Active Learning and Technology Approaches for Teaching Immunology to Undergraduate Students
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22077993 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sharon A Stranford (Pomona College), Judith A Owen (Haverford College), Frances Mercer (0000-0002-7324-0270, California State Polytechnic University), Roberta R Pollock (Occidental College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Pages | 114-114 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-07 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00114 |
| PMID | 32478022 |
| OpenAlex | W3021358070 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 27 |
Immunology is a fascinating and extremely complex field, with natural connections to many disciplines both within STEM and beyond. Teaching an undergraduate course in immunology therefore provides both opportunities and challenges. Significant challenges to student learning include mastering the volume of new vocabulary and figuring out how to think coherently about a physiological system that is so anatomically disseminated. More importantly, teaching immunology can be complicated because it requires students to integrate knowledge derived from prior introductory courses in a range of fields, including cell biology, biochemistry, anatomy and genetics. However, this also provides an opportunity to use the study of the immune system as a platform on which students can assemble and integrate foundational STEM knowledge, while also learning about a new and exciting field. Pedagogical theory has taught us that students learn best by engaging with complicated questions and by thinking metacognitively about how to approach solutions. Building this skill set in today's students, who now hail from a broad demographic and who are accustomed to acquiring their knowledge from a variety of different media, requires a new set of teaching tools. Using perspectives from four different immunology educators, we describe a range of student-centered, active learning approaches that have been field-tested in a number of different immunology classrooms and that are geared to a variety of learning styles. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that active learning approaches to immunology improve comprehension and retention by increasing student engagement in class and their subsequent mastery of complex topics
Comprehension · Learning styles · Mathematics education · Vocabulary · Computer Science · Experimental Learning in Engineering · Innovative Teaching Methods · Problem and Project Based Learning · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
A multi-pronged approach to addressing curricular challenges in undergraduate immunology education
Integrating patient-centered learning strengthens concept mastery, problem-solving, and patient awareness in undergraduate immunology
Introducing comparative immunology through the lens of scaling biology
Challenges faced by immunology educators in higher education and their responses through an adapted ecological systems framework of teaching challenges
Collaborative concept mapping in team-based learning
Climbing in expert-level reasoning in immunology
The theoretical impact of AI-based quality evaluation of short-video health information on public cognition and treatment adherence
Teaching immunology in the 21st century
Using simulations to meld didactic and constructivist teaching methods in complex second year STEM courses
| Citations per year | 4.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |