Davidson Cole, Hodge Karin
University of Vermont, Department of Pharmacology, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
University of Vermont, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Jun 27;23(2). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00025-22. eCollection 2022 Aug.
The recent increase in online learning modalities due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created a significant gap in real-time discussions on complex issues. This lack of enrichment from student discussions levies the concern of a deficiency in strong learning outcomes. This learning activity focused on mind mapping to facilitate small group discussions on the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti. Students learned about the disease triangle and cause-and-effect relationships on a large spatial and temporal scale. In this case, the three points of the triangle represented the pathogen (Vibrio cholerae), the environment (Haiti), and the hosts (Haitians). Each student in each small group was required to read a unique article to present to their group on the day of the activity. Using mind mapping, each group illustrated relationships that may have exacerbated the cholera outbreak. Learning outcomes were assessed through the evaluation of questions relevant to that week's exercise. Students were assessed on their ability to recognize relationships between the pathogen, environment, and hosts, as well as the ability to apply what they learned to the present-day COVID-19 pandemic. The disease triangle activity is readily accessible and can be easily implemented for identifying cause-and-effect relationships in large-scale systems. Importantly, this learning activity retained real-time discussion-based problem-solving for improving students' critical thinking skills and approaches to complex issues.
由于2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19），近期在线学习模式的增加在关于复杂问题的实时讨论中造成了显著差距。学生讨论缺乏丰富性引发了对学习成果不佳的担忧。这项学习活动聚焦于思维导图，以促进关于2010年海地霍乱疫情的小组讨论。学生们在大的时空尺度上了解了疾病三角以及因果关系。在这种情况下，三角的三个点分别代表病原体（霍乱弧菌）、环境（海地）和宿主（海地人）。每个小组的每个学生都被要求阅读一篇独特的文章，以便在活动当天向小组展示。通过思维导图，每个小组阐述了可能加剧霍乱疫情的各种关系。通过评估与当周练习相关的问题来评估学习成果。对学生识别病原体、环境和宿主之间关系的能力，以及将所学知识应用于当前COVID-19大流行的能力进行评估。疾病三角活动易于开展，可轻松用于识别大规模系统中的因果关系。重要的是，这项学习活动保留了基于实时讨论的问题解决方式，以提高学生的批判性思维能力和处理复杂问题的方法。
