How We Used Active Learning to Teach Medical Terminology
Most professors and instructors agree that the days of the “sage on the stage” are long behind us. No longer are students asked to sit quietly in classrooms as a professor lectures them. Instead, professors are undertaking an “active learning” approach to their course material. This modern approach increases student engagement and helps students and instructors to better meet learning objectives.
In this article, we will detail how we used active learning when writing the material for our textbook, Medical Terminology: Active Learning Through Case Studies, providing professors and instructors a template for how to model this useful, modern approach in their classrooms.
What Exactly is “Active Learning?”
According to the University of Minnesota Center for Educational Innovation, “active learning is any approach to instruction in which all students are asked to engage in the learning process.” Sounds vague in theory, but in practice it is anything but.
Active learning can range from simple exercises, like self-assessments or group discussions, to the more complex, like using hands on exercises or role playing. Active learning can complement lectures, breaking up lectures to assess students’ developing understanding of the material.
Recent research from Carnegie Melon University and Harvard University show that learning is more effective when students are involved in the process. Additionally, the studies found that students in active learning classrooms learn more than they realize they do.
One major advantage of active learning is that it is a model that scales. This approach is applicable across nearly all disciplines and can be used in a variety of classroom settings. Active learning is even applicable in subjects in which rote memorization and dedicated self-study have been the norm for decades.
How We Applied Active Learning to Medical Terminology
We met as colleagues at Anna Maria College and were regularly using case studies in our classes. Joan-Beth was teaching Medical Terminology, a crucial and foundational course for students regardless of what medical or health-related field they decide to pursue, and Arne frequently used medical terms in his anatomy and physiology courses. We were searching for a medical terminology text that would take an active learning approach, rather than just focusing on the memorization of a huge list of terms. We couldn’t find one. So, we decided to create one.
We teamed up together to make a medical terminology text based around active learning and case studies. Our goal was to put these medical terms into situations in which they’d be used and then have students vocalize those terms in context.
This is a simple concept that yields powerful results. Instead of asking students to simply memorize a list, they are taught to build meaningful connections with the material.
The First Edition of Medical Terminology: Active Learning Through Case Studies was published in January 2022. The text has been called “friendly and engaging” by colleagues, and has worked to empower—not intimidate—students when taking on the critical course of medical terminology. The text features over 10 case studies for each body system, over 100 in total, that increase in complexity from standard to advanced.
How You Can Apply Active Learning in Your Classroom
As we stated above, active learning can be taught across disciplines. Below are a few ways to get started if you’re new to active learning.
- Use Existing Resources: There is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are countless resources and databases that contain case studies. Check out the National Science Teaching Association’s Case Studies section. You do need a paid subscription to this site, but the NSTA has a huge collection of peer reviewed case studies on a variety of topics in all areas of study, according to their site. HHMI BioInteractive is a great resource as well.
- Consider New Tactics: Active learning can be as simple as incorporating role playing, using worksheets that focus on the application of content, asking students to work toward problem solving in groups (a technique referred to as “Think, Pair, Share”) or using debate. You could even ask students to write their own case studies for class-wide review.
- Engage with Colleagues Who Use Active Learning Now: This point seems obvious, but it is more than likely you have colleagues in your orbit who are well acquainted with active learning. Audit a class or ask colleagues to share their insights on what techniques work best.
- Use Technology: For instructors with large class sizes, an active learning approach can be a bit more challenging. Students tend to be more hesitant to engage in a large classroom setting. We recommend adopting usage of mid-class polls, clickers and other tools that increase engagement. There are several companies that provide these sorts of solutions today such as Padlet, iClicker, and Quizlet. Some textbook ancillaries also contain tools to encourage active learning in the classroom. Our Navigate Advantage Access for Medical Terminology: Active Learning Through Case Studies includes bonus case studies to help students retain the terminology through additional scenarios.
If you haven’t used active learning in your classroom, it will likely take you out of your comfort zone. But it does not take much to get started. Our best advice is to choose one technique and stick with it, advancing it slowly throughout your course.
If you’d like to see how we incorporate active learning, we invite qualified instructors to request a review copy in consideration of course adoption of our text, Medical Terminology: Active Learning Through Case Studies.
About the authors:
Joan-Beth Gow, Ph.D., is a professor of biology in the Health Science Program at Anna Maria College in Paxton, MA. She has more than 20 years of experience teaching courses such as biology, microbiology, medical terminology, and genetics to science and non-science majors. Dr. Gow received her B.A. in biology from Colby College in Waterville, ME, and a Ph.D. in biology from Clark University in Worcester, MA. She is passionate about using engaging pedagogies in the classroom and relies heavily on case-based teaching to support active learning. She has been an author and co-author on several case studies published with the National Center for Case Study Teaching in the Sciences and has presented at multiple conferences promoting active learning.
Arne Christensen, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Westfield State University in Westfield, MA. Dr. Christensen received his B.S. in Biology and Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Following graduate school, he spent several years doing postdoctoral research in the area of osmoregulatory physiology at the Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center. His research background is in physiology and cell biology, and he has 11 years of experience teaching human anatomy and physiology, cell biology, and other courses in the biological sciences.