The Heart and Associated Structures: Interview
The questions I have prepared are relatively specific, (as human anatomy usually is) and are designed to probe student understanding about heart structure and function. In addition, some associated heart structures and concepts will be examined in order to give the interview some depth and a look at interviewee "systems thinking" abilities. The student will be one of my current Anatomy 221 lab students. We have recently been exploring the cardiovascular system, and some of these questions will be easy and others will be more difficult in order to induce student misconceptions. I want to see how the student fits together information about the heart, blood, and blood vessels that were learned independently of one another. I would appreciate any constructive feedback on my questions.
1. Can you please describe to me, using anatomical terms, where the heart lies within the thoracic cavity?
2. Can you please draw a sketch of a heart with the internal chambers and accessory structures (i.e: important blood vessels, ventricles, foramina, atria, valves, etc.) exposed?
a. How many valves does the heart have? What are their names?
b. Please indicate a step by step process through which the heart fills with blood and expels it to
the rest of the body.
3. When blood flows away from the heart, what prevents it from flowing backwards? How does this
occur?
a. What is the function of the heart valve? When does each open and when does each close during
a cardiac cycle?
4. When blood leaves the heart through the pulmonary artery, does it flow to the left lung, right lung or
both?
5. Which of the 2 types of blood vessels contain more elastic fibers in their walls? Please explain your
reasoning.
6. How does the heart muscle gain blood supply?
7. How does cardiac muscle tissue differ from smooth muscle and skeletal muscle tissue?
a. What are the main implications for these differences?
8. What controls the movement of blood through the heart?
9. Approximately how long does 1 cardiac cycle last? List what occurs during this time?
10. What causes the sounds a doctor hears when listening to the heart with a stethoscope?
11. What causes pulse rate? What, if any, are the implications of exercise on pulse rate?
Are "pulse rate" and "heart rate" the same thing? Why or why not?
12. What causes a heart contraction?
13. How do fetuses circulate oxygenated blood?
Great questions. I like the idea of having the students sketch a drawing of the heart as visuals can be beneficial to some students. Secondly, I think that your questions are at a level that are easy to comprehend for the student but will allow you to uncover what the student thinks about the aforementioned topic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the explanatory paragraph at the beginning, that really helps to think about the sequence of your questions. Anatomy and physiology is difficult because there is a fine line between asking them questions which can be answered by route memory and probing deeper conceptual understanding. Asking them to sketch first might be a good warm-up exercise to build their confidence, and also might be something they refer back to when answering questions. I would reword some of your questions (like 4 and 5) because I think they will result in very short responses from students that are "textbooky". I like the last question and question #10, although in question #10 I would change it from a "what question" to a "why?" or "how?" or "explain" type question. For example, "explain what information a doctor gains about your heart function/health by listening to it with a stethoscope? What would a healthy heart sound like? What would a defective heart sound like?"
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic; I hope the interview is useful to your teaching!
I like Dr Offerdahls suggestion of asking for a drawing first. I think and alternative to verbally answering questions maybe to show the same answers on the diagram. maybe something color coded for question 4 and 13. I think question 5 could read simply which blood vessels contain more elastic fibers in their walls? I am not sure of the answer haha but are there more then two? or should they know that there are only two? I have no idea myself so it would be interesting to see if this is something not retained in general anatomy
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