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Course number: BIO 26 Anatomy and Physiology II

Active Learning, Gamification, Team Bonding FINAL

Reflection on Instructional Change for Equity-Minded Instruction:

It was my hope to plan activities that could support the traditionally purely anatomy-based BIO 26 labs by bringing a more game-like aspect to the learning process,. The new lab activities were designed to pull together covered information, encourage team bonding, and foster students’ intrinsic motivation to learn by increasing their playful engagement with the material.

Supplemental activities were designed for the heart and renal anatomy labs. For both labs, students were asked to learn the anatomical terms in the traditional ways (models, diagrams, drawing, labeling), but were told that there would be a team competition at the end.

For the heart anatomy lab the introduced activity, the “Red Blood Cell Race” asked student teams to race around the room from poster board to poster board following the path a red blood cell would take through the heart chambers, valves, vessels, pulmonary and systemic circuits. Racing was made more difficult as each team had to race together by holding a rope and students had to consider gas exchange by holding the appropriately colored ball representing oxygenated or deoxygenated blood. Students not actively racing were asked to check teams for correctness and could ring a buzzer if they saw a mistake. All races were timed, the fastest team was awarded a prize.

For the renal anatomy lab the new activity, the “Renal Flow Game” asked students to review renal anatomy by tracing out the path of four different substances. In addition to reviewing the anatomy, student teams also had to begin considering how different substances are handled by the kidneys. Students had to choose the longest path for each substance and earned points for each correct anatomical term in the path.

Students responded overall very positively to the new activities. Administered anonymous Qualtrics surveys showed that students overwhelmingly found both activities useful for their learning of the anatomy (4.23 and 4.20/5). Students also reported that the activities fostered team bonding (4.05 and 4.29/5) and were fun and engaging (4.14 and 4.32/5). Overall students felt that the new activities should become a permanent part of the heart and renal anatomy labs (4.36/5 for both).

By actively engaging students with the material and with each other, the new lab activities contributed not only to improved learning outcomes, but also fostered team bonding for the individual lab groups and the entire class. By allowing students to work and laugh together throughout the activities we were able to create a stronger sense of community and more meaningful relationships in our classroom.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
Winners of the "Red Blood Cell Race"	Working out the renal handling of glucose, water, albumin, waste products and tracing their flow

Changes in Course Syllabus and Schedules:

Pre Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule

Class Schedule BIO 26 S24.docx

Post Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule

BIO 26 SPRING 2024 Schedule - With New Lab Activities.docx

Minigrant Impact Data:

Pre Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data

Grade Distribution By Ethnicity - Eiselein

Post Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data (*To be completed for FINAL report)

**Faculty Bio**
Faculty Picture	Biography
	My name is Larissa Eiselein and I have been teaching at California State University, Sacramento since 2008. The main subjects I teach are human anatomy and physiology as well as some seminar classes. I live in Davis with my husband, two children Ellie (17) and Noah (14), and our super adorable rescue pup Kobe (14 months). In my free time I'm an avid runner, hiker, mountain biker, gardener, cook, and non-competitive soccer player. I am grateful for every day I get to spend with the wonderful students at Sac State - they keep me learning and thinking and fashion-informed. ( :

STEM4Equity: US Dept. of Education STEMHSI P031C210012
*Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sacramento State.