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Modernization of medical biochemistry teaching in Czechoslovakia
11 to 'the head', by which is meant the left mind. Nontraditional teaching is student-based and employs a variety of learning strategies (eg interactive lectures, tutorials, case studies, problem-based learning, selfinstruction, cooperative or small group learning). It is more concerned with learning, understanding, process, relationships, use of knowledge, student development and the attainment of independence. It is directed to 'the head' and 'the heart', by which is meant the whole brain. In traditional teaching the teacher is seen mostly as a source of information, and the student assumes the role of passive responder. The focus in both teacher and student is the left mind. In non-traditional teaching, the teacher is not just a source of information but is also a guide, director, or facilitator of learning and a partner in learning, while the learner is an active searcher. In this case, the focus in both teacher and learner is on the whole mind.
Learning There are three major avenues for learning, the eyes, the ears, and the body. All three are available to every normal individual, though the extent to which each is used or preferred varies. There are also two modes of functioning of the mind, the verbal and the nonverbal. There are good reasons for believing that there exist two separate memory encoding systems, one related to words and associated cognitive processes, the other related to visual processes. Whole brain teaching recognises these avenues and modes and used strategies that are directed specifically at each of them. The model of the two-sided mind is not new. What is new is the laboratory-based documentation of its neuropsychological basis, and the attempts to incorporate it into teaching. Alexander Pope (1686-1744) seems to have intuited the concept of the two-sided mind and expressed it in the following very forceful way in his poem 'The Dunciad': Plac'd at the door of Learning, youth to guide, We never suffer it to stand too wide. To ask, to guess, to know, as they commence, As Fancy opens the quick springs of Sense, We ply the memory, we load the brain, Blind rebel Wit, and double chain on chain, Confine the thought, to exercise the breath; And keep them in the pale of Words till death References 1Williams, L V (1983) Teaching for the two-sided mind. Prentice-Hall Inc. 2Sperry, R (1982) Science 217, 1223-1226 3Scott Root-Bernstein, R (1985) Trans Amer Phil Soc 75, 50-67
Bibliography Restak, R (1984) 'The Brain', Bantam Books Wonder, J and Donovan, P (1984) 'Whole-brain thinking' Ballantine Books (1984) Loye, D (1983) "The Sphinx and the Rainbow' Bantam Books
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 16(1) 1988
Modernization of Medical Biochemistry Teaching in Czechoslovakia A NEMECKOVA
Palacky University Olomouc, Czechoslovakia Introduction At the present time the demands made on a university graduate's abilities have changed radically, namely on the level of his readiness for professional practice, on his ability to think creatively, to analyse and to solve problems. On the other hand, the rapid and exponential development of scientific knowledge presents a major problem in view of the limited capacity of educational systems and the model of teaching used until now. Thus there is necessarily a qualitative difference between present university teaching and teaching in previous decades. A simple presentation of facts is quite insufficient. It is imperative that the whole teaching process be reorganised, with modification of educational content, and modernization and rationalization of teaching methods. The whole educational system must be adjusted to the actual requirements of our society and to presentday conditions of scientific and technical progress. One of the methods for the modernization and enhancement of the effectiveness of education is the use of teaching aids. These should serve both teacher and student. They should allow the teacher to present his theme in the most efficient way to develop the memory as well as the logical skills by the solution of problems and thus allow more time for the development of a student's personality and his approach to his future profession. They should help the student in his self-education and facilitate a good understanding of the subject studied.
