Examining the Learning-by-Teaching Process Through Concept Maps

While learning-by-teaching has been shown to be effective, research in the area lacks a standardization of measurement and manipulations. Meta-analytic evidence has shown that peer tutoring is an effective learning tool for tutors (Cohen, Kulik, & Kulik, 1982); however, these studies do not provide a way of differentiating the effects of explaining versus interacting with the tutees and answering their questions, thus forcing the tutors to identify their own knowledge gaps. Studies that have experimented with the learning-by-teaching method have found that simply preparing to teach can be more effective than other learning techniques, such as only reading or preparing to take a test. However, research has shown that teachers\u27 learning can be inhibited by failing to engage in metacognitive techniques, such as regulating their learning. Teachers also often fail to engage in deep processing of the material, such as analyzing connections and causal relationships and instead tend to summarize or memorize. Consequently, research has noted a need to examine the cognitive mechanisms that are occurring while teaching. Concept mapping can be a useful tool to encourage students to process material in deeper, more meaningful ways. This proposed research is an extension of a study by Fiorella and Mayer (2014) in which participants read an expository text on the Doppler effect and taught the material on video, which allows for an examination of learning-by-teaching without the social interaction that is present in tutoring. The results of this study provided evidence that the effects of learning-by-teaching are strongest when the teacher is also expecting to teach. Therefore, participants in the present study will be informed that they will be teaching. Incorporating concept maps after learning will allow for an examination of the cognitive processing that is taking place while preparing to teach. The present study will examine the main effects of both teaching and concept mapping, as well as the interaction between the two. Additionally, past research has shown that concept mapping tends to better benefit those with lower verbal ability, so the present research will control for this. Determining the mechanisms of the learning-by-teaching paradigm can have great implications for educational settings, as well as for workplace and professional training

The Roles and Responsibilities of Graduate Education Deans: Mapping Current and Future Job Challenges

Graduate education is changing, driven by social issues, expectations, and technology. Leaders of graduate education play important roles in understanding these changes. The purpose for conducting the study was to profile the professional setting of the graduate dean, exploring the roles, responsibilities, and challenges of the position. Using a research-team developed instrument, graduate education leaders were surveyed. Descriptive findings of the study included the nomenclature of titles who held full time appointments and had an academic background in the liberal arts. The roles and responsibilities of these respondents were reported as a group and separated by research and comprehensive universities

Structure and Functional Responsibilities of Graduate Schools: An Organizational Analysis

The contemporary graduate ‘school’ is facing a number of significant challenges. In addition to the fundamental question of its role as a shared service provider, graduate education units are exploring ways that they can demonstrate a value-added component to the graduate school experience. These activities include offering graduate certificates about how to be a faculty member, how to best teach and mentor graduate students, and offering undergraduate courses on how to get into graduate school. The current study explored 84 graduate ‘school’ or equivalent unit organizational charts, noting major differences between those with research administration attached to them and those without such responsibilities. Findings also included the identification of small administrative staffs and growing innovation to serve graduate student needs, such as providing mental health services and food pantries

2484: Establishment of the Tennessee-sickle cell disease network as a mechanism for engaging a rare disease population in patient centered outcomes research

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Despite the high prevalence of individuals diagnosed with sickle cell disease (SCD) in Tennessee, comprehensive care and education for patients with SCD is not as widely available as healthcare services for individuals managing other chronic illnesses. We aimed to engage SCD stakeholders in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) as a mechanism for advancing care and translational research for this rare disease population. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Through a partnership with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee, we implemented Community Health Ambassadors to systematically engage patient partners with SCD and their caregivers, aged 18–50 from rural and urban communities throughout Tennessee, in PCOR to establish a sustainable infrastructure, focused on connecting the SCD community through a service providing community-based organization to offer (1) information on how to connect with other families; and be informed about SCD community activities, or educational offerings; (2) training in basic research principals; and (3) opportunities to contribute to PCOR, including feedback on effective and practical ways for providing input on research efforts through patient centered input, comparing urban and rural area preferences. Community ambassadors utilized health fairs, clinic days at various hospitals and community centers, and social media to spread awareness of the project, in addition to boosting the recruitment process. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A statewide SCD network was developed to offer social support and increase access to education, medical care, and engagement in research activities. Findings include: recruitment of 150 patients and 35 executive committee members (local physicians, community leaders, adults with SCD and parents of children with SCD). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Most rural and urban families affected by SCD have no systematic way to engage in, or lend their expertise to, PCOR. A statewide network of patient partners, community stakeholders, researchers, and medical professionals will ultimately increase the standard of care for patients, and provide valuable insight for SCD research. The opportunity to create the underpinnings for coordinated patient-centered education for patients with SCD and their caregivers holds promise for developing a scalable PCOR process model for replication and implementation in other states and emulate this model with other rare disease populations

