Online Resources for At Risk Students

Get Body Smart. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/site/sitemap/menu.html

Get Body Smart describes itself as an online textbook, a tool to teach and learn the basics of anatomy and physiology. It is an excellent interactive resource for students.. They may explore various topics, electing to view additional textual information, diagrams, and sometimes animations. It does not cover all aspects of the human body, just the skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and urinary systems as well as an introduction and histology. It leaves out the integumentary, endocrine, immune/lymphatic, reproductive, and digestive systems. These are some of the areas that students have the most difficulty understanding.

This resource is best perhaps for practice in labeling diagrams. Students may elect to turn off the labels and then turn them back on again to see if they were correct. They may also quiz themselves by answering questions and then choosing to check their answers. However, there are not quizzes on all topic areas.

Inner Body. Hotmedia, Inc. 2011. Retrieved from http://msjensen.cehd.umn.edu/webanatomy/

This informational site provides information on all eleven of the body systems. It gives descriptions of the systems along with diagrams of the system that can be manipulated to view at different angles. The diagrams are unlabeled, and if the student hovers over a particular area, the name and additional information will be presented. The structures may also be selected in a pull down menu to be highlighted in the diagram for identification. There are no additional materials presented for quizzing purposes. This might be coupled with WebAnatomy as a resource for quizzing on the material.

Saladin, K. Anatomy and Physiology Second Edition: The Unity of Form and Function. McGraw Hill. 2001. Retrieved from http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/saladin2e/student/olc/esp.mhtml

This site offers many resources for students. For each chapter or topic of study, it has an introduction, study outline, internet activities, chapter web links, technology correlations, study guide, crossword puzzle, comprehension test, recall test, flashcards, labeling exercises, and chapter quiz. These resources are designed to accompany the book, but are available to all online. The study outline would be a good resource for students who have difficulty taking notes. The Internet Activities and Chapter weblinks provide further information on topics discussed in the chapter for those who do not understand the material and need another approach, or for those who would like to explore information further. The study guides provide review exercises, recall tests and comprehension tests along with answers for students to check their work. The flashcards, labeling exercises and crossword puzzle provide extra practice with the material. The chapter quiz is very helpful in that it allows students to get a score on the quiz and it explains incorrect answers.

Shier, D., Lewis, R. & Butler, J. Online Learning Center. Hole’s Human Anatomy and Physiology,9/e. McGraw Hill. 2002. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070272468/student_view0/

This resource offers the same resources as the above site, but it also offers some additional features. The chapter outlines provide graphic organizers to help synthesize the information. There are additional links to animations, laboratory activities, study skills, games, and case studies for certain topics. There is also a link to a net tutor, but there is a fee of $32.99 to access the service.

There are several options for taking the chapter quizzes. The students can take the quiz with immediate feedback and explanations for their answers. The students can also take the quiz and email their responses to their teacher instead which is a good feature to check student learning.

Web Anatomy. Regents of the University of Minnesota. 2008. Retrieved from http://msjensen.cehd.umn.edu/webanatomy/

Web Anatomy does not provide any textual information. It provides avenues to review the material covered. It has self tests, timed tests, multiplayer games and quiz bowls. The questions for each are quite extensive and the answers are provided for student feedback. Some of the materials are slow to load. The games make the reviewing fun and the feedback is immediate as to if they are correct. However, the answers are not explained and students will not necessarily be able to clear up their misunderstandings. There are extensive banks of questions for each topic area. Many of the diagrams are very realistic and there are many images from microscopes. 

Anatomy Apps

For the Droid, there are a multitude of free downloadable apps. The joy of these is that students can have them available to use at any time.

Speed Anatomy is a game where the player touches the organ that is named. It has good diagrams and is fun, but contains information from all systems, so it wouldn’t be useful until the end of the year.

The free version of Visual Anatomy is a good one for reviewing the major organs of each system. It shows a diagram of the organs with places to click on them. Once selected, the organ is named and a brief description of it is given. It is a much more interesting way to study organs and their structures than a flat diagram. The labels contain additional information on each structure. It contains some brief quizzes and also has diagrams from Gray’s Anatomy. There is an additional package that can be purchased for $2.49.

There are two apps that are both called HumanAnatomy. They both contain labeled images, and once the names for the structure are selected, they give a detailed description of the structure. The images on both are not very detailed and are the images available for copyright free use. The one by “Black Droid Inc.” is a little better, as it has an index that is much easier to follow. The biggest drawback is that they have many pop-up ads for other apps.