Teaching aids in the teaching of medical chemistry For a long time, the teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry required, besides blackboard and chalk, only a classical textbook where chemical formulae and schemes were depicted in a way which reduced reality to one dimension. The dynamic nature of biochemical processes and their cellular localization are consequently presented as a series of schemes in static form which do not convey clearly and correctly the spatial and temporal arrangement of these processes. Because of this, medical chemistry and biochemistry as theoretical disciplines are found to be highly difficult by the students. This situation stimulated the teachers of this discipline from eight Medical Faculties in Czechoslovakia to devise and produce such teaching tools as could allow the students to understand the spatial arrangement of molecules, their relationship to cellular structures and thus to be able to imagine the course of biochemical processes in space and time. In this new approach attention was focused on the writing of an experimental textbook of medical chemistry and biochemistry which included also a complex pro-
12 gramme of teaching aids. The textbook refers to individually recommended types of teaching aid that may be used to illustrate a given part of the text in a dynamic way. The text itself corresponds to the Czechoslovak National Programme for the teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry at Medical Faculties. It consists of two parts, theoretical and laboratory exercises. The theoretical part contains in addition to biochemistry, an introduction to pathological biochemistry, and chapters on general, physical, inorganic and organic chemistry related to medicine. The text was designed using modern concepts, stresses the most recent advances in the discipline, and has a high technical quality including colour.
Molecular Models Molecular models had been made as early as the mid 19th century. This simple teaching tool is one of a number of ways in which it is possible to show the conformation of a molecule and to enable students to get away from memorizing chemical formulae as "pictures". Ready built models are useful in teaching, but the models that students have to construct themselves are much more instructive in the teaching of chemistry and biochemistry. The student is not presented with the complete molecular model, but rather with a set containing the individual elements that can be variously combined. Active work with models on the basis of reference to the textbook and to other chosen molecules, enables the student to build up a conception of the molecular model in space. For the specific needs of our educational system, different types of sets were assembled that were useful not only for universities (III), but also for the teaching of chemistry in secondary schools (II) and primary schools (I). The sets contain instructions for use (Fig la, b).
(a)
(b)
vided. The posters were produced professionally (Fig 2a, b) and can be used on many occasions. They may be used directly during lectures, or they can be hung on the wall - in lecture rooms, corridors and laboratories. Reduced versions of these posters are also given in the experimental textbook where explanations are given.
(a)
,(b)
Figure 2a, b Posters demonstrating the structure of biological membranes (left) and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract (right) Transparent Foils (OHP) For illustration of metabolic pathways we use sets of transparent foils for back projection (Fig 3a, b). The foils can be superposed so that the events associated with degradation or biosynthesis of complex compounds may be illustrated step by step and given process can be studied from various points of view, eg Iocalisation in the cell, energy balance etc., provided that the appropriate basic foils are used. The set of transparent foils are manufactured commercially according to the designs provided
(a)
(b)
Figure la, b Molecular models of D-alanine (left) and of morphine (right) Posters Posters illustrating the structure-function relationships in living organisms and their parts represent another valuable teaching tool. The student can see in the course of the lecture or during private study a given problem as a whole, from individual structures and reactions, localization of events at subcellular, cellular and visceral level up to the correlation with other processes. Posters do not require any special facilities for demonstration and study. Their content is sufficiently instructive that after studying a given subject from the textbook no legend is necessary, although a 20-page explanation for each poster is proB I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 16(1) 1988
Figure 3a, b Transparent foils (OHP) illustrating some reactions in the respiratory chain. The foil on the left serves as a basic foil showing localization of transporters in the mitochondrial membrane. The picture on the right was made by superposition of another foil showing the redox reactions on the basic foil
13 by the teachers and they follow the principle that graphic illustration of individual molecules and their structures correspond in colour. Explanations of these sets of foils are also given in the textbook.
Educational Films In order to introduce the dynamic factor into structurefunction relationships, educational films were made. They demonstrate the course of changes that occur in living objects at the structure-function level, in time and space, and thus allow an understanding of complicated biochemical processes. The purpose of these films is not substitute for the lecture on a given topic to illustrate those parts of the text that are difficult to explain in words. The films are prepared as short sections of film to be shown in the lectures (8-15 min) and during laboratory exercises and discussion groups. The series of films were professionally made on the basis of teachers' scripts by Film Studio Prague with numerous animated sequences and will eventually cover almost all areas of biochemistry (Fig 4a, b). So far, a total of 20 films have been made dealing with the most 'difficult' parts of biochemistry. The educational films may be transferred to videotapes and may then easily be used by the students for selfinstruction. The textbook contains cross-references to these films or videotapes.
