3D Visualization for Enhanced Learning of Anatomy and Pathophysiology (Planning Grant)
Amy Ladd and Örjan Smedby
Stanford and Linköping University

In medical and health care education, understanding the human body is essential, but students continue to have difficulties with complex, three-dimensional anatomy. Misconceptions about physiological phenomena are also persistent. The aims of this project are to develop high quality 3D visualizations using CT and MR high-resolution images developed in clinical research and to create suitable formats for storing and presenting these 3D images. Linkoping University’s Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV) and Stanford University’s SUMMIT Group in the School of Medicine will combine their technological and pedagogical expertise. The project team will introduce integrated studies of structure and function of the human body as prerequisites for meaningful learning in medical and basic sciences courses at Stanford and in Sweden.

Case-based Examination in Medicine and Teacher Education
Uno Fors, Neil Gesundheit, Jo Boaler, and Gunnel Wännman-Toreson
Karolinska Institute, Stanford University: School of Medicine and School of Education, and Umeå University

During the last few decades there has been a shift of teaching methods in higher education from a focus on learning facts, toward a focus on problem-solving and conceptual understanding of principles. Examination methods have not been developed correspondingly, sending contradictory signals to students about what is important to learn and also derailing the expected learning outcomes. In medicine, web-based case studies have been used successfully for learning, as demonstrated in the Web-SP Project, funded by WGLN I. The international project team will explore the adaptation of the Web-SP system as an examination tool for both medical and teacher education. The research will address how to implement these newer examination methods and how to solve common problems with web-based examination tools, such as security, integrity, validity and IT support. More.

CNS – Visual Perspectives (Planning Grant)
Tom Clandinin and Anna Josephson
Stanford and Karolinska Institute

Students entering the clinical phase of medical education have problems with the application of their knowledge of anatomy to clinical practice. The aim of this project is to facilitate the retention of knowledge through pedagogical innovations, such as interactive and collaborative learning. CNS Visual Perspectives will illustrate the spatial dimension of the human brain and will allow student interactions with learning objects to enhance understanding of neuroanatomy. The team will conduct studies on student’s general and spatial abilities and their approaches to learning, to help design better learning environments within ongoing courses at Karolinska Institute and Stanford’s School of Medicine. More.

Computerized Cognitive Training (CCT)
Torkel Klingberg, Mats Myrberg, and Richard Shavelson
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Institute of Education, Stanford University

Working memory is the ability to retain and manipulate information during short periods of time. This ability is necessary for a wide-range of cognitive functions, including reasoning, mathematical problem solving and control of attention – or more simply, remembering what to focus on. Previous research by Klingberg and collaborators funded by WGLN I demonstrated that Computerized Cognitive Training (CCT) improves attention and cognitive performance in children with Attention Deficit Disorders – ADD. In this new project, CCT will be evaluated in school settings within Sweden to test its effects on math and reading achievement of children with academic problems. The partners at Stanford will evaluate CCT with ordinary students to detect its possible effects on increasing science achievement. Swedish researchers also will evaluate the effect of a two-week “booster” retraining for ADD children who previously completed the full program in Sweden.

Fishbowl: Degrees of Engagement in Global Teamwork
Renate Fruchter, Helmut Krawinkler, Kjell Nilvér and Hans Bjornsson
Stanford University, KTH, Chalmers University of Technology, IT University of Göteborg

The project team will improve cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and geographically distributive project-based learning (PBL) by creating an innovative, computer-mediated learning experience between students and professionals working in the fields of architecture, engineering and construction management (AEC.) Faculty and researchers from Stanford, KTH, Chalmers and the IT University of Göteborg will design, implement, test, deploy and evaluate a learning interaction experience (“The Fishbowl”) as a pedagogical intervention to support knowledge transfer from professionals to students. These competencies include alternative ways to solve problems, inquiry and negotiation skills, and probing the boundaries between disciplines. Deliverables from this project will include a tested and evaluated pedagogic model, an ICT-augmented workspace, deployed and tested in PBL at Stanford, KTH, Chalmers and IT Göteborg, the implementation of the pedagogy and ICT in an AEC Teamwork course offered in spring 2006, evaluation of learning workspaces, and student learning and performance assessments. More.

