Active physiology learning in a diverse class

shiliangyin

Active physiology learning in a diverse class: an analysis of medical studentresponses in terms of sex, home language, and self-reported test performance
    Active physiology learning in a
diverse class: an analysis of medical student responses in terms of sex,
home language, and self-reported test performance. Adv Physiol Educ
36: 116–124, 2012; doi:10.1152/advan.00132.2010.—The student
body at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) is very
diverse, representing many cultures, religions, and languages. Research
has shown that weakness in English can impact student
performance. Recent studies have also highlighted sex-based differences
in students’ learning and listening styles. These factors pose
both challenges and opportunities for teachers of physiology. Student
presentations were incorporated for a number of years into the
traditional didactic second-year medical physiology curriculum at the
NRMSM. Feedback obtained about the perceived benefits of these
presentations for the learning of gastrointestinal and endocrine physiology
included demographic data pertaining to students’ sex, home
language, and self-reported performance in tests. Analysis of the
50-item questionnaire responses, obtained over a 2-yr period, provided
some interesting insights. Student responses to the items differed
significantly in 27 of the 50 items in the questionnaire, based on
sex alone (22%), sex and home language (7%), home language alone
(37%), performance alone (26%), and performance and home language
(7%). Our analyses of student perceptions support the findings
of other studies and show that factors such as sex, home language, and
student performance can play an important role in the way students
are motivated to learn. In designing active learning strategies, academics
need to take into account the potential influences that might
affect student learning in diverse, multicultural, and multilingual
classes.