Imaios takes a very long time to download, but the images on it are very good. They are MRI’s of a multitude of body parts. However, to get the feature that labels the pins, you have to purchase it.

Anatomy and Physiology Flashcards is a fun way to review, but is really best for a final exam. It is a set of over 600 questions on various aspects of the subject. They are grouped together by topic, but it is not easy to navigate.

Pocket Atlas offers a week free trial. It has an alphabetized list of terminology that, when clicked on, gives much detailed information and diagrams related to that term. This would be particularly useful for students, but it is very pricey at $29.39.

Anatronica takes a little while to open, but this is my favorite of the apps. It allows you to freely rotate and zoom in and out. It has good graphics and you can click on the structure to get more information. There is also a quiz option that can be used to identify the structures. The only systems it offers for free though are the skeletal and muscular systems.

Many of the apps for purchase are much better than these free apps. My favorite app is one for the iPad. I am hoping that we will be able to purchase this app to load on a portable set of iPads for use throughout the school next year. The video below briefly shows the some functions available.

Anatomy Online

There are many free Web 2.0 tools to help teach Anatomy and Physiology. There are a myriad of sites with diagrams and information that can be used as “texts” or as supplemental information. The fact that they are online and that they are student centric makes them much more interesting to the students. They are also good tools for students to use for review.

Bodymaps is a little slow to react, but has very good images once they focus. The systems start off in very cartoonish diagrams, but then become more realistic once you zoom in a bit. You can manipulate and rotate images to look at from the top, bottom, front, back, left and right. I think that students might get frustrated waiting for the images to load, as they take a long time.

Healthline offers rotatable images that are fairly realistic. They can be clicked on to identify structures and students can find out further information on each part. Healthline also offers multiple computer animated videos of many processes and medical conditions that are very informative and easy to understand.

AnatQuest has images that are labeled, but are very cartoonish. These images have much detail, but are very colorful and not very realistic. There are sectioned views of the Visible Human that can be zoomed in on, but are not labeled. They would be helpful for a teacher to use with students, but it would be difficult for students to pick out some structures. The Visible Human project produced cross sections of a human male and human female. The male was a young executed murderer and the female an older woman. Before they were cryogenically frozen and sliced, MRI images of their full bodies were taken.

Anatronica offers free rotating diagrams with good images, however, it does not have any information about the parts. It also takes a little while to load, and a viewer needs to be downloaded.

SEER Training is like a virtual textbook. It discusses each system and then discusses cancers of that system since it was created by the National Cancer Institute.

Zygote Body has very easy to manipulate images that are reasonably realistic. Once a structure is clicked on, the name is provided. However, there is not a further description of the structure or its function.

The University of Leicester has an outline of different systems, brief information, but has some very simple and easy to understand animations. The information is intended to be used to prepare for a virtual autopsy.

Kids Health for kids and for teens is great for students with difficulty reading, with visual difficulties, or those who are auditory learners, this simplistic program orally reads the content, though it is in an animated voice. It is lacking in a multitude of pictures that are an important part of anatomy. It does have very good information on disorders.

Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Elaine Marieb 8th edition, 9^th edition, and 10^th edition and Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Martini/Bartholomew, 5^th edition offer materials for each chapter of the text. There are oral descriptions, review quizzes, picture labeling games, case studies, and other review materials. These are great materials to be used as supplements or for students to use as review. Another site for review is Anatomy Arcade. It has games that are fun, though many lack significant detail.

There are abundant free programs that make learning and reviewing much more interesting. I wish that all of these tools were available many moons ago when I was taking Anatomy and Physiology myself!

A Del.icio.us Idea!

Bookmarking sites have many potential uses in the classroom. They are free tools to catalogue and comment on links you have found. Some include stumbleupon, backflip, diigo and del.icio.us. For teachers, it is an easy way to present resources to students. You don’t have to type in the whole URL or multiple URL’s for a topic area. You can use one URL to direct students to your bookmarking site. You can create a list of excellent sources to direct students to those with the best information. Teachers can also publish links to sites for homework help, practice tests and quizzes, flashcard sites, and many others.

For students, it would be helpful to teach them to make their own to cite where their information came from for projects and to make comments along the way on which are the most useful sites for particular content. Several sites also offer aps for Smartphones which would make it more appealing to students, as they could research on the go.