Incorporation of Advanced Characterization of Advanced Equipment into Nanotechnology Research and Education (Planning Grant)
Robert Sinclair and Eva Olsson
Stanford University and Chalmers University of Technology

This project addresses two issues: how to incorporate sophisticated and expensive materials characterization equipment into the traditional educational experience and secondly, how to achieve a successful international research collaboration for in situ characterization experiments. It is widely recognized that hands-on usage of delicate instruments is central to scientific research and development. But this experience is almost impossible to gain in conventional classroom settings. Likewise, it is extremely rare for laboratory classes to offer access to the most up-to-date (and expensive) techniques. This project aims to develop methods whereby remote access to complex machines will be possible, allowing students, pupils, and even non-scientific visitors the ability to run characterization experiments using modern technology.

Integrating Mobile Devices and Interactive Workspaces for Design Thinking
Scott Klemmer and Lars Erik Holmquist
Stanford University and IT University of Göteborg

Two long-standing traditions in art and design education are the Idea Log and the studio critique. Project-based design courses feature interplay between individual idea creation and refection, and group discussion, brainstorming and presentations. The Stanford-Sweden faculty team will perform research to support the fluid movement between individual and group design activity through an iDeas learning ecology comprised of three elements: the iDeas notebook, the iDeas blog, and the iDeas wall. The iDeas notebook retains the physical pen and paper of an Idea Log, while augmenting the traditional Idea Log with electronic capture. The iDeas blog extends the concept of shared electronic portfolios with automatic integration of the physical iDeas notebook sketches and digital photographs. The iDeas wall provides an interactive wall surface for students to collaboratively create content, and to present and share both iDeas content and other content. Evaluation of the use of the iDeas learning ecologies will be performed in two computer science courses at Stanford and in two masters level programs at IT Göteborg. More.

Learning Radiology in Simulated Environments
Garry Gold and Jan Ahlqvist
Stanford and Umeå University

Understanding the complex 3D relationships in human anatomy is critical to many fields of medicine, biology, and engineering, including radiology. Cross-sectional images are helpful, but the process of integrating these images into an understanding of 3D anatomy currently can take years of training. This project will develop and evaluate radiographic simulations that may speed comprehension and improve understanding of complex anatomy and its radiographic depiction. The research will address two questions: Is learning through experimentation in a real-time radiology simulator improved by collaborative learning compared to non-simulator based collaborative learning? And, can learning through experimentation in a real-time radiology simulator enhance knowledge important to critical medical situations? More. (login: guest, pw: wgln05)

REALSIMPLE: Combining Physical Reality with Simulations in Pedagogical Laboratory Experiments (Planning Grant)
Julius O. Smith and Sten Ternström
Stanford University and KTH

The Stanford-Sweden team will create a teacher’s platform for developing inexpensive student laboratory sessions that allow real physical experiments and pedagogical, computer-based simulations of the same systems to run in parallel, and, where appropriate, to be interconnected. This approach will provide insights into the behavior of real systems and into the applicability and limitations of the numerical simulations. In addition, these simulations can be used to run rapid processes in slow motion, to call attention to details that might otherwise go unnoticed when observing real systems. The ICT component will thus enhance, rather than replace, the traditional lab bench. Music acoustics is an ideal “umbrella topic” for this mode of teaching and learning. Elements such as pipes, strings and membranes are readily arranged in the laboratory. The physical phenomena belong mostly to classical physics, and generally do not require expensive scientific instrumentation. The primary goal of this project is to try to preserve and invigorate the physical reality aspects of physics, math and music in both pre-college and university teaching, in the face of increasing numbers of students and tighter economic constraints. More.

