Undergraduate students typically study endocrinology and reproduction within core physiology courses. Many students then progress to advanced learning in disciplinary specific courses, often taught with a contemporary research focus. Physiology is recognised as being difficult to learn, and over the past decade there has been a movement towards utilising core concepts in the curriculum [1]. In a constructivist approach, teachers ‘unpack’ core concepts, like homeostasis, cell-cell communication, and structure/function, to help students build a conceptual framework for learning. However, a key decision for teachers is when and how to introduce complexity, as oversimplification in early learning promotes reductive tendencies and misconceptions, which considerably hinder deeper knowledge acquisition [2].
To investigate student learning, biomedical science students enrolled in a second-year undergraduate course ‘Systems Physiology’ (n=359) were asked a reflective, open-ended question “Consider something that you have learnt in biomedical science that you found to be 'complex'. Briefly state what it was and describe the characteristics of the phenomena that made it complex.” within a meta-learning assessment task. Students identified issues across many biomedical science disciplines, with 40 students specifically stating endocrine topics. These student responses were thematically analysed against a complexity framework for biological systems [3].
Most students reported that complexity in learning endocrinology related to the diversity of molecules, signalling pathways, and responses (heterogeneity of system components); the strong interactions between pathways or systems (interdependent functional relationships); and/or functional outcomes that were highly dependent on context (conditional manifestations). Students also reported endocrinology as being difficult, as distinct from complex, with explanations associated with unusual demands on cognition [2].
These initial findings provide insight into learning endocrinology by students midway through a biomedical science undergraduate curriculum, and potential challenges of teaching endocrine topics that students perceive as difficult and complex.