The educational and technological components of my own Del.icio.us lists were created during an educational technology course. I first signed up for Diigo, but I found it a little difficult to navigate, so I tried out Del.icio.us and found that it was much simpler. I would definitely recommend Del.icio.us to my students, not only because it seemed easier to me, but also, I am more familiar with its functions, so I could be of more help to my students in its use. In reading Web 2.0: New Tools for New Schools, we were introduced to many other sources. Our professor and fellow students also offered many links to other materials associated with the topic of each week’s discussions. We were required to accumulate those in an annotated bibliography. I carried over those links as well as the annotations to De.licio.us. Creating tags for each link makes it very easy to access materials on whatever topic you choose. Making these links public makes it helpful to others with similar interests. In researching e-portfolios, the name that came up continually was Helen Barrett. I was able to gather many other resources on e-portfolios, as she linked her informational page to her Del.icio.us account.  It is easy to tell which links are some of the best by looking at the number of “saves” on Del.icio.us. Some of the links also import a description rather than having to type one in. It is also a great way to share links with others, even in a closed group, as you can send the link to a particular “stack” to any interested parties. However, in the true spirit of Web 2.0, why not share with others? Here is mine!

http://delicious.com/melisuesoxrox

A&P-Portfolios

E-portfolios are the authentic assessment tool of the 21^st century student. They allow students to digitally showcase their learning and have a long-lasting product that shows how their learning has grown throughout the process, whether that be the duration of a course, a school career, or a lifetime. There is a wide range of tool through which students may demonstrate their accomplishments. They can work across classes and content. It allows for continuous improvement.

There are many different Web 2.0 tools that may be used to create e-portfolios. These include Blogger, Elgg, Live Journal, Think Free, Wikispaces, Word Press (to improve your online site), Zoho. Students can create videos online using Jumpcut, or may use other movie maker programs and link their movies online. They can create audio podcasts at Podomatic.

To ensure that students are adhering to fair use, there are many sites that they may be directed to for drawing video, audio, and visual resources. Some sites for audio files are Archive, ccMixter, SoundSnap (educators accounts are necessary for unlimited access). A really fun site for making your own music is JamStudio. Video files may be used from Open Video, Sandbox . There are many resources to find images. These include Anatomy- Medical/Pathology Images, Edupic, FreeStockPhotos, 4FreePhotos, Flickr , MorgueFile, PicFindr  ( an excellent search engine of multiple sites), Public Health Images, StockXchange. Two sites with links to multiple Media Types are Cogdogroo, Wikimedia.

Content management systems include Drupal, EdMoto, Moodle, Plone. We use Moodle at my school. It is very easy to navigate and has a multitude of features. It allows the linking of files and other resources into topic areas. It also allows for online submission of student work and taking (and grading!) online quizzes. Students may communicate with one another through an IM feature, and in a blog type style for more formal interaction. EdMoto is very similar to Facebook, a tool with which nearly all older students are familiar. It offers many of the same features as Moodle, but in a format that is probably more familiar to students (and to many teachers as well).

E-portfolios are a great way to meet many of the new literacy and writing subject area common core standards for students in Alabama. (See appendices C and D for Science and Technical Subjects). Publishing e-portfolios will make students write and read more critically, especially if other students, parents or communities will be reading the material they present in their portfolios.

This video clip showcases Somerville High School’s pilot program for the use of e-portfolios.

Humor in the Classroom

How are eyes and schools similar?
They both have pupils.


Why is physiology so hard?
Because the teacher is so sternum!


Why did the student drop out of anatomy lab?
She just couldn’t cut it!


When does a skeleton laugh?
When he finds something humorous. (Or, when something tickles his funny bone.)


One of the best ways to keep the mood light and maintain attention spans in a classroom is by using humor. The unfortunate thing about this is that I am a horrible joke teller! I love jokes, but I have to rely on looking at them and reading them. I guess that makes me kind of like a cold skeleton- a bit of a numb skull! Most of my students say that my sense of humor is dry as a bone, and I actually take that as a sarcastic comment and a complement since bones are not dry, but filled with marrow…

The American Psychological Association and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching suggest that humor itself aids in the learning process. Some jokes also serve a practical function. They may help to remember material. Here are a few examples:

What did the hippocampus say in his retirement speech?
Thanks for the memories!  (The hippocampus is a region within the brain that is responsible for memory.)

What do you call a group of neural helper cells that want to form a singing group?
A glia club. (Glial cells are cells with varied functions in the nervous system other than the conductive cells, the neurons.)


