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PubMed1990

Effects of changes in peripheral and cerebral glucose metabolism on locomotor activity, learning and memory in adult male rats.

Interactions of glucose and cognitive function have been reported both in the presence of elevated arterial blood glucose levels and with decreased cerebral glucose metabolism. In order to test the peripheral vs. central effects of this phenomenon, we induced irreversible hyperglycemia and depression of cerebral glucose metabolism in separate designs by means of either intraperitoneal (i.p.) or intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of streptozotocin (STZ), which is known to damage insulin-producing cells. Behavioral functions, such as locomotor activity, learning, and memory, were investigated under these different conditions. IP treatment with STZ decreased locomotor activity and increased initial step-through latencies on the passive avoidance test. No effects of elevated arterial blood glucose levels on retention of passive avoidance learning checked at 24 h and 144 h after training were observed. I.c.v. treatment of STZ increased the rate of locomotor activity and impaired retention in the passive avoidance test at 24 h, without further forgetfulness at 144 h. This finding may indicate disturbed acquisition and/or consolidation of memory, which may remain impaired but at a constant level, without further deterioration. Enhanced motor activity and impaired acquisition of passive avoidance learning without further impairment have also been reported as a characteristical behavioral pattern after disruption of the cholinergic system. It is therefore postulated that the observed behavioral abnormalities consequent on an impairment of cerebral glucose metabolism may be suggestive of cholinergic dysfunction.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Where's the evidence that active learning works?

Calls for reforms in the ways we teach science at all levels, and in all disciplines, are wide spread. The effectiveness of the changes being called for, employment of student-centered, active learning pedagogy, is now well supported by evidence. The relevant data have come from a number of different disciplines that include the learning sciences, cognitive psychology, and educational psychology. There is a growing body of research within specific scientific teaching communities that supports and validates the new approaches to teaching that have been adopted. These data are reviewed, and their applicability to physiology education is discussed. Some of the inherent limitations of research about teaching and learning are also discussed.

Cognitive Science↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Active learning with support vector machines in the drug discovery process.

We investigate the following data mining problem from computer-aided drug design: From a large collection of compounds, find those that bind to a target molecule in as few iterations of biochemical testing as possible. In each iteration a comparatively small batch of compounds is screened for binding activity toward this target. We employed the so-called "active learning paradigm" from Machine Learning for selecting the successive batches. Our main selection strategy is based on the maximum margin hyperplane-generated by "Support Vector Machines". This hyperplane separates the current set of active from the inactive compounds and has the largest possible distance from any labeled compound. We perform a thorough comparative study of various other selection strategies on data sets provided by DuPont Pharmaceuticals and show that the strategies based on the maximum margin hyperplane clearly outperform the simpler ones.

Computer-Aided Design↗
PubMed1999

Active Learning Centre: utilization patterns of an interactive educational World Wide Web site.

The advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) provides unique opportunities to transform medical education. Interactive computer assisted instruction has shown promising results but its growth has been impeded by logistical barriers. We designed an interactive WWW site--Active Learning Centre (ALC)--that offers a novel approach to these problems, combining remotely authored databases with computer-generated self-assessment tests. This study analyzes utilization and user assessment of the site. The site was found to be patronized mostly by students and health professionals from English-speaking countries. Users have been pleased with their experience and suggest further expansion of the ALC. Our data have also tentatively shown that their knowledge improved with repeated visits to the site.

Attitude to Computers↗
PubMed2003

Course enhancement: a road map for devising active-learning and inquiry-based science courses.

Many college science faculties are frustrated at the performance of students in their courses. While faculty may not have much control over the nature of the students, we do have a great deal of control regarding what and how we teach. Lately, research and policy experts have been calling for college faculty to use new ways of teaching that are "inquiry-based"or use "active-learning techniques. "These calls, however, do not provide a clear pathway for making changes that are likely to succeed and that are relevant to specific disciplines. Course development can be approached in much the same way as our research. This paper develops a strategy for "course development" in terms that are familiar to developmental biologists. Just as research on gastrulation movements benefited from the use of a variety of activities (e.g., vital dye tracking, scanning electron microscopy), course development needs to consider multiple techniques and to make changes in straightforward and purposive ways. Examples from the literature and questions to consider will help the reader find their way to a new style of teaching.

