Actin & Myosin - A Love Story | TAPP Radio 15

Why does the Golgi apparatus looks so weird? (5.5 min)
A love story analogy for muscle contraction? (8 min)
Don't forget the Alexa skill for this podcast!  (2 min)
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(0:47) The Golgi apparatus has a distinctive flattened shape. It turns out that it's the functioning of the cytoskeleton that is responsible.

• Why the Golgi Apparatus Looks So Funny (Kevin's blog post)
• GOLPH3 bridges phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate and actomyosin to stretch and shape the golgi to promote budding.  (research article)
• Golgi's Job Stretches it Thin (article from Science News)
• Terminologia Histologica: International Terms for Human Cytology and Histology (book plus CD)
• Terminologia Histologica: International Terms for Human Cytology and Histology (online version)

 

(6:02) Kevin tells the story of actin and myosin as an analogy to a classic love story. This playful story reflects the focus of recent episodes about the use of storytelling and analogies in teaching A&P.

• Episode 12: Storytelling is the Heart of Teaching A&P (introduces the strategy of storytelling)
• Episode 13: Playful and Serious is the Perfect Combo for A&P (introduces the value of playful analogies)
• Survival Guide for Anatomy & Physiology (Kevin's brief manual for A&P students features a version of the actin-myosin love story)
• Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscle: A Love Story? (article from HAPS Educator with a version of this story)
• Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject (book that addresses many issues, including English-language learners)

 

(17:50) Don't forget the Alexa skill for this podcast!

• Enable the Alexa skill (Kevin's instructions on how to enable and use the new skill for this podcast; includes a video)
• Alexa skill (Amazon's page for this Alexa skill)
• Alexa-enabled devices (Amazon's devices that use Alexa skills; purchases made through this link help fund this podcast)

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• Transcript available at the script page.
• Listen to any episode on your Alexa device.

Amazon referrals help defray podcasting expenses.

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Are Learning Styles Real? Why or Why Not? | TAPP Radio 14

Can adult brains make new neurons? Again. (4 min)
See you at HAPS 2018? (5.5 min)
Learning styles. Harm or help? Or a bit of both? (12 min)
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0:57 Kevin revisits the notion of whether neurogenesis (growing new neurons) can occur in the adult brain, particularly in the hippocampus. A past episode mentioned a study that said "no" to adult neurogenesis in the brain, bucking current thought. However, a newer paper now supports adult brain neurogenesis. This is fun, isn't it?

• New Evidence Suggests Aging Brains Continue to Make New Neurons (article by Francis Collins on the new paper)
• Human Hippocampal Neurogenesis Persists throughout Aging (new research paper in Cell)
• Human hippocampal neurogenesis drops sharply in children to undetectable levels in adults (recent paper in Nature suggesting otherwise)
• Episode 5 (Previous episode of this podcast, Segment 1: Can the Adult Human Brain Produce New Neurons?)

5:07 Kevin once again invites you to the 2018 Annual Conference of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS) in Columbus Ohio--and to look him and say "hi" while you are there!

• HAPS 2018 Conference Website
• Succeed in A&P (podcast featuring interview with Peter English, Executive Director of HAPS)

10:40 Recent buzz about the Husmann/O'Loughlin paper on learning styles prompts a conversation about what learning styles are and are not. And what, if anything, we should do with them.

• Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles? Disparities among Undergraduate Anatomy Students’ Study Strategies, Class Performance, and Reported VARK Learning Styles (the recent Husmann/O'Loughlin paper)
• The VARK Questionnaire (the now-classic learning style system)
• Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection (the paper that started the VARK approach) 
• Seven learning styles (another system of learning styles)
• Are Learning Styles Real? (Kevin's blog post from November 2015)

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• More details at the episode page.
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Playful & Serious Is the Perfect Combo for A&P | TAPP Radio 13

 

Why the term meatus is weird. (3 min)
Convenient ways to subscribe to TAPP Radio. (2 min)
Playfulness and analogies have a role in storytelling. (14 min)
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(0:46) The term meatus is properly pluralized as meatus or meatuses (not meati)

• Meatus | Weird Word (post explaining meatus from o-log-y the terminology blog)
• Meatus as a fourth-declension noun (page from a terminology text)

(3:31) There are a lot of options for convenient listening to this podcast!