Population Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Modeling of Depot Testosterone Cypionate in Healthy Male Subjects

A randomized, double-blind clinical trial was conducted to investigate long-term abuse effects of testosterone cypionate (TC). Thirty-one healthy men were randomized into a dose group of 100, 250, or 500 mg/wk and received 14 weekly injections of TC. A pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model was developed to characterize testosterone concentrations and link exposure to change in luteinizing hormone and spermatogenesis following long-term TC administration. A linear one-compartment model best described the concentration-time profile of total testosterone. The population mean estimates for testosterone were 2.6 kL/day for clearance and 14.4 kL for volume of distribution. Weight, albumin, and their changes from baseline were identified as significant covariates for testosterone. The estimated potency of total testosterone (tT) with respect to suppression of luteinizing hormone (LH) synthesis was 9.33 ng/mL. Simulation based on the indirect response model suggests the suppression of endogenous testosterone secretion, LH synthesis, and spermatogenesis was more severe and of greater duration in the 250 mg and the 500 mg dose groups

Nanotopography-Induced Structural Anisotropy and Sarcomere Development in Human Cardiomyocytes Derived from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b11671.Understanding the phenotypic development of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) is a prerequisite to advancing regenerative cardiac therapy, disease modeling, and drug screening applications. Lack of consistent hiPSC-CM in vitro data can be largely attributed to the inability of conventional culture methods to mimic the structural, biochemical, and mechanical aspects of the myocardial niche accurately. Here, we present a nanogrid culture array comprised of nanogrooved topographies, with groove widths ranging from 350 to 2000 nm, to study the effect of different nanoscale structures on the structural development of hiPSC-CMs in vitro. Nanotopographies were designed to have a biomimetic interface, based on observations of the oriented myocardial extracellular matrix (ECM) fibers found in vivo. Nanotopographic substrates were integrated with a self-assembling chimeric peptide containing the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) cell adhesion motif. Using this platform, cell adhesion to peptide-coated substrates was found to be comparable to that of conventional fibronectin-coated surfaces. Cardiomyocyte organization and structural development were found to be dependent on the nanotopographical feature size in a biphasic manner, with improved development achieved on grooves in the 700–1000 nm range. These findings highlight the capability of surface-functionalized, bioinspired substrates to influence cardiomyocyte development, and the capacity for such platforms to serve as a versatile assay for investigating the role of topographical guidance cues on cell behavior. Such substrates could potentially create more physiologically relevant in vitro cardiac tissues for future drug screening and disease modeling studies

Adapting Medical Guidelines to Be Patient-centered Using a Patient-driven Process for Individuals With Sickle Cell Disease and Their Caregivers

Background: Evidence-based guidelines for sickle cell disease (SCD) health maintenance and management have been developed for primary health care providers, but not for individuals with SCD. To improve the quality of care delivered to individuals with SCD and their caregivers, the main purposes of this study were to: (1) understand the desire for patient-centered guidelines among the SCD community; and (2) adapt guideline material to be patient-centered using community-engagement strategies involving health care providers, community -based organizations, and individuals with the disease. Methods: From May–December 2016, a volunteer sample of 107 individuals with SCD and their caregivers gave feedback at community forums (n = 64) and community listening sessions (n = 43) about technology use for health information and desire for SCD-related guidelines. A team of community research partners consisting of community stakeholders, individuals living with SCD, and providers and researchers (experts) in SCD at nine institutions adapted guidelines to be patient-centered based on the following criteria: (1) understandable, (2) actionable, and (3) useful. Results: In community forums (n = 64), almost all participants (91%) wanted direct access to the content of the guidelines. Participants wanted guidelines in more than one format including paper (73%) and mobile devices (79%). Guidelines were adapted to be patient-centered. After multiple iterations of feedback, 100% of participants said the guidelines were understandable, most (88%) said they were actionable, and everyone (100%) would use these adapted guidelines to discuss their medical care with their health care providers. Conclusions: Individuals with SCD and their caregivers want access to guidelines through multiple channels, including technology. Guidelines written for health care providers can be adapted to be patient-centered using Community-engaged research involving providers and patients. These patient-centered guidelines provide a framework for patients to discuss their medical care with their health care providers