Developmental Biology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Beyond active learning: a case study of teaching practices in an occupation-centered curriculum.

Although occupation-centered curricula are highly promoted, the teaching processes that convey such designs remain unclear. This case study elucidated occupation-centered teaching practices. Interview and observational data were collected over 8 weeks, and analysis involved coding transcriptions, data matrices, concept maps, journaling, and writing. Participants augmented active learning strategies with strategies that linked course topics to the subject of occupation. The use of linking strategies suggested that: (a) course content was treated as two-tiered; (b) neither content nor instructional processes were inherently occupation-centered; and (c) subject-centered education strengthens social learning theories. Although curricula may appear occupation-centered based on a curriculum description and course content, ultimately "linking opportunities" in the classroom constitute an essential feature that demarcates a program as occupation-centered.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2005

Teaching systems biology: an active-learning approach.

With genomics well established in modern molecular biology, recent studies have sought to further the discipline by integrating complementary methodologies into a holistic depiction of the molecular mechanisms underpinning cell function. This genomic subdiscipline, loosely termed "systems biology," presents the biology educator with both opportunities and obstacles: The benefit of exposing students to this cutting-edge scientific methodology is manifest, yet how does one convey the breadth and advantage of systems biology while still engaging the student? Here, I describe an active-learning approach to the presentation of systems biology. In graduate classes at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, I divided students into small groups and asked each group to interpret a sample data set (e.g., microarray data, two-hybrid data, homology-search results) describing a hypothetical signaling pathway. Mimicking realistic experimental results, each data set revealed a portion of this pathway; however, students were only able to reconstruct the full pathway by integrating all data sets, thereby exemplifying the utility in a systems biology approach. Student response to this cooperative exercise was extremely positive. In total, this approach provides an effective introduction to systems biology appropriate for students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Data Collection↗
PubMed2004

Improved student preparation from implementing active learning sessions and a standardized curriculum in the surgical examination course.

Students' knowledge before and preparation for courses with practical skills training or bedside teaching may be insufficient and reduce efficiency of teaching time at the bedside and in skills training. To study the effect of a new curriculum on students' preparation for courses, a quasi-randomized study was conducted. All medical students were included who participated in the surgical examination course during a period of four semesters. In the intervention group, specified topics for every session, a course book describing only those procedures relevant for the course and a foregoing case-based active learning session were introduced as compared to the traditional way of teaching the surgical examination course. For evaluation a questionnaire for the students was used. A total of 614 questionnaires (return rate 79.6%) were included in the analysis. Student as well as teacher preparation significantly improved in the intervention group from 34.8 to 73.6% and 46.1 to 73.0%, respectively. The case-based learning session and the course book were considered helpful by 77.7 and 96.4% of the students, respectively. The introduction of a timetable with specified topics for every session, a course book and a foregoing case-based learning session significantly improved student preparation for the surgical clinical examination course.

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMed1981

[Experimental studies on the function of maintaining concentration (TAF)--with special reference to learning activity (author's transl)].

Target aiming function (TAF) was used to examine fatigability in learning and extracurricular activities and also to assess physical fitness. Results obtained were as follows: 1. TAF revealed that visual education through television during the afternoon in crippled children caused more fatigue than in the morning. The fact suggests that durations and methods of learning should be adequately combined with the somatic conditions of children. 2. Adoption of adequate physical training with mental loads resulted in an amelioration of mental activity, as revealed by TAF test. 3. TAF test appeared to be an effective way in detecting the concentrating ability in sports. In conclusion, TAF test was useful in detecting fatigue in learning and physical fitness under certain conditions. It is thus expected that we can improve an efficiency of learning activity in school life by assessing correctly mental loads to children through TAF tests and by rearranging the pattern of curriculum combined with daily life.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Teaching medical education principles and methods to faculty using an active learning approach: the University of Michigan Medical Education Scholars Program.