• Subscribe page (links and directions on how to subscribe to this podcast)
• Alexa skill (shows you how to listen to this podcast on your Alexa device)

(5:19) Kevin explains why he thinks storytelling is the heart of effective teaching, especially in the A&P course. He outlines the "storytelling persona"; making sure there is a beginning, middle, and end to our stories, applying storytelling to both lectures and the entire course, using drama, conflict and resolution, and other techniques.

• Storytelling is the Heart of Teaching A&P | TAPP Radio 12 (where the story of storytelling in A&P begins)
• Frog pop-ups (toys similar to those described by Kevin in this episode)
• Books by John Dewey (book sales help pay for podcast expenses)
• Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject (book that addresses many issues, including English-language learners)

If the hyperlinks here are not active, go to TAPPradio.org to find the episode page.

• More details at the episode page.
• Transcript available at the script page.
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Storytelling is the Heart of Teaching A&P | TAPP Radio 12

Microglia prune synapses to remodel brain circuits. (6 min)
Kevin's new online seminar on Long-Term Learning. (1 min)
Teaching A&P tells the story of the human body. (15 min)
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Multiple synapse heads send out filopodia (green)
converging on one microglial cell (red),
as seen by focused ion beam scanning
electron microscopy (FIBSEM).
IMAGE: L. Weinhard, EMBL Rome

(0:47) New information shows that microglia nibble on presynaptic neurons using trogocytosis, rather than phagocytosis, to prune synapses during memory formation to help remodel brain networks. Microglia also induce postsynaptic spines to "reach out" to form new synapses with presynaptic neurons.

• Microglia remodel synapses by presynaptic trogocytosis and spine head filopodia induction (original research report)
• Captured: microglia nibbling on brain synapses (article about the original report)
• Neurophobia: The Fear of Neurology Among Medical Students (the title says it all)

(6:50) Kevin has a new online seminar on five strategies to enhance long-term learning in A&P courses.

• Long Term Learning (the new seminar)

Storytellers dramatize their stories.
(my-ap.us/2uvWkPe)

(8:05) Kevin explains why he thinks storytelling is the heart of effective teaching, especially in the A&P course. He outlines the "storytelling persona"; making sure there is a beginning, middle, and end to our stories, applying storytelling to both lectures and the entire course, using drama, conflict and resolution, and other techniques.

• Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling (website with many resources)
• Crash Course in Storytelling (book on the basics of storytelling)
• Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need (book; the title says it all)

If the hyperlinks here are not active, go to TAPPradio.org to find the episode page.

• More details at the episode page.
• Transcript available at the script page.
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Click here to listen to this episode—or access the detailed notes and transcript.

Test Debriefing Boosts Student Learning | TAPP Radio 11

 

Has a new organ been discovered? (4 min)
Students benefit from debriefing after each test. (18.5 min)

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Interstitium. Illustration by Jill Gregory.
Printed with permission from
Mount Sinai Health System,
licensed under CC-BY-ND.

 

(0:46) Has a new human organ discovered? Or is this news mostly hype? Or is the answer somewhere in the middle?

• Structure and Distribution of an Unrecognized Interstitium in Human Tissues (original research report)
• Newly-discovered human organ may help explain how cancer spreads (article about the original report)
• That “New Organ” Everyone Is Freaking Out About Is Probably Not New (article outlining criticism of the original report)
• Is the Interstitium Really a New Organ? (another article interprets the original report)
• Is This Tissue a New Organ? Maybe. A Conduit for Cancer? It Seems Likely. (yet another opinioon)

(4:56) Testing can be a powerful learning strategy. Debriefing in a systematic way after each test can leverage the learning value of tests and boost learning even more.

• Test Analysis (Lion Den web page for students)
• Student Success Increases When They Debrief After Tests (blog post for professors)
• Test Analysis Form (worksheet download; Lion Den downloads page; or use short URL: lionden.com/downloads.htm)
• Learn From Your Mistakes! (blog post for students; includes video showing how to use form)

If the hyperlinks here are not active, go to TAPPradio.org to find the episode page.

• More details at the episode page.
• Transcript available at the script page.
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