and educational films or videotapes. These teaching tools are closely linked with the experimental textbook. The whole programme of experimental textbook and teaching aids is aimed at an enhanced effectiveness of teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry and at direction of the student to independent and creative work. The teacher has at his disposal numerous possibilities for explaining and demonstrating given passages in the textbook. The selection of particular teaching aids and procedures are not strictly defined and they depend on teacher's individual approach. We have had successful examination results from students who have used these aids in their studies. Cross-references to the aids in the texts have facilitated students' study and provided orientation in support of active, independent work.
Acknowledgement The efforts of the team were followed and encouraged by the Czechoslovak Biochemical Society, whose Chairman Professor Jan Skoda was the assessor of numerous papers produced by the team (leader: A Nemeckova).
Tutorials and Small Group Teaching E J WOOD
Department of Biochemistry University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Summary Within the framework of the modernization and rationalization of the teaching process of medical chemistry and biochemistry at Medical Faculties in Czechoslovakia, the team of teachers devised and produced teaching aids - sets of molecular models, posters, sets of transparent foils
(b) Figure 4a, b Stills from the educational film Structure and Biochemistry of Haemoglobin BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 16(1) 1988
Introduction When we teach a subject we hope that students will gain information, acquire experimental skills, learn how to plan experiments and interpret data, become adept at problem-solving, and develop a wider vision so that they can generalize about an area of knowledge. The ways in which we teach usually include lectures, practical classes and/or 'dry labs', and tutorials or seminars. In addition, we may use audio-tutorials and computer-assisted instruction, and we will certainly expect the students to study independently from textbooks, published papers and reviews. Much has been written about the aims of lectures, but there are doubts, frequently expressed, that lectures are not very effective as instruments of either long-term or short-term learning. Nevertheless lectures remain, and are likely to remain, a major instrument in our teaching for a variety of reasons, not all of them good ones. Many of us use tutorial teaching to 'correct' students' misconceptions that result from misunderstanding lectures or textbooks. Laboratory work is seen to be very important for developing practical skills including gaining experience in collecting and recording results and their subsequent interpretation. Many laboratory experiments are justified on the basis that they illustrate or reinforce the content of the lectures, although a number of commentators have mentioned that what little evidence there is refutes this contention.~ Many of us use small-group teaching at the
Learning There are three major avenues for learning, the eyes, the ears, and the body. All three are available to every normal individual, though the extent to which each is used or preferred varies. There are also two modes of functioning of the mind, the verbal and the nonverbal. There are good reasons for believing that there exist two separate memory encoding systems, one related to words and associated cognitive processes, the other related to visual processes. Whole brain teaching recognises these avenues and modes and used strategies that are directed specifically at each of them. The model of the two-sided mind is not new. What is new is the laboratory-based documentation of its neuropsychological basis, and the attempts to incorporate it into teaching. Alexander Pope (1686-1744) seems to have intuited the concept of the two-sided mind and expressed it in the following very forceful way in his poem 'The Dunciad': Plac'd at the door of Learning, youth to guide, We never suffer it to stand too wide. To ask, to guess, to know, as they commence, As Fancy opens the quick springs of Sense, We ply the memory, we load the brain, Blind rebel Wit, and double chain on chain, Confine the thought, to exercise the breath; And keep them in the pale of Words till death References 1Williams, L V (1983) Teaching for the two-sided mind. Prentice-Hall Inc. 2Sperry, R (1982) Science 217, 1223-1226 3Scott Root-Bernstein, R (1985) Trans Amer Phil Soc 75, 50-67
Bibliography Restak, R (1984) 'The Brain', Bantam Books Wonder, J and Donovan, P (1984) 'Whole-brain thinking' Ballantine Books (1984) Loye, D (1983) "The Sphinx and the Rainbow' Bantam Books
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 16(1) 1988
Modernization of Medical Biochemistry Teaching in Czechoslovakia A NEMECKOVA
Palacky University Olomouc, Czechoslovakia Introduction At the present time the demands made on a university graduate's abilities have changed radically, namely on the level of his readiness for professional practice, on his ability to think creatively, to analyse and to solve problems. On the other hand, the rapid and exponential development of scientific knowledge presents a major problem in view of the limited capacity of educational systems and the model of teaching used until now. Thus there is necessarily a qualitative difference between present university teaching and teaching in previous decades. A simple presentation of facts is quite insufficient. It is imperative that the whole teaching process be reorganised, with modification of educational content, and modernization and rationalization of teaching methods. The whole educational system must be adjusted to the actual requirements of our society and to presentday conditions of scientific and technical progress. One of the methods for the modernization and enhancement of the effectiveness of education is the use of teaching aids. These should serve both teacher and student. They should allow the teacher to present his theme in the most efficient way to develop the memory as well as the logical skills by the solution of problems and thus allow more time for the development of a student's personality and his approach to his future profession. They should help the student in his self-education and facilitate a good understanding of the subject studied.
