Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
The use of Facebook as a tool to increase the interest of undergraduate students in physiology in an interdisciplinary way
2014; American Physical Society; Volume: 38; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1152/advan.00015.2014
ISSN1522-1229
AutoresLiane da Silva de Vargas, Marcus Vinícius Soares de Lara, Rithiele Gonçalves, Ben-Hur Souto das Neves, Pâmela Billig Mello‐Carpes,
Tópico(s)Social Media and Politics
ResumoIlluminationsThe use of Facebook as a tool to increase the interest of undergraduate students in physiology in an interdisciplinary wayLiane da Silva de Vargas, Marcus Vinícius Soares de Lara, Rithiele Gonçalves, Ben-Hur Souto das Neves, and Pâmela Billig Mello-CarpesLiane da Silva de VargasPhysiology Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Marcus Vinícius Soares de LaraPhysiology Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Rithiele GonçalvesPhysiology Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Ben-Hur Souto das NevesPhysiology Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and Pâmela Billig Mello-CarpesPhysiology Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, BrazilPublished Online:01 Sep 2014https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00015.2014MoreSectionsPDF (349 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailWeChat the process of teaching and learning at the undergraduate level is challenged by an increasing amount of content (1). Now it's not enough to convey knowledge; it's also necessary to seek alternative ways to motivate and capture the interest of students both during class and outside of class.Currently, social networks are popular among students (5) and are used to establish and maintain contacts (6). Facebook, one of the most popularly accessed social networks, has ∼500 million registered users (2) and consequently has the potential to become an ally in the teaching and learning process. If properly used, Facebook allows the formation of groups with common interests, enables the exchange of information, and stimulates the search for knowledge. Considering this context in Brazil, where the number of connections grew from 8.8 to 35 million between 2010 and 2011 (3), attracting ∼1 trillion monthly visits (4), we asked ourselves: why not partner the physiology teaching with the use of Facebook, to try to increase students' interest in physiology, using an interdisciplinary approach? Consequently, we created a group on Facebook, which served as a support tool for teaching physiology at the health area undergraduate courses of the Federal University of Pampa (Unipampa) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.METHODSThe proposal of creation of a group on Facebook was thought to act as an auxiliary tool of the undergraduate Human Physiology course in Nursing, Pharmacy, and Physiotherapy majors. This proposal was referred to the Institutional Education Committee for evaluation and was approved (Institutional Review Board no. 10.015.14).The main objective of the present proposal was to promote student access to content related to physiology outside of the classroom in an interdisciplinary way. For this, the proposal was organizing in the following steps.Invitation.In the early semester, students in physiology courses were invited to join the group.Participation in the group.The group was a closed group and consisted of a space to share news, educational/didactic sites, and scientific publications related to physiology arranged in an interactive and easily accessible way. Moreover, this space enabled discussion among students, teachers, and tutors about the topics of the publications. Thus, students were not limited to what was discussed in class, and access to knowledge occurred in the social network in an easy and pleasant way.After the beginning of the project, at least 2 times/wk, an activity was proposed in the group. After the publication of the content in the group, students were encouraged to 1) comment about the content of the post; 2) discuss the results of the research, as applicable; 3) relate the subject with physiology themes learned in classes; 4) discuss the relationship between physiology and other courses of health undergraduates, in a interdisciplinary way; and 5) interact with the group in any other desirable way. Instructors were responsible for posting the links/pages and mediating the discussions. In Table 1, we show some of the activities and subjects provided in the group.Table 1. Examples of activities and subjects provided/discussed in the groupMaterial TypeAim ScopeActivities ProposedOther InformationNews published in a news websiteSensory physiologyAfter the availability of a Portuguese news link that discussed the results of a paper, students were asked to read the original paper and discuss the theme (the ability to perceive the presence of diseases by smell)News of UOL Notícias (Brazilian news website) (http://noticias.uol.com.br/)Internet pageGeneral physiologySuggest online free software that can help the study of physiologyInteractive physiology (http://www.winona.edu/biology/adam_ip/home/index.html)Internet pageNeurophysiologySuggest a page of neurophysiology contentsBrain Facts (http://www.brainfacts.org/)Online column of a newspaperNeurophysiologySharing the column text, “Flashing resting brain,” followed by discussionColumn of Folha de São Paulo (a Brazilian newspaper) written by a neuroscientistNews published in a national magazineMemorySharing of a news page that discusses how memories can be edited. Students were asked to read the original paper and discuss the themeNews of Veja (a Brazilian magazine); the original paper was published in the Journal of NeurosciencePaper with open