What does the brain wear in a rainstorm?
A waterproof cortex jacket. (The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the cerebrum  which is the largest portion of the brain.)


What did the Hollywood film director say after he finished making a movie about myelin?
That’s a wrap! (Myelin is a wrapping around many neurons.)

What did the stimulus do to the neuron after they got married?
Carried it over the threshold. (In order for a neuron to fire, it has to reach a threshold         voltage.)


This is one of Daniel Pink’s essential skills for the 21^st century. It is a skill that is not one that computers can replicate, at least not yet. Pink believes that what he calls “play” makes the workplace more enjoyable for all. I know that it definitely helps me make it through the day with a smile on my face! ;)

Another way to use jokes is to have a joke of the day. You may even be able to post one to your blog, webpage, Facebook group or to Tweet one. If you hear a great one, don't be afraid to share it with others! My students often make up jokes or seek jokes out on the Internet to share in class. If you find any great Anatomy jokes, post one in the comments below!

Remember- he who laughs last thinks slowest! And if you tell the students this early enough in the year, you’ll get many more laughs…

HAM it up!

Below is a link to many more anatomy jokes. Enjoy!!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iz9vF05lHiJxOfd5lfcNfy6FgKLWKUV3RbNN7DyGsXc/edit

Using Case Studies for Assessment and Engagement

With the onset of the information generation, there is a more compelling need today to design engaging work. Students have the option to delete texts or e-mails that do not interest them, discarding what they do not find pertinent to their own lives. Students only learn from work they do, and they will do engaging work where they see a clear and compelling goal that is linked to a specific product of personal interest and value to them. They will learn and retain the material better, possibly transfer it to new contexts and share it with people who are important to them.

As many students in Anatomy and Physiology have aspirations of being medical professionals, case studies are a wonderful way to explore content in a meaningful way. These lessons strike the emotions of many, and it drives them to want to help. In one model, students are allowed to work in groups and select a particular case that they will later share with the class. In another model, the students work in small groups on a segmented case study to decide which tests they need to perform on the patient, get the results, and continue with the diagnosis. They enjoy acting like diagnosticians, and it gives them the freedom to research as they wish. Case studies employ many of the design qualities for engaging instruction- affiliation, working with peers and others; novelty and variety, using a wide range of media; choice- what they learn and how they learn it; authenticity- linking learning to their own interests.

It is easy to infuse technology into case studies. Employing search engines to research the disorders is very useful to the students. However, many of the online case studies have answer keys available online as well. To solve that problem, students can be given links to websites they should use are resources or to present them in a WebQuest format. Another way to integrate technology is by using a clicker case study. The National Center for Case Study Teaching database offers many of these. If you are a member of the American Anatomical Association or the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, they also have a database of activities, including clicker case studies. In this type of case study, students are asked periodic questions in a segmented case study. The use of a TweetDeck for this would allow open responses here. Student groups could also be assigned case studies to discuss through blogging, and that may also be used as out of class assignments.

Case studies allow students to use higher level thinking skills. They have to truly understand what they are learning to be successful in answering the accompanying questions. This is much better gauge of understanding than is a paper and pencil, multiple choice or fill in the blank test. Students can easily find the answers to most of those questions within seconds simply by typing the question into a search engine. Assessment is more valuable when students are asked to synthesize all that they have learned and apply it to a real world situation.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still use “standard” assessments in my class as well. There is definitely some basic information that students should be expected to know. Nobody would have confidence in a doctor who had to look everything up on his iPhone. There just needs to be a balance of each type to allow students with different strengths to succeed in the classroom. Some students are great memorizers, but that does not mean that they understand the concepts. Some students see the big picture, but can’t remember each little detail. By using case studies for assessment, the synthesizers are allowed to shine and the fact oriented can strengthen the details that they memorize.

Several case study sites are linked on the sidebar to the right. The National Center for Case Study Teaching also has many case studies in areas other than Anatomy and Physiology. Consider incorporating them into your class as well!

http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/results.asp?search=anatomy+and+physiology&subject_headings=&educational_level=&type_methods=&topical_areas=&x=0&y=0

Twitteriffic!

Twitter makes networking with other professionals or your students very easy. In generating my Twitter lists, I was looking for active tweeters who had similar interests. I searched the keywords that I was most interested in for my research- “anatomy and physiology”, “authentic assessment”, “e-portfolios”, “web 2.0”, and “assessment”. When I found people who looked interesting to me, I looked at their home pages to see how many followers they had, how often they tweeted, if they were tweeting about anything I wanted to read, and if they responded to other tweets. I used their lists of followers and people they were following to search contacts as well. I also looked at the lists from our school and our district’s technology directors.

There were two individuals in particular whose interests were most similar to mine, as they both taught Anatomy and were interested in technological tools. These were @daveandcori and @chrisludwig. Several others tweeted frequent useful links to technology integration. These were @rmbyrne, @krains, @allinlearning, @JudyArtz and @web20classroom. One artist, @HumanAnatomyArt, tweeted links to her blog and new works of anatomical art, showing a creative use of anatomy in a non-health related field. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, @HHMINEWS, offers updates and information to educators in the field of medical research.

Please feel free to view/use my Twitter list at https://twitter.com/#!/melisuesoxrox/lists to create contacts of your own and to learn more about this blog’s topic areas. I hope that you will find some valuable resources!

After generating a Twitter list to gain contacts and resources for this blog, I was disappointed to see how few Anatomy and Physiology links there were to actual teachers and professors of the subject. The vast majority of tweets on the subject were from complaining students. I was disheartened while sifting through all of the tweets from students who were bored, confused, or overwhelmed by their Anatomy and Physiology classes, but these are all great reasons for creating a network of professionals to improve our levels of student engagement, understanding, and communication.

Twitter may be used in the classroom in a much more constructive manner by students than registering their opinions of the class while the teacher is lecturing. It fosters a quick interaction where many students can simultaneously participate in discussions through a Tweetdeck (grid of tweets) that can be displayed on a screen in the front of the room. It allows students to respond freely without falling fear to shyness. It makes them synthesize their information to a few most important words. This is a good alternative to using clickers for a review or formative assessment activity, as it offers the freedom to use open responses rather than being limited to a single letter response.

With the generation of Twitter lists, students could continue any discussions outside of the class, as the teacher will have linked them together and the students could subscribe to the list for their class. Outside of class, the teacher can still monitor or participate in the discussion. The students can contact one another if they have questions or thoughts about homework and the teacher may also be able to respond.

Using Twitter is much more feasible in a high school or college classroom where many students have their own smartphones or laptops. This way, the number of school computers needed would be less and students might be put in small groups or pairs based on the availability of these technologies. Some schools may block Twitter in the school, but many are allowing it, as they see its merits and use it as a quick and easy way to communicate to teachers, students, and parents.

Twitter is also useful for teachers to remind their students of homework assignments or help students with homework assignments. If students are having difficulty with a topic, the teacher may tweet links to sites that may be of help to them. The dependent factor here is that students have access to a device that goes online.

For more ideas on how to use Twitter in the classroom, try some I have bookmarked at http://www.delicious.com/stacks/view/QFWJYu

If you have any great stories or suggestions of how to use Twitter in the classroom or great links to share, I’d love to hear them!

Introduction and Purpose

One of the most pressing issues facing education is the great “digital divide” between the older teachers and younger students. Unless we actively engage students through the use of meaningful lessons including the technology they have come to see as an integral part of their lives, what we teach will seem archaic and uninteresting to them. Their access to technology has shifted their attention and beliefs against retaining factual information. Teachers have been replaced as dispensers of knowledge, and now need to become guides on how to use that knowledge and foster the creative and unique talents of the students. The teaching strategies and lessons I have held on to for so long need to change to truly engage today’s new learner. Keeping up with current technology is imperative to gaining the respect and attention of the students.

We are moving towards individualizing education with the current push for differentiated instruction. Perhaps the best way to accomplish this is through a variety of assessment methods using technology tools. Since the revolution caused by open sourcing software, Web 2.0 has made this much more feasible. This blog will discuss some of the Web 2.0 tools and how they may be applied to many different lessons and assessments, with specific examples in the Anatomy & Physiology classroom.

It seems that when I go to state or even national science teachers conventions, there are very few, if any, sessions specific to Anatomy & Physiology. It is often very difficult to find the time to meet with a teacher from another school to discuss ideas for the classroom. Less funding is available for professional development, so we are now challenged to seek our own content specific professional development. Fortunately, Web 2.0 is dynamic, allowing for interaction and two-way collaboration for both teachers and students. With the rapid shift into a technology dependent society, I am more compelled now than ever to continue my professional development. I hope that this site will serve as a forum for the sharing of ideas and resources and that we will create a professional learning community that will be a powerful tool for us all as we work to meet the needs of our 21^st century students together!