Teaching aids in the teaching of medical chemistry For a long time, the teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry required, besides blackboard and chalk, only a classical textbook where chemical formulae and schemes were depicted in a way which reduced reality to one dimension. The dynamic nature of biochemical processes and their cellular localization are consequently presented as a series of schemes in static form which do not convey clearly and correctly the spatial and temporal arrangement of these processes. Because of this, medical chemistry and biochemistry as theoretical disciplines are found to be highly difficult by the students. This situation stimulated the teachers of this discipline from eight Medical Faculties in Czechoslovakia to devise and produce such teaching tools as could allow the students to understand the spatial arrangement of molecules, their relationship to cellular structures and thus to be able to imagine the course of biochemical processes in space and time. In this new approach attention was focused on the writing of an experimental textbook of medical chemistry and biochemistry which included also a complex pro-
12 gramme of teaching aids. The textbook refers to individually recommended types of teaching aid that may be used to illustrate a given part of the text in a dynamic way. The text itself corresponds to the Czechoslovak National Programme for the teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry at Medical Faculties. It consists of two parts, theoretical and laboratory exercises. The theoretical part contains in addition to biochemistry, an introduction to pathological biochemistry, and chapters on general, physical, inorganic and organic chemistry related to medicine. The text was designed using modern concepts, stresses the most recent advances in the discipline, and has a high technical quality including colour.
Molecular Models Molecular models had been made as early as the mid 19th century. This simple teaching tool is one of a number of ways in which it is possible to show the conformation of a molecule and to enable students to get away from memorizing chemical formulae as "pictures". Ready built models are useful in teaching, but the models that students have to construct themselves are much more instructive in the teaching of chemistry and biochemistry. The student is not presented with the complete molecular model, but rather with a set containing the individual elements that can be variously combined. Active work with models on the basis of reference to the textbook and to other chosen molecules, enables the student to build up a conception of the molecular model in space. For the specific needs of our educational system, different types of sets were assembled that were useful not only for universities (III), but also for the teaching of chemistry in secondary schools (II) and primary schools (I). The sets contain instructions for use (Fig la, b).
(a)
(b)
vided. The posters were produced professionally (Fig 2a, b) and can be used on many occasions. They may be used directly during lectures, or they can be hung on the wall - in lecture rooms, corridors and laboratories. Reduced versions of these posters are also given in the experimental textbook where explanations are given.
