Department of Biology, Lake Region State College, Devils Lake, North Dakota, United States.
Department of Physician Assistant Studies, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2023 Dec 1;47(4):673-683. doi: 10.1152/advan.00124.2022. Epub 2023 Aug 3.
A well-developed mental model is crucial for effectively studying physiology core concepts. However, mental models can be difficult for students to represent and for instructors to evaluate and correct. Systems modeling as a visualization cognitive tool may facilitate mental model development. On the other hand, evidence of mental model development may also be represented verbally, in writing, and therefore, be evaluated. In this study, analysis of writing prompt completions illustrated progress in physician assistant student mental model formation of physiology core concepts, such as homeostasis and cell-cell communication, over time. Two cohorts of physician assistant students were invited to voluntarily submit completions of writing prompts five times over 16 months. Sessions included submissions pre- and post-small group systems modeling participation. Word frequency and word association cluster dendrogram analyses were conducted on submissions using the tm text mining package in R to provide insight into progressive changes in core concepts of word use and associations. Students demonstrated expanded core concepts systems thinking over time. This was apparent through the increased use of systems process terms, such as homeostasis, in submissions immediately following systems modeling activities. Students also increasingly included terms and associations emphasizing cell-cell communication and systems integration. The inclusion of these concepts within student mental models was demonstrably enhanced by participation in systems modeling activities. This study applies text mining, an artificial intelligence form of natural language processing, to evaluate a series of physiology student-written prompt completions. Text mining of student writing in physiology has not yet been reported in the literature. Through the application of this technique, longitudinal trends in student development of mental models of core concepts were identified and visualized through word frequency distributions and cluster dendrograms.
一个完善的心理模型对于有效地学习生理学核心概念至关重要。然而，学生很难将心理模型表示出来，教师也很难对其进行评估和纠正。系统建模作为一种可视化认知工具，可以促进心理模型的发展。另一方面，心理模型的发展也可以用言语、书面形式来表示，因此可以进行评估。在这项研究中，通过对写作提示完成情况的分析，说明了随着时间的推移，医师助理学生对生理学核心概念（如稳态和细胞间通讯）的心理模型形成的进展。邀请了两批医师助理学生自愿在 16 个月内五次提交写作提示的完成情况。这些课程包括在小组系统建模参与之前和之后提交的内容。使用 R 中的 tm 文本挖掘包对提交的内容进行了词频和词联想聚类树图分析，以深入了解核心概念的用词和联想的渐进变化。随着时间的推移，学生表现出了扩展的核心概念系统思维。这一点在系统建模活动之后，学生提交的内容中，如稳态等系统过程术语的使用增加上显而易见。学生也越来越多地包括强调细胞间通讯和系统集成的术语和联想。通过参与系统建模活动，学生的心理模型中明显包含了这些概念。本研究应用文本挖掘（一种自然语言处理的人工智能形式）来评估一系列生理学学生的书面提示完成情况。在文献中尚未报道过在生理学中对学生写作进行文本挖掘。通过应用这种技术，通过词频分布和聚类树图，可以识别和可视化学生核心概念心理模型发展的纵向趋势。
