Student needs to understand how to apply content knowledge to real-life problems. Planned assignments provide this practice.
Traditional exams with multiple-choice questions check for recall. Students have lower scores when the questions require analysis, interpretation,
With a clear plan, understanding and skills will be developed. Earlier in the course, the case studies help students learn the components of the clinical case studies assignments. It provides the practice to read and interpret data and how to use evidence. Later the case studies assignments are designed to help students practice these skills.
After implementing the change, I surveyed students to check if they developed a deeper understanding of the Anatomy & Physiology as a subject and can make connections among different systems and apply their knowledge in real world problems. Their self-analysis and the exam results indicated improvement.
Anatomy & Physiology is the foundational subject ; students learn about human body systems' structure and function. Structure and function complement each other if the structure changes it will affect the function and vise versa. The deeper understanding of the subject will help students understand the change and make connections among body systems; this is central to understand and treat the diseases. Case studies assignments help students link content knowledge to clinical application. Students learn how to analyze and interpret lab/medical data and clinical evidence (signs and symptoms) and think critically. The case studies help students practice these skills.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 case-study-muscle-tissue-k.docx | 169.93 KB |
| muscle-quiz-result.docx | 13.55 KB |
Comments
Hi,
Thank you sharing your CATS. I feel your case studies bought the content to life for your students. I am sure your students enjoyed applying this real life application. Thank you for encouraging students to use critical thinking and anaylsis.
Thank You,
Catherine Cochran
Muhammad - case studies are a great way for students to really think about the material. When I was a student, I seemed to learn more when the instructor used case studies. The contextualized learning and conversations I had with other students really resonated with me. Thanks for sharing this with us.