(a)
,(b)
Figure 2a, b Posters demonstrating the structure of biological membranes (left) and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract (right) Transparent Foils (OHP) For illustration of metabolic pathways we use sets of transparent foils for back projection (Fig 3a, b). The foils can be superposed so that the events associated with degradation or biosynthesis of complex compounds may be illustrated step by step and given process can be studied from various points of view, eg Iocalisation in the cell, energy balance etc., provided that the appropriate basic foils are used. The set of transparent foils are manufactured commercially according to the designs provided
(a)
(b)
Figure la, b Molecular models of D-alanine (left) and of morphine (right) Posters Posters illustrating the structure-function relationships in living organisms and their parts represent another valuable teaching tool. The student can see in the course of the lecture or during private study a given problem as a whole, from individual structures and reactions, localization of events at subcellular, cellular and visceral level up to the correlation with other processes. Posters do not require any special facilities for demonstration and study. Their content is sufficiently instructive that after studying a given subject from the textbook no legend is necessary, although a 20-page explanation for each poster is proB I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 16(1) 1988
Figure 3a, b Transparent foils (OHP) illustrating some reactions in the respiratory chain. The foil on the left serves as a basic foil showing localization of transporters in the mitochondrial membrane. The picture on the right was made by superposition of another foil showing the redox reactions on the basic foil
13 by the teachers and they follow the principle that graphic illustration of individual molecules and their structures correspond in colour. Explanations of these sets of foils are also given in the textbook.
Educational Films In order to introduce the dynamic factor into structurefunction relationships, educational films were made. They demonstrate the course of changes that occur in living objects at the structure-function level, in time and space, and thus allow an understanding of complicated biochemical processes. The purpose of these films is not substitute for the lecture on a given topic to illustrate those parts of the text that are difficult to explain in words. The films are prepared as short sections of film to be shown in the lectures (8-15 min) and during laboratory exercises and discussion groups. The series of films were professionally made on the basis of teachers' scripts by Film Studio Prague with numerous animated sequences and will eventually cover almost all areas of biochemistry (Fig 4a, b). So far, a total of 20 films have been made dealing with the most 'difficult' parts of biochemistry. The educational films may be transferred to videotapes and may then easily be used by the students for selfinstruction. The textbook contains cross-references to these films or videotapes.
and educational films or videotapes. These teaching tools are closely linked with the experimental textbook. The whole programme of experimental textbook and teaching aids is aimed at an enhanced effectiveness of teaching of medical chemistry and biochemistry and at direction of the student to independent and creative work. The teacher has at his disposal numerous possibilities for explaining and demonstrating given passages in the textbook. The selection of particular teaching aids and procedures are not strictly defined and they depend on teacher's individual approach. We have had successful examination results from students who have used these aids in their studies. Cross-references to the aids in the texts have facilitated students' study and provided orientation in support of active, independent work.
Acknowledgement The efforts of the team were followed and encouraged by the Czechoslovak Biochemical Society, whose Chairman Professor Jan Skoda was the assessor of numerous papers produced by the team (leader: A Nemeckova).
Tutorials and Small Group Teaching E J WOOD
Department of Biochemistry University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Summary Within the framework of the modernization and rationalization of the teaching process of medical chemistry and biochemistry at Medical Faculties in Czechoslovakia, the team of teachers devised and produced teaching aids - sets of molecular models, posters, sets of transparent foils
(b) Figure 4a, b Stills from the educational film Structure and Biochemistry of Haemoglobin BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 16(1) 1988
Introduction When we teach a subject we hope that students will gain information, acquire experimental skills, learn how to plan experiments and interpret data, become adept at problem-solving, and develop a wider vision so that they can generalize about an area of knowledge. The ways in which we teach usually include lectures, practical classes and/or 'dry labs', and tutorials or seminars. In addition, we may use audio-tutorials and computer-assisted instruction, and we will certainly expect the students to study independently from textbooks, published papers and reviews. Much has been written about the aims of lectures, but there are doubts, frequently expressed, that lectures are not very effective as instruments of either long-term or short-term learning. Nevertheless lectures remain, and are likely to remain, a major instrument in our teaching for a variety of reasons, not all of them good ones. Many of us use tutorial teaching to 'correct' students' misconceptions that result from misunderstanding lectures or textbooks. Laboratory work is seen to be very important for developing practical skills including gaining experience in collecting and recording results and their subsequent interpretation. Many laboratory experiments are justified on the basis that they illustrate or reinforce the content of the lectures, although a number of commentators have mentioned that what little evidence there is refutes this contention.~ Many of us use small-group teaching at the