The Medical Education Scholars Program (MESP) at the University of Michigan Medical School was established in 1998 to develop educational leadership, improve teaching skills, and promote educational scholarship among medical school faculty. The Department of Medical Education designed and implemented the program. Eighty-one scholars have completed the MESP, with 15 more currently enrolled. While most scholars have been clinical faculty, some have been basic science faculty or from other allied health fields. The selection process emphasizes potential for contributing to the educational mission of the medical school. Each cohort is limited to two participants per department. The curriculum of the MESP is designed to provide an overview of a wide range of topics in education. It is divided into five broad domains: principles and theories of education, teaching methods, educational research methods, assessment and evaluation, and educational leadership. During the sessions, active learning of content is expected and encouraged. For instance, scholars share responsibility with the session presenters for planning and evaluating individual program sessions. To graduate, scholars are expected to attend the sessions regularly, and to make a final presentation of their project, which demonstrates near-completion or substantial progress toward that goal. Over its eight years, the MESP has evolved in response to environmental changes and ongoing evaluation of the program. Overall, the Medical Education Scholars Program has proven effective in developing faculty skills and educational leadership locally at the University of Michigan Medical School and nationally.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Active learning strategies to teach case management.

Changes in healthcare delivery require a new understanding of the concepts of case management in managed care. The authors describe the construction and evaluation of a learning module that encourages active engagement and skill development. Students develop an understanding of how to plan for care of populations in an effort to meet managed care demands. This approach to teaching case management can be effective in an educational setting and possibly in clinical settings as well.

Case Management↗
PubMed1982

Field-dependence/independence and active learning of verbal and geometric material.

Field-independent individuals generally perform better on learning and memory tasks than field-dependent persons. One explanation for this superiority is that field-independent subjects take a more active approach to learning, while field-dependent subjects take a more passive, spectator approach. In the present study, field-dependent and independent subjects were asked to sort geometric and verbal material into pigeon holes according to category exemplars, forcing both groups to take an active role in learning. Subsequently, they were asked to recall the locations of the categories. Both groups excelled at the sorting task; however, field-dependent subjects were poorer at it. On the recall task, there was a continued superiority in performance by field-independent subjects. The results suggest that memory differences between the two groups cannot be reduced to active versus passive learning styles. To the contrary, active learning may interfere with the memory of field-dependent persons by increasing demands for processing.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Active learning strategies...not for the birds!

Nursing students historically have struggled to learn a large amount of content in a short period of time. Reliance on intense memorization of endless facts from multiple textbook chapters is ineffective, exhausting, and generally does not result in knowledge retention. Nursing educators face the challenge of facilitating learning that promotes critical thinking through the use of strategies that actively engage the students. Creating an environment of learning where students come prepared to class and use the textbook material to enhance understanding and knowledge acquisition is imperative. This article presents active learning strategies that are flexible for varying class sizes, time availability, and topics. Classroom assessment techniques support the value of this teaching-learning approach.

Cognition↗
PubMed1993

Learned activation of thoracic inspiratory muscles in tetraplegics.

The aim of this study was to determine whether tetraplegics can learn to activate accessory inspiratory muscles of the upper rib cage, and how this learning affects respiratory motion. Ten tetraplegics with lesional levels ranging from C5 to C7 were trained to increase the upper rib cage expansion during nine 20-min sessions. They were shown an electromyogram (EMG) feedback of the inspiratory muscles of the upper thorax and a signal indicating their current breathing phase (inspiration or expiration). The subjects were instructed to increase EMG during inspiration and to decrease it during expiration. Analysis of variance with session and respiratory phase as factors showed that the subjects progressively learned to increase inspiratory EMG. Thoracic motion, tidal volume and minute ventilation were correlated with inspiratory EMG and tended to increase as a function of practice. These preliminary results lend some support to the clinical use of EMG feedback in breathing therapy aimed at increasing thoracic motion and preventing or reducing paradoxical breathing in tetraplegics.

Adult↗
PubMed2023

Active learning of enhancer and silencer regulatory grammar in photoreceptors.