accessGlial cellsRead a review paper about the role of glial cellsReview paper published in Estudos Avançados (a Brazilian scientific journal)Link of a video on YouTubeCancerView a didactic video about the origin of cancer and preventionPortuguese video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HU2sXd5H48Q)News page from NatureDrug interactionStudents were asked to read a news article and discuss the interdisciplinarity and relation between physiology and pharmacology contentsNature page (http://www.nature.com/news/project-ranks-billions-of-drug-interactions-1.14245?WT.mc_id=FBK_NatureNews)News published in a national scientific magazineFood regulationStudents were asked to read a Portuguese news article that discussed food regulation and discuss the theme and relationship between the nervous and digestive systemsNews from Revista FAPESP (a Brazilian scientific magazine)Page of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstituteElectrocardiogramStudents were asked to view a link about the heart's electrical system and electrocardiogram results to understand the relationship between cardiac function and the electrocardiogramThe heart's electrical system and Electrocardiogram results (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hb/understanding.html)Evaluation.After a semester of use of the Facebook group, we used an online form powered by Googledocs to verify students' perceptions about its use in physiology. The questions included on the questionnaire are shown in Table 2.Table 2. Questions and possible answers of the online questionnaireQuestionPossible Answers1. Do you think that the creation of the page Physiology Unipampa on Facebook helped in the teaching actions of the physiology course? (Choose only one answer.)YesNoA little2. The posts in the group… (Choose however many options you like.)Physiology became more funPhysiology became more interestingMotivated students to study physiologyImproved students' understanding about physiologyAwakened students' interest in scientific researchDid not alter students' perceptions about physiology3. How often did you access the links and pages suggested in the group? (Choose only one answer.)Always (100% of links/pages)Often (75–99% of links/pages)Occasionally (40–75% of links/pages)Rarely (1–40% of links/pages)Never (0% of links/pages)4. How often did you access Facebook? (Choose only one answer.)DailyWeeklyMonthlyRarelyNever5. What is your undergraduate major? (Choose only one answer.)NursingPharmacyPhysiotherapy6. How old are you?Descriptive question7. Additional commentsDescriptive questionRESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAfter a semester of use of the Facebook group, we assessed students' perceptions. Forty-two students (23.4 ± 4.94 yr old) of Nursing (47.63%, n = 20), Pharmacy (7.14%, n = 3), and Physiotherapy (45.23%, n = 19) majors attending the physiology course answered an online questionnaire. We verified that 90.47% (n = 38) of students reported that they accessed Facebook daily, 7.14% (n = 3) weekly, and only 2.39% (n = 1) monthly. Because the vast majority accessed the tool daily, we realized the potential of using it for teaching purposes. When asked if working in the group helped in teaching and learning of physiology, most of the students (80.95%, n = 34) said yes and 19.05% (n = 8) answered “a little.” No student said that the group did not help. Most students reported that they always (17%) or often (55%) accessed the links and news suggested in the group, 26% reported occasionally, and 2% reported rarely. No student said that they never accessed the links suggested.Figure 1 shows that for 76.19% (n = 32) of students, participation in the group made physiology more interesting. In this question, students could choose more than one option, so, for most of the students, the Facebook's physiology group served as a motivation to study more physiology, made physiology more fun, improved their understanding of physiology concepts, and/or increased their interest in scientific research. Only one student reported that participation in the group had not changed his perception about physiology.Fig. 1.Perception of students about the effects of the participation in the Facebook group in the teaching of physiology (n = 42).Download figureDownload PowerPointThe creation of the Facebook group was well accepted by the students, contributed to the learning of physiology content, provided a tool to promote the interest, and stimulated the involvement of undergraduate students with physiology outside of the classroom. Moreover, our results demonstrated that this tool can be an important contributor to the processes of teaching and learning, considering the frequency of access of our students to Facebook and links suggested in our group as well as its contribution to a favorable perception of physiology content.We had previously used other online tools and/or software in physiology (i.e., Moodle) and, although these tools supported the teaching-learning process, we did not see the same student participation and motivation that we saw here. Probably this is related to the success of Facebook with young people, specially in Brazil (2, 3, 5). Working in this social network encouraged students to apply knowledge related to physiology and to pursue additional knowledge, as we determined that many of these students investigated additional physiology topics and shared links with their colleagues through the group. Finally, a significant percentage of students increased their interest in scientific research, demonstrating how the sharing of articles and news related to scientific discoveries and publications can contribute to interactions in the scientific community.It is important also to