Biol. 251/252 - LAB SURVIVAL GUIDE (and study tips)
[WHAT IS "LAB," & WHAT ARE THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITIES?]
[HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LEARNING IN LAB]
[HOW TO STUDY MODELS AND SPECIMENS]
[HOW TO USE THE COMPUTER TUTORIALS]
WHAT IS “LAB,” & WHAT ARE THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITIES?
- The purpose of A&P lab is to achieve competency in understanding the three-dimensional appearance and location of organs, become familiar with the terminology, understand the microscopic structure of tissues (histology), and learn the function of organ systems. The point of lab is not to memorize only the bare minimum, or only what will be tested over. The point is to understand anatomy & physiology. Your instructor can not force you to learn it; you must learn from your own efforts. Some anatomy and most physiology will be covered in lecture, but you may be asked to learn it on your own in lab first. You CAN do it!!!
- Read the handouts / assigned sections in the lab manual - this is your responsibility, your instructor will not force you to read and will not read to you. If you are confused about the assignment, ask your instructor. Your instructor can not tell you exactly what will be on the exam because your instructor will not know until she/he creates the exam.
- Lab is not a highly structured environment, because everyone learns at a different pace. For example, you may memorize the blood vessels or muscles in 5 min. but someone else may need 20 min. Rather than force everyone to study these structures for 20 min., we provide the models, a list of structures to identify and the whole lab period in which to do so.
- The models are very expensive. Torso models, for example, costs over $3000.00. This is why we don't have very many models. We are sorry. We buy as many new models each year as the budget will allow.
- Your instructor's job is not to lecture to you, nor to force you to do the assignments. Your instructor is there to help you when you ask for help. Your instructor wants to help you, but you must initiate it. Your instructor may be teaching 2 or more labs back-to-back; this is very exhausting, and is the reason your instructor won't necessarily be circulating through the room during your lab period, coming to you and asking you how you are doing.
- It is difficult for the instructor to remember if she/he told your section everything you need to know - this is why you are given lab handouts.
PLEASE HELP YOUR INSTRUCTOR by letting her/him know when you need assistance. Remember, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LEARNING IN LAB
- Work with other students. Your grade is in no way compromised if everyone does well. Teaching is the best way to learn, therefore by helping other students learn you are helping yourself. You are free to choose who you will work with. Most lab instructors will not force you to work with someone, because some students prefer to work alone.
- Quiz each other. For example, suppose you and your partner have studied the location of the exocrine glands. Now quiz your partner, by pointing to a structure on a model, diagram, etc., and ask your partner to identify it without looking at the answer. This simulates the true lab practical exam situation. Then switch roles. Or, ask your partner to teach you the foot bones and you teach him/her the hand bones. Cooperate!
- Read the lab manual before coming to lab. While in lab, spend your time studying models, specimens, and tissues. Do pen and paper lab work and reading at other times/places.
- Do the suggested assignments, and then check your work from the answers posted on the bulletin board in the hallway, if available.
- Learn as much as you can during your scheduled lab period.
- Ask lots of questions.
- Come to lab on time and remain for the entire period. We know labs can be long and tedious, but it is imperative that you discipline yourself to work hard and to do things you don't always enjoy doing. Life is like that sometimes.
- Come to Open Lab at least once a week to review (drill) the material you think you learned. You may be surprised at how much you've forgotten. A good way to learn is to study the material well, take a break of at least a day, then review the same material again and again until you can identify everything with few if any mistakes.
- Can you attend a different lab than what you registered for? That is up to your instructor. Usually, if the lab you want to attend instead has space (i.e. fewer than 18 students), it is not a problem. You do, however, need to choose a regular time and then stick to that time.
- Open Lab hours are posted outside the lab, and on the [open lab webpage]. “Open Lab” means that there is not a scheduled class at that time. To use Open Lab, you must find an instructor to unlock the room for you; you may want to arrange for this in advance by making an appointment.
- Do Open Labs change during examination weeks? Yes. It can take more than an hour for an instructor to set up a lab practical exam. Therefore Open Lab may be canceled prior to such a time.
- You may be asked to identify tissues through microscopes or photographs, as well as on the videodisk/CD. Suppose you are trying to learn the thyroid gland. How do you do it? Follow these steps.
1. Bring the thyroid tissue on a microscope slide into view under the microscope. If you are unsure you are using the microscope properly, please ask your instructor for help. If you can't see anything, please ask for help. If you don't see colored stain, ask for help.
2. Bring up a thyroid image on the videodisc/computer screen. [How?]
3. With the thyroid on the TV or computer screen, look through your microscope, then at the TV/computer screen, back at the microscope, and so forth.
4. Look at thyroid on plate 18 in the histology atlas of your lab manual. Look at Fig. 10.6 on p. 79 of the recommended VanDeGraaff and Crawley atlas. Look through the microscope and at the video image again.