RUN: Remote Undergraduate Network for Human Performance (Planning Grant)
Gordon Matheson, Martin Rydmark, and Jon Karlsson
Stanford University and Göteborg University

The current approach to undergraduate education in biology has not kept pace with emerging innovations in graduate education and technology. New fields such as bioengineering explore the role of the physical sciences in traditional biological approaches to problems, with exciting results in device innovation, medicine, and research biology. The integration of mathematics, biomechanics, and material sciences into the undergraduate biology curriculum will better prepare students for these opportunities and enhance cooperation among faculty and students at the university level. The RUN Project will study exercise science as the basis for introduction of this interdisciplinary program. This novel integrated approach will require new educational technologies. Faculty from Stanford University and Göteborg University will develop completed storyboards for two learning models to support a new curriculum in exercise science at Stanford and for an established curriculum in sport science at Göteborg University. More.

SiMErgency: A Web-Based Simulation of Medical Emergencies for Training High School Students
LeRoy Heinrichs, Li Tsai-Fellander, and Leif Hedman
Stanford University, Karolinska Institute, Umeå University

New and innovative methods of training people to perform CPR are being sought because of the documented lack of retention of the resuscitation actions taught in traditional courses. This project will develop case-based scenarios to train high school students in CPR. The simulations exercises will complement existing high school curricula and will be developed with direct collaboration of high school teachers in Sweden and the US. The team will develop, implement and evaluate ten scenarios of typical medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest, that occur in schools and communities. Previous funding to this team by WGLN I enabled the co-development of a prototype computer training program and game development platform with Forterra, Inc. to create a virtual emergency room environment. The research and development outcomes of this project will be presented in leading education forums and medical journals to promote adoption of the new training method. More.

Toward a Global Perspective on World History at the High School Level (Planning Grant)
Sam Wineburg, Brigid Barrron, and Hans Larsson
Stanford and Kristianstad University

The teaching of history takes place in a national context that frames historical events and grinds the interpretive lenses used to study them. Topics taught in the World history curriculum – the “Scramble for Africa,” “The Industrial Revolution,” “World War II” – are reflected through the prism of each nation’s unique history. This project will create a web-based collaboration between students in Sweden and the United States that aims to overcome the limitations of a single national lens. The goal is to help high school students in two countries understand how the same event can be viewed and understood from different vantage points. Digital technologies have transformed historical research, allowing anyone with a desktop computer and an Internet connection to enter an archive and study original documents. At the same time, high school history instruction looks like it did thirty or fifty years ago – revolving around a static textbook narrative and reflecting the viewpoints of the nation-state. The team will use digital archives and web-based learning environments to expose young people to the raw materials of history – original documents – that resist single all-encompassing interpretations. Using insights from the learning sciences, the faculty will build a web-based interface for studying history from a comparative perspective and will investigate student learning using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

VIBE: Virtual Interdisciplinary Biology Education
Patricia Jones, Sten Hammarström, and Camilla Svensson
Stanford University, Umeå University, Uppsala University

Immunology is challenging to learn because it combines theoretical and practical applications that require students to understand the complex interplay of traditional disciplines (cell biology, physiology and genetics) with the modern and rapidly changing field of molecular biology. Immunology also involves a specialized vocabulary, difficult concepts and problem solving across different disciplines. To address these educational challenges, the Virtual Interdisciplinary Biology Education (VIBE) project will create new web-based interactive multimedia for undergraduate students enrolled in immunology courses at Stanford, Umeå University, and Uppsala University. The modules will focus on enhancing conceptual understanding of immunology, critical thinking and problem solving skills. In a related and parallel effort, the team also will create an HIV/AIDS role-playing game to help educate high school students about AIDS. The rise in HIV infection among teens is alarming both in the US and Sweden. The research team will build upon the methods and best practices for interactive media design derived from the Virtual Labs Project funded previously by WGLN I. The modules created also will be integrated into a well-known college textbook on immunology and will be disseminated through the E-Learning Network for Teacher Training (e-Lene-TT), an initiative of the European Commission. More.

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