Improving undergraduate education in immunology through assessment of interdisciplinary scientific knowledge.

Autor: Baty JJ; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Patel I; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Taylor JP; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Graben C; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Deaver J; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.; UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Justement LB; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA., Bruns HA; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Immunology and cell biology [Immunol Cell Biol] 2024 Aug 20. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 20.
DOI: 10.1111/imcb.12815
Abstrakt: The interdisciplinary nature of immunology can make studying not only engaging but also challenging, as understanding immunologic processes and immune system components requires foundational knowledge from several science disciplines. The University of Alabama at Birmingham has a unique, 4-year, Undergraduate Immunology Program (UIP) that provides a comprehensive curriculum in immunology that includes five core courses starting in the second year, at which point, students are in the process of completing basic science sequences. For this study, students in courses across the UIP curriculum were asked to identify basic science topics that relate to four immunology concepts. In addition, students were surveyed on their confidence in understanding each of the basic science topics and were asked to identify the course in which they felt that they had fully learned the topic. Data from this study did not demonstrate a change in students' interdisciplinary science competency from the second to fourth year. Importantly, students reported that they fully understood 11 out of 12 basic science concepts in courses offered in their first and second years, with confidence in basic science topics significantly improving from the second to third year. The lack of demonstrated improvement in interdisciplinary understanding across the curriculum may be attributed to the fact that students are able to integrate basic science topics with foundational immunologic concepts as early as their second year. Importantly, these findings suggest that the integration or review of basic science topics in an immunology course may improve students' comprehension of foundational immunology concepts and interdisciplinary science competency.
(© 2024 The Author(s). Immunology & Cell Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology, Inc.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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