Cis-regulatory elements (CREs) direct gene expression in health and disease, and models that can accurately predict their activities from DNA sequences are crucial for biomedicine. Deep learning represents one emerging strategy to model the regulatory grammar that relates CRE sequence to function. However, these models require training data on a scale that exceeds the number of CREs in the genome. We address this problem using active machine learning to iteratively train models on multiple rounds of synthetic DNA sequences assayed in live mammalian retinas. During each round of training the model actively selects sequence perturbations to assay, thereby efficiently generating informative training data. We iteratively trained a model that predicts the activities of sequences containing binding motifs for the photoreceptor transcription factor Cone-rod homeobox (CRX) using an order of magnitude less training data than current approaches. The model's internal confidence estimates of its predictions are reliable guides for designing sequences with high activity. The model correctly identified critical sequence differences between active and inactive sequences with nearly identical transcription factor binding sites, and revealed order and spacing preferences for combinations of motifs. Our results establish active learning as an effective method to train accurate deep learning models of cis-regulatory function after exhausting naturally occurring training examples in the genome.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Enhancing Science Literacy for All Students With Embedded Reading Instruction and Writing-to-Learn Activities.

Reading and writing in science have been frequently maligned but infrequently studied since the 1960s move toward hands-on science. Current interest in the printed-based language arts in science is supported by contemporary educational reforms and the realization that simply doing more hands-on activities may not improve meaningful learning. Students need opportunities to consolidate their science experiences and to contrast their understandings with the interpretations of the science establishment. Science literacy means that students learn about the "big" ideas of science and how to inform and persuade others about these ideas. This article attempts to sketch a substantive framework for using science reading and science writing with deaf students based on research and informed practice with hearing students.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of neonatal exposure to cocaine on learning, activity, startle, scent marking, immobility, and plasma cocaine concentrations.

Prenatal cocaine treatment produces equivocal effects on spatial learning and memory; however, no data are available on neonatal treatment as a model of human third-trimester exposure. Sprague-Dawley rats were treated on postnatal days (P) 1-10 or 11-20 with cocaine (15 mg/kg x 4 per day at 2-h intervals) or saline (P1-P20) and evaluated as adults in the Morris water maze and on tests of activity, startle, scent marking, swimming immobility, and sequential learning. Neonatal cocaine had no effect on mortality; however, early treatment reduced body weight, whereas later treatment did not. Neonatal cocaine had no effects on exploratory activity, swimming ability, sequential learning, multiday activity rhythms, scent marking, or swimming immobility, but augmented acoustic startle amplitude in the early-treated group. Neonatal cocaine also produced an interaction on spatial learning in which the cocaine early-treated males performed slightly more efficiently than controls. Plasma cocaine concentrations were significantly higher in the early-treated group than the later-treated group despite receiving the same weight-adjusted doses. It was concluded that neonatal cocaine, when administered during a stage of brain development analogous to human third trimester, induces few behavioral effects based on the assessments used in this study.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of the cholinergic system of the rat neostriatum on learning active escape in normal animals and in animals with lesions to the intralaminar thalamic nuclei.

Studies were carried out into the role of the parafascicular (Pf) nuclei of the rat thalamus in learning a conditioned active escape reflex (CAER) in a T-maze, a reflex associated with discrimination of visual stimuli, and into the regulatory effect on this learning process of activation of the neostriatal cholinergic system. The following results were obtained using 57 Sprague-Dawley rats divided into a number of experimental groups: 1) bilateral microinjection of carbacholine (0.03 microgram) into the neostriatum on days 4, 5, and 6 of training produced significant (p < 0.01) increases in the proportion of correct discriminant CAER performances; 2) bilateral lesioning of the Pf nuclei led to irreversible disruption of the previously learned CAER. Rats with initially bilaterally lesioned Pf nuclei did not learn the discriminant CAER at all after 10 days of training (16 combinations), and microinjection of carbacholine into the neostriatum of these animals was ineffective. It is concluded that the integrity of the afferent input into the Pf nuclei of the thalamus is an important factor for activation of the neuronal background of the neostriatum, and is required for cholinergic activation of the neostriatum to be effective.

Animals↗