highlight that often the use of the Facebook group encouraged interdisciplinary connections. This was evident when we observed the associations made by students between contents taught in physiology and in other courses. For example, we posted a link about how the electrocardiogram works (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hb/understanding.html) and the relationship between electrocardiogram-recorded graphs and the heart's electrical activity. In this topic, students made many connections with anatomy and histology of heart and pathologies such as heart attack, ventricular broke, and others. Also, students liked this type of didactic animation a lot because it facilitated their understanding about content.Considering our results, we recommend the use of social networks as a support tool for classroom teaching. However, it is important to first verify students' habits in relation to the use of the proposed social network. While Facebook is one of the most used, new social networks appear regularly and habits of use may change. If students are interested, it is important set up the group according the main objective. In our case, we wanted a space to complement classroom activities, so a closed group was a better choice. Also, continuous posts to the page are important. In the contents posted, it is essential verify the provenance and validity of the information before sharing it.In this project, we also identified strategies that were effective to use in the Facebook group. We discovered that long papers are only occasionally ready in full and that these posts had fewer comments and discussions compared with posts with briefer readings (short reports of magazines, such as the Science Magazine website). So, for these activities, posts with shorter assignments are preferred by students, and sometimes students looked for the original paper after reading the short report. Also, we observed that suggestions of didactic websites were well accepted and praised by students, because they helped them understand course content. One suggestion to those who want to use a Facebook group in physiology is to share this project with professors of other courses, like pathology, pharmacology, histology, and others, whose content overlaps with physiology, because students will often make connections with the contents of these courses. Thus, it is also possible to work more effectively in an interdisciplinary way.This work also raises several questions for future research. First, how does the use of Facebook in physiology impact student's learning? This could be measured by comparing the performance (grades) in a physiology course of students that use and students that do not use the Facebook group. Second, does the use of an open group instead a closed group allow people of different areas and levels to collaborate in discussions and posts more effectively? Does the use of an open group promote students interest and participation? These questions could be answer by future research by our and/or other groups.In conclusion, the use of a social network for interdisciplinary students can increase student interest in physiology and facilitate their learning in the classroom as well as increase their interest in scientific research.GRANTSThe authors thank the Federal University of Pampa for the financial support (Coordination of Distance Education Grant).DISCLOSURESNo conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the author(s).AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSAuthor contributions: L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., and P.B.M.-C. conception and design of research; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. performed experiments; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. analyzed data; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. interpreted results of experiments; L.d.S.d.V. and P.B.M.-C. prepared figures; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. drafted manuscript; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. edited and revised manuscript; L.d.S.d.V., M.V.S.d.L., R.G., B.-H.S.d.N., and P.B.M.-C. approved final version of manuscript.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors thank all the undergraduate students that contributed to the development of the described actions as well as the Federal University of Pampa for the support and cooperation with the proposed work.REFERENCES1. Berg RM. “Physiological curiosity of the week”: a teaching tool to facilitate self-directed learning and student participation during a cardiovascular physiology course. Adv Physiol Educ 36: 356–357, 2012.Link | ISI | Google Scholar2. Facebook. Using Facebook (online). https://www.facebook.com/help/?section=using [5 June 2014].Google Scholar3. G1. Número de Usuários Brasileiros no Facebook Cresce 298% em 2011 (online). http://g1.globo.com/tecnologia/noticia/2012/01/numero-de-usuarios-brasileiros-no-facebook-cresce-298-em-2011.html [5 June 2014].Google Scholar4. Keen A. Vertigem Digital: por que as Redes Sociais estão nos Dividindo, Diminuindo e Desorientando. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2012.Google Scholar5. Nadkarni A , Hofmann SG. Why do people use Facebook? Pers Individ Diff 52: 243–249, 2012.Crossref | ISI | Google Scholar6. Pempek TA , Yermolayeva YA , Calvert AL. College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. J Appl Develop Psychol 30: 227–238, 2009.Crossref | ISI | Google ScholarAUTHOR NOTESAddress for reprint requests and other correspondence: P. B. Mello-Carpes, BR 472, km 592, PO Box 118, Uruguaiana 97500-970, RS, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]com or [email protected]edu.br). 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