5. Learn to recognize the common features whether on the TV, computer, through the microscope, or on a book page.
- Are all tissues as easy to identify as the thyroid? No, unfortunately. For example, the pituitary and the pancreas have similarities. Skeletal muscle and dense fibrous connective tissue can be confused with each other too, as can thyroid and ovary, until you learn to recognize the differences.
- How can you learn to tell the difference between 2 similar tissues? First, anticipate which ones will give you trouble! Deliberately flip back and forth between the videoimages, while having several microscopes set up each with a different tissue, and study the tissues, looking for key differences that will allow you to know which you are looking at on an exam. Since you will be asked to distinguish them on an exam, you need to be the one to figure out how to distinguish them.
- Is it OK to learn tissue color to help in the identification process? With the exception of the blood cells (for which color is an indicator of type), it is a bad idea to learn color. Colored stains are applied to tissue to increase contrast. If you note only that the thyroid is pink and your instructor puts on the exam an orange-stained thyroid that you have never seen, will you still recognize it? Also, colors can be distorted by adjusting the settings on the TV!
- What if you still can't distinguish similar-looking tissues? Read the description in your lab manual, which will help you understand what you are looking at. Or, ask your instructor for hints.
- Should you draw the images? It isn't necessary since your lab manual has photos and drawings of the tissues, but it will probably help you learn. For example, if you take a moment to do a rough drawing of a multipolar motor neuron soma in the spinal cord gray matter, then draw a unipolar neuron soma in a dorsal root ganglion, you will be more likely to notice how different they are.
- Why do the drawings in the lab manual look so different from the photomicrographs? Try drawing the tissue yourself, and you might see how hard it is! The drawings are based on more information than can be seen in one microscope image, but this information is provided to help you interpret what you see. This is especially true of drawings of large and elaborate cells, such as multipolar neurons. The dendrites of these neurons are extensively branched, and protrude in all directions from the soma. A single slice through a neuron will only show a few stumps of dendrites, at best. Scientists learned the structure of neurons by examining dozens of slices through a single cell.
HOW TO STUDY MODELS AND SPECIMENS
- You will be asked to identify structures on models or specimens. How do you study these?
1. Find the diagram in your lab manual that corresponds to the model or specimen you are studying. Look back and forth from the model/specimen to the diagram.
2. Look back and forth from the video image to the model/specimen, to the diagram.
- Should you learn every labeled structure or region on a model? Probably not. Your lab handout should tell you. In general, if it is illustrated in your lab book you need to know it, otherwise ignore it. Ask your instructor if you are unsure. It may save you some trouble if you cross out structures, figures, terms, etc. in your manual that you've been told to omit.
- What if the model doesn't look exactly like the diagram? Most lab practical exam questions will have parts labeled on models rather than diagrams, so be sure you can identify model structures. If it doesn't look like the drawing in your book, make a note to yourself about how it is different, to remind you when you are studying.
- Should you sketch the models/specimens? Since your lab manual has most illustrations, it is not necessary to make your own sketches, but it may help you learn if you draw.
- Can you write on the keys to the models? No. While it is tempting to cross out the items on the keys that you do not have to know, or circle the ones that you do, please do not mark on the keys. Not every instructor has the same requirements of their students every semester, so we need the keys to be complete and unadulterated. Any marks will be removed.
- What if there is disagreement between a model key and the lab manual as to the identity of a structure? Ask your instructor for clarification. When in doubt, trust the lab manual rather than the model key.
- What if you can't find a label on a model structure, i.e. the label has been rubbed off? Use your lab manual diagram to help you figure out where the structure should be; also, tell your instructor, who may be able to re-write the number on the model.
HOW TO USE THE COMPUTER TUTORIALS
At this time, we only have one disk. Insert the disk into the disk player. Look up the image you want to see in the book. On the remote control device, press
Biol. 251/252 - LECTURE SURVIVAL GUIDE (and study tips)
[WHAT SHOULD I BE WRITING DOWN DURING LECTURE?]
[MY INSTRUCTOR GOES TOO FAST, HELP!]
[WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND A CONCEPT?]
[HOW DO I PREPARE FOR THE EXAMS?]
[HOW DO I KNOW WHAT WILL BE COVERED ON THE EXAMS?]
[THERE IS TOO MUCH MATERIAL COVERED ON EACH EXAM, HELP!]
[HOW DO I DETERMINE WHAT I NEED TO EARN ON THE FINAL EXAM TO GET A PARTICULAR GRADE IN THE CLASS?]
[THE FINAL EXAM IS COMPREHENSIVE, HOW CAN I PREPARE FOR THIS?]
WHAT SHOULD I BE WRITING DOWN DURING LECTURE?
- As much as you can! We are not trying to be sarcastic here. Generally, everything the instructor discusses is fair game for an exam unless he states otherwise. As a beginning student, you may have trouble determining which points are more important, which are more testable, which will likely be in multiple choice or essay format, etc. Your instructor can probably make an exