Data Mining and Sorting: Scaffolding the Exploration of Scientific Articles
At a Glance
Discipline
- Health science
- STEM
Instructional Level
- College & CEGEP
Course
- Interventions in vascular and respiratory conditions (144-551)
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Group
Type of Tasks
- Collecting & seeking information
Technical Details
Useful Technologies
- Preparation is done in Perusall, an open-source software tool for collaborative annotation. A low-tech version would be possible for the prep phase. In-class is done with magnetized strips for sorting
Class size
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Brief segment of class period (< 20 mins)
Inclusivity & Accessibility
- Variety of representations
Instructional Purpose
- Application & knowledge building
Overview
The purpose of this activity is to deepen the students’ understanding of cardiac pathophysiology and how it relates to exercise physiology benefits, with the purpose of providing rationales for their exercise choices in clients, to help them better weigh those against potential risks. Knowing the value of exercise in these clients will make them better able to motivate clients and be stronger advocates of exercise in their future career roles. A side benefit is helping them to navigate complex and difficult to read scientific articles and translate them into clear utility for their careers as clinicians.
In this activity, students read a scientific article prior to class with an assignment to gather 5 specific points on the benefits of exercise in people with known cardiac conditions to bring in to class, where they are grouped together to “pool” their benefits, and then sort them into a different classification (by physiology or clinical benefit) than was used in the original article (by disease).
Instructional Objectives
- Students will be able to explain the physiological benefits of exercise in a particular cardiac condition, both at a level to explain to a future clinical supervisor (or teacher) and a future client
- Students will extract useful information from a dense scientific meta-analysis, with the support of their teachers and colleagues
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
Benefits
Challenges
Tips
Benefits
- Students are less overwhelmed by the article when scaffolded this way
- Breaks common misconception that there is nothing that can help with cardiac conditions (i.e. that all treatments are for maintenance only) by demonstrating clear benefits and direct impact of exercise on disease pathophysiology for many different types of cardiac condition
- Helps students practice “translating” jargon into terms understandable by clients without losing the essence of the content
Challenges
- Students must complete the prep activity for the exercise to work
- If there are not enough students or enough responses in the group they have less raw data with which to complete the activity
Tips
- Be very clear that “mined data” will be used for an in-class activity, so students remember to bring in their work to use
- The larger the groups, the more responses to “pool”, so adjust accordingly to make it both meaningful and manageable
- Perusall can be very useful for further scaffolding of the reading with prompts, and for students to enter their “jargon translations” for other students to see. However, the activity can be completed without Perusall and without the magnetic cards (students write their answers directly on the boards, or on cards sorted onto tables, etc.)
- Use the consolidation discussion to draw links between the activity and future clinical or public health implications (or other learning objectives)
Applied Strategies
Published: 26/01/2024
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