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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Anatomy A215: Basic Human Anatomy (Anat A215) is an undergraduate human anatomy course at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) that serves as a requirement for many degree programs at IUB. The difficulty of the course, coupled with pressure to achieve grades for admittance into specific programs, has resulted in high remediation rates. In an attempt to help students to improve their study habits and metacognitive skills Medical Sciences M100: Improving Learning Skills in Anatomy (MSCI M100) was developed. MSCI M100 is an undergraduate course at IUB which is taught concurrently with Anat A215, with the hopes of promoting academic success in Anat A215. This multifaceted study was designed to analyze the factors associated with students who remediate Anat A215, to predict at-risk students in future semesters, and assess the effectiveness of MSCI M100. The first facet involved analysis of Anat A215 students’ demographic information and class performance data from the spring semester of 2004 through the spring semester of 2010. Results of data analysis can be used by IUB instructors and academic advisors to identify students at risk for remediating, as well as provide other undergraduate anatomy instructors across the U.S. with potential risk factors associated with remediation. The second facet of this research involved analyzing MSCI M100 course assignments to determine if there are improvements in student study habits and metacognitive skills. This investigation involved quantitative analysis of study logs and a learning attitudes survey, as well as a thorough inductive analysis of students’ weekly journal entries. Lastly, Anat A215 exam scores and final course grades for students who completed MSCI M100 and students who did not complete MSCI M100 were compared. Results from these analyses show promising improvements in students’ metacognition and study habits, but further research will better demonstrate the efficacy of MSCI M100.

This syllabus includes both lecture notes and laboratory activities for a two-semester anatomy and physiology community college course. The syllabus is based on a 16-week semester that is comprised of a three-hour lecture section and a one-hour laboratory class each week. Both the lecture course and laboratory are necessary to fulfill the requirement for anatomy and physiology. Laboratory activities coincide with lectures to enhance understanding of each topic by providing visual and hands-on experiments for the concepts learned in the lecture. Laboratory quizzes will be given each week to help students maintain a working knowledge of the material learned in the laboratory. This course is appropriate for the typical anatomy and physiology student and should benefit both students who plan to major in biology and also those who are non-biology majors. Because subject matter in anatomy and physiology is quite difficult, the importance of attendance and good study skills is stressed.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree in Masters of Technology in Nursing, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Introduction: There is a global shortage of nurses, particularly in South Africa where there is a scarce resource of professional nurses. Since KwaZulu1Natal College of Nursing (KZNCN) is tasked with the responsibility of training 86% of professional nurses in the province, it is unfortunate to lose 22% of these students through failure and attrition. Most of these failures are in the subject of Anatomy and Physiology. Aim of study: The aim of the study was to establish factors that impact on the success in Anatomy and Physiology in first year student nurses affiliated to KZNCN, in a South African context. Methodology: A quantitative descriptive survey research design was used to establish relationships between variables that impact on nursing students’ success in Anatomy and Physiology. Results: The majority of respondents were Black (86.7%) from rural areas (6􀀀.3%) of KwaZulu1Natal. Their nurse training was in English as a second language (78.6%) but most respondents felt that they were coping well with being taught in English (p 􀀀0.00􀀀). However, respondents with English as a first language obtained significantly higher marks in Anatomy and Physiology I (p = 0.003) and there was a good correlation between matriculation English and Anatomy and Physiology II results (p = 0.02). There was also a good correlation between matriculation Biology/Life Science mark and Anatomy and Physiology I marks (p <􀀀 0.00􀀀). Additionally, good performance in Anatomy and Physiology I was a good indicator for success in Anatomy and Physiology II (p < 0.00􀀀). A significant number of respondents found the academic workload, financial stressors and long working hours stressful but engaged in positive coping skills to address these. Conclusion: Prior knowledge in English and Biology/Life Sciences has a significant positive impact on student performance in Anatomy and Physiology. / M

This study, using qualitative exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design, explored and described student nurses’ perspectives of the high failure rate in biological sciences. The study was conducted at one of the campuses of the school of nursing in the Free State province of South Africa. A purposively selected sample of 1st and 2nd year student nurses registered for the programme of education and training leading to registration as a nurse (general, psychiatric and community) and Midwife (R425, 1985; paragraph (iii) as amended) at the selected campus of the School of Nursing in the Free State was used. World café was utilized for data collection. Thematic analysis of data done using Braun and Clarke (2006) and for world café participants’ created documents, Blakeman, Samuelson and McEvoy (2012) method of document analysis was applied. The findings identified the internal and external causes of high failure rate in biological. Internal causes included students-related factors, which included difficulty in understanding the content and lack of motivation. The external causes involved content overload, inadequate utilisation of available limited resources, ineffective teaching methods and unfair assessment practices. Suggestions that were made by the students to improve the success rate in biological sciences were based on the perceived causes. Recommendations made included in-service education on interactive, evidence-based teaching learning methods in anatomy and physiology, provision of support for students with no background knowledge of biological sciences. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)