tailieunhanh - On Designing Courses in Evolutionary Medicine

The authors described the process of these successful teachers as an ongoing, iterative process of observing, reflecting and experimenting. In a parallel study (Pinsky and Irby 1997), the same authors reported how physician teachers reflected on failures in their teaching to improve it. Half of the 20 respondents believed that reflecting on failures was as or more important than reflecting on successes. Both studies support the role of reflection in the ongoing professional development of teachers. Two studies are reported of reflection in practicing nurses (Gustafsson and Fagerberg 2004; Teekman 2000). Both used in-depth qualitative methods. In the first, (Gustafsson and Fagerberg 2004) four nurses described reflection both. | Evo Edu Outreach 2011 4 589-594 DOI S12052-011-0363-0 CURRICULUM AND EDUCATION ARTICLE On Designing Courses in Evolutionary Medicine Stephen C. Stearns Published online 27 October 2011 Springer Science Business Media LLC 2011 Abstract Can one develop a syllabus for a course in evolutionary medicine that covers both its diversity and its depth What topics generate the most interest and the best discussions How can such a course be structured to help transform students into colleagues as fast as possible Here I draw on my experience teaching three courses in evolutionary medicine one a traditional lecture course one an advanced seminar with several unusual features and one a week-long course for professors and doctors to answer those questions. Keywords Course design. Course structure. Evolutionary medicine Introduction Designing an interdisciplinary course in an area where the connections between the fields are still being forged presents some special challenges. For two years several colleagues and I have offered an advanced year-long seminar in evolutionary medicine open to Yale College juniors and graduate students. I have also taught a semester-long lecture course on evolutionary medicine once at Copenhagen and twice at Yale which uses a more traditional format and aims at a broader audience and as part of a team I have taught a week-long course for professors and medical doctors interested in catching up on evolutionary medicine and teaching courses in it. Here I S. C. Stearns Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yale University Box 208106 New Haven CT 06520-8106 USA e-mail draw on these experiences to address several questions What is a reasonable balance of breadth and depth in the course syllabus What topics generated the most interest and the best discussion What teaching methods were most successful The answers varied with the audience. Before getting into the pedagogy it is important to emphasize that .