For this weeks CEP811 assignment we were to imagine ways to use our maker kits in the classroom, develop a lesson plan, and connect that lesson plan to specific learning theories.
There are many aspects to preparing a paramedic for practice. In some situations we need to ensure that the medic will respond quickly to a given stimulus, in which case we teach the skill and through repetition and scenario practice make sure the student performs appropriately. For instance, the student sees active bleeding and they attempt to control the bleeding with direct pressure. We do not expect them to apply a high-level thought process at this stage to get the treatment correct. The theory of Behaviorism, operating on a principle that an external stimulus creates a predictable and immediate response, works well for teaching these tasks. (Behaviorism 2013)
The difficulty comes when we use the same styles of teaching that work for “see this, do this” problems, and apply them to patient problems that require a high level of cognitive thought. Cardiac care is one such topic that requires stored information to be recalled, processed, and then evaluated. The heart is a very complex organ, and a deep level of understanding of its function is necessary to identify problems and treat them correctly in the pre-hospital environment. I often relate the function of the heart to my students as simply plumbing and electrical systems. This is my way of trying to associate the complex workings of the heart with something more concrete that I had physically worked with before. This works well if you know anything about plumbing and electrical systems, not at all if the workings of those systems are as mysterious to you as the heart itself.
I wanted to provide a more hands-on experience when it came to learning cardiology, so I began looking at other theories of learning, and thought creating a lesson based on constructionism could help some of my students (Constructivism 2013). “The general idea of the constructivism and constructionism learning theories is that when students participate actively by creating their own artifacts, the students will build a stronger connection between the concept and the approach needed to understand the concept” (ScienceLabBlog 2011). Rather than try to create an entire human heart, I decided to simulate the function of the cardiac conduction system by using my Makey Makey, and a project made in Scratch.
My goal was to allow students to physically interact with the Makey Makey in such a way that they could control the cardiac conduction process in order to get a heart to beat correctly. The Makey Makey allows you to make anything a contact switch that the computer recognizes as a key press, Scratch turns those key presses into actions you see on screen. The Scratch project I created is simple, with the idea that the students will recognize elements of the cardiac conduction system are not represented and we will need to add them.
The start of the project will have four pieces of aluminum foil connected to four inputs on the Makey Makey, with parts available for up to twelve inputs. The ground will be attached to a student who will be the SA node, the pacemaker of the heart. Other students will have to connect (ground) themselves to that student and in the correct sequence pass the signal to different parts of the heart (touch the foil) to allow for conduction that results in a “beat”. I will have the Scratch project displayed on the screen to interpret the inputs and give feedback. Initially they will see how many times they can run the sequence in order before a mistake, and then be timed for how many beats per minute they can conduct. Once the students become comfortable with the basic sequence, we can create additional elements, and attempt to produce a sequence that incorporates all aspects of cardiac conduction. This will require; teamwork, communication, a deep understanding of cardiac function, and should lead to discussions about what happens when specific parts of the heart fail to work correctly.
You can play with my Scratch and make the heart beat at this link: Scratch Heart Beat
Reference:
Learning-theories.com. n.d. Behaviorism | Learning Theories. [online] Available at: http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html [Accessed: 11 Nov 2013].
Wikipedia. 2013. Constructionism (learning theory). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionism_(learning_theory) [Accessed: 11 Nov 2013].
ScienceLabBlog. 2011. Contructivism and Contstructionism and Resources — [online] Available at: http://mballa20.edublogs.org/2011/07/20/contructivism-and-contstructionism-and-resources/ [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013].
Makey Makey. 2013. Makey Makey Board. [image online] Available at: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7231/7167039044_3967700872_n.jpg [Accessed: 11 Nov 2013].
Brian M. Claesson-Patten 
Brian, there is a ton I love about your idea. The cycle of a heart beat always fascinated me, especially when I could get my students using stethoscopes to listen to each part of the sequence. I hadn’t ever considered having them act the cycle out, though.
The way you programed the heart (thanks for linking it!) is simple and elegant. I think one of the problems with online simulations is that the authors favor complexity over accessibility; content over usability (not that there isn’t use for those), so these introductory activities are hard for students to use effectively. By keeping the Scratch program simple and to the point, you’ve removed a barrier to deeper learning. I also really like that you’re making it a cooperative activity.
I’m curious about how you could increase the challenge given to your students. Or, what kinds of extension would you pull in after this initial run? In other words, how will you build off the basics to make sure these EMT’s know not to think it through too much in the moment?
Again, great stuff.
Brian, as I wrote in my reply to Katie’s comments, I need to be a little clearer on how these lessons fit into my overall program. This particular exercise would be one of those times when we need the medic students to use very high level thinking skills. Diagnosing and treating cardiac problems involving the cardiac conduction system takes some serious critical thinking. My vision for this lesson was to get very detailed and require them to spend time constructing and evaluating their creation of and interaction with an elaborate system. There are so many things that can go wrong, and the presentation among patients so diverse, that this is one of the more difficult things a paramedic deals with in the field. It is hard to teach because the students often want the “see this – do that” reactionary simple answer for these problems, when one does not exist.
Brian,
First, I love the Scratch program. I’ve been looking for a free animation program that the students have some flexibility with without having a steep learning curve. This may be the program. I’ll need to play with it more.
I have no medical training so perhaps this makes more sense to someone who does, but I guess I don’t exactly get what I’m supposed to learn by pressing the buttons. I press them in the correct order and out of order, but didn’t make a connection to what I was supposed to learn. I love the idea, but I’m afraid your students would press the buttons and be left feeling like I did. I just didn’t connect the material with what was happening on screen. The concept was strong, but I’m not sure how much learning would happen. Did you consider other ways for connecting the information to the activity? Perhaps when I do the wrong thing I get more than just a heart breaking. I think I would learn better if I knew why what I did was wrong. I like feedback whether positive or negative so that I know what’s going on and why. The heart beating or breaking doesn’t really reinforce the material for me. I want some additional more meaningful feedback. Again, I have no medical training so perhaps someone with it would view this differently.
I really do love how you are trying to make the connection.
Katie
Katie,
Thanks for the comments. The students that this would be geared for would already have an introduction to all the elements of the cardiac conduction system. This lesson would be based around a more advanced discussion about cardiac problems that arise when the system is not functioning correctly. We spend a dedicated 14 weeks on cardiology in the paramedic curriculum, this lesson would potentially come in around week 7 or 8 as we discuss cardiac conduction issues versus cardiac circulatory issues. Your feedback points out that I need to be more detailed about the context of my lessons in the overall program. I must admit I am having a hard time with word limits in our blog assignments, I need to learn to be more succinct when I write.
Hi Brian,
Thank you for your comment to my blog post. You expressed some key points that I could not, given the word limit. For example, sometimes the key to a successful classroom activity is keeping the goal simple, so that the process to achieve that goal may be more creative.
However, sometimes it may be the other way around, as I believe your experiment to be. It seems that there was only one way to achieve the end goal, which is to create a model of the electric circuits of the human heart via the Makey Makey. However, the kinetic connections that students may make to the activity when demonstrating knowledge of concept may be very practical. I really enjoy your sketch, which shows how students can connect to each other via the technology to act as different parts of the human heart and circulatory system. I teach human body systems to 7th grade students and may even borrow your idea!