Stories and Emotion Help Health Science Students Learn
Poster and podium presentations at conference explore innovations in teaching and learning
Keynote speaker Joseph V. Henderson, M.D., talks with
participants
at the Seventh Annual Advances in Teaching
and
Learning Regional
Conference. Photo by Ester Fant
“I want to be able to see my grandchildren. I want to have a normal life. That’s not asking too much, is it?”
An HIV-positive patient is talking in a virtual practicum for students learning to provide patient care. The mini-documentaries with real people who give “riveting” stories are an important part of the learning process, said Joseph V. Henderson, M.D., in his keynote speech at the May 18 Seventh Annual Advances in Teaching and Learning Regional Conference.
Speaking on “Story-telling, Emotion and Media in Technology-based Health Science Education,” Henderson said, “Emotion can play a very important part in learning. The anatomical connections between memory and emotions in the limbic system (the part of the brain that controls emotions) are very strong. If I can tap into emotions, it makes for better, more memorable learning.”
Henderson, who is professor of community and family medicine and director of the Interactive Media Laboratory at Dartmouth Medical School, has used the virtual practicum model in developing many technology-based learning programs for students, health professionals, patients and emergency first responders.
A multi-modal practicum employs extensive use of narrative, high fidelity simulations, role modeling, lectures, interviews with experienced practitioners and patients, and activities that give students the opportunity to practice and test their understanding and memory.
The conference at the School of Nursing and Student Community Center had more abstracts submitted this year than ever before for poster and podium presentations. The best in each category won a $500 award.
Kenneth Abramovitch, D.D.S., associate professor of diagnostic sciences; Jerry Bouquot, D.D.S., chair of diagnostic sciences; and Paula O’Neill, Ed.D., associate dean for educational research and professional development, Dental Branch, won for their poster on “Innovative Approach to Teaching Radiology Interpretation in the Classroom.”
Laura Benjamins, M.D., a student at the School of Public Health and a clinical research fellow in adolescent medicine at the Medical School, won for her podium presentation on “Assessing Resident’s Readiness to Screen for Domestic Violence: Utilizing the Trans Theoretical Methods Stages of Change, Decisional Balance, and Self Efficacy.”
The conference was organized by a health science center-wide committee led by Cynthia Phelps, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UT School of Health Information Sciences at Houston. Sponsors were the UT Health Science Center Office of Academic Affairs, School of Health Information Sciences, School of Nursing, Blackboard, and Your Doctor Program.
By Ina Fried, Public Affairs