Conventional teaching about obesity, especially within a physiology-based course, tends to focus on the biological aspects. Unfortunately, framing obesity from a solely biological perspective ignores many factors that contribute to the condition, leaving students with an overly simplistic idea. We developed an introductory exercise physiology…

In this study, we analyzed data of heart rate and pulse amplitude collected by undergraduate students in a physiology lab course during and after the diving reflex. On average, heart rate was reduced 21% at 15 seconds and 29% at 30 seconds during diving. Pulse amplitude generally decreased but with greater individual variation. There is no…

Benjamin Bloom published his "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook I: Cognitive Domain" in 1956 (New York: David McKay, Co.) to help educators develop learning objectives for teaching. Several modifications have been made since then to adapt Bloom's taxonomy to various uses and disciplines (Crowe A, Dirks C, Wenderoth MP.…

Anatomy practical classes have traditionally been taught by a team of demonstrators (team-taught) in a large dissection room. More recently, particularly in nonmedical contexts, practical classes have been taught by one teacher (sole-taught) to smaller student groups. The aim of this study was to compare student outcomes when the same course was…

Learning the basic competencies of critical thinking are very important in the education of any young scientist, and teachers must be prepared to help students develop a valuable set of analytic tools. In my experience, this is best achieved by encouraging students to study areas with little scientific consensus, such as the control mechanisms of…

Blended learning has become increasingly common in higher education. Recent findings suggest that blended learning achieves better student outcomes than traditional face-to-face teaching in gross anatomy courses. While face-to-face content is perceived as important to learning there is less evidence for the significance of online content in…

Since concepts may have different meanings in different contexts, students have to learn to recontextualise them, i.e. to adapt their meanings to a new context. It is unclear, however, what characteristics a learning and teaching strategy for recontextualising should have. The study aims to develop such a learning and teaching strategy for…

This study examined the use of iPads with anatomy applications (apps) in the laboratory sections of the largest undergraduate course at the university, Anatomy and Physiology, serving more than 300 students. The majority of these students were nursing, exercise science/physical education and biology majors. With a student survey (student opinion)…

Engaging communication of complex scientific concepts with the general public requires more than simplification. Compelling, relevant, and timely points of linkage between scientific concepts and the experiences and interests of the general public are needed. Pop-culture icons such as superheroes can represent excellent opportunities for exploring…

In physiological education, blended course formats (integration of face-to-face and online instruction) can facilitate increased student learning, performance, and satisfaction in classroom settings. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of using blending course formats in laboratory settings. We evaluated the impact of blended learning…

In this article, we review how we interact with medical students in our efforts to teach blood pressure regulation and systemic cardiovascular control along with related elements of respiratory and exercise physiology. Rather than provide a detailed lecture with key facts, we attempted to outline our approach to teaching integrative cardiovascular…

Students of exercise science are well positioned to facilitate a shift of the nation's attitude on health care from disease treatment to disease prevention. This report chronicles our efforts toward transforming the exercise physiology core course from a lecture-based, instructor-centered class to a student-centered environment in which…

It's a situation every avid cyclist knows only too well. If you cycle up a hill and then back down with no net change in elevation, it seems as if your slower uphill speed and faster downhill speed should offset each other. But they don't. Your average speed is less than it would have been had you cycled the same distance on a level road.…

We have measured blood oxygenation levels in a group of 14 people (8 young people and 6 adults) on a physically demanding expedition to Mt Kenya. Blood oxygenation was measured at 11 different altitudes between 1910 and 4985 m using pulse oximetry. We found that pulse oximetry was suitable for use on a youth expedition and we were able to show…