehending user input and generating output in various formats. They offer potential benefits in medical education. This study explored the student's feedback on the utilization of LLMs in…

Physiology education research aims to investigate teaching-learning aspects and methods specifically applied to physiology teaching and learning. In this paper exploring Brazilian research public data and information from the Brazilian Physiological Society Teaching Committee, we investigated the status of this research topic (physiology…

With increasing medical knowledge, procedural, and diagnostic skills to learn, it is vital for educators to make the limited amount of teaching time available to students effective and efficient. Generative retrieval is an effective and efficient learning tool, improving long-term retention through the practice of retrieval from memory. Forty…

A new teaching format, the LecturePlus, was formulated as a lecture followed by small-group learning activities. This study assessed the effectiveness of LecturePlus in medical education. An interventional study was conducted among final-year medical students, with 74 students in the experimental group and 96 students in the control group. Each…

This qualitative study investigated processes used by undergraduate students over a course sequence in anatomy and physiology (A&P). Longitudinal data for each participant include weekly written reflections and interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of the two-semester sequence. The themes that emerged describe three variations of…