“It's like you’re actually playing as yourself”: Development and preliminary evaluation of ‘Green Acres High’, a serious game-based primary intervention to combat adolescent dating violence

AbstractThis paper provides an overview of the development of ‘Green Acres High’, a serious game-based primary intervention to raise awareness of and change attitudes towards dating violence in adolescents, and an analysis of how adolescents described their experience of playing this game. Transcripts from focus group data were analysed using thematic analysis. The global theme that was developed, Assessment of the game, was represented by two organising themes, Positive assessment: Pedagogical Underpinnings and Negative Assessment: Functionality Limitations and Frustrations. These represented the fact that overall the learning experience was positive based on the pedagogical principles and content that could be embedded in this digital game but that technical issues with the game needed to be addressed as these could impinge on the learning experience of the adolescents. It was seen that using a serious game was a valid and meaningful way for adolescents to learn about dating violence and that this is a viable alternative or adjunct to traditional teaching methods

Progressive Virtual Learning for our Youngest Learners

This study addresses how teachers build a progressive curriculum online for our youngest learners. Our youngest learners learn through play and the author sought to gather data in order to understand how teachers approached this age group in an online space. To conduct the research, ten observations were made of a pre-k class and a first grade class. Throuobservation and recording, four main themes were identified that progessive educators were using to create progressive curricula: Building Community, Progressive Pedagogy, Student Voice and the Home-School Connection. To build community the teachers observed had students bring objects from home, offered consistent morning meeting routines, acknowledged everyone on the calls, checked in on where different children were living and spent time hearing about the children’s lives outside of the classroom. Identifying a progressive pedagogy meant the teachers made the lessons student centered, had the children engage with different materials, used experiential learning and had an interdisciplinary curriculum. Examining the home-school connection was a consistent theme and the communication between the home and the school was of crucial importance in supporting young learners. Work needed to be uploaded, technological problems needed to be addressed, and communication about the child needed to consistently happen. Equity emerged as an important consideration since some students had more support at home than others. Other key findings related to the difference between managing a fully remote classroom versus a hybrid classroom, in which a teacher is teaching to both students on ground and fully remote students. Also, questions remain regarding how a teacher attends to the physical needs of a virtual student

Needs assessment for enhancing pediatric clerkship readiness

Abstract Background Many students report feeling inadequately prepared for their clinical experiences in pediatrics. There is striking variability on how pediatric clinical skills are taught in pre-clerkship curricula. Methods We asked students who completed their clerkships in pediatrics, family medicine, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology and internal medicine to rate their pre-clinical training in preparing them for each clerkship, specifically asking about medical knowledge, communication, and physical exam skills. Based on these results, we surveyed pediatric clerkship and clinical skills course directors at North American medical schools to describe the competence students should have in the pediatric physical exam prior to their pediatric clerkship. Results Close to 1/3 of students reported not feeling adequately prepared for their pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, or surgery clerkship. Students felt less prepared to perform pediatric physical exam skills compared to physical exam skills in all other clerkships. Pediatric clerkship directors and clinical skills course directors felt students should have knowledge of and some ability to perform a wide spectrum of physical exam skills on children. There were no differences between the two groups except that clinical skills educators identified a slightly higher expected competence for development assessment skills compared to pediatric clerkship directors. Conclusions As medical schools undergo cycles of curricular reform, it may be beneficial to integrate more pre-clerkship exposure to pediatric topics and skills. Further exploration and collaboration establishing how and when to incorporate this learning could serve as a starting point for curricular improvements, with evaluation of effects on student experience and performance. A challenge is identifying infants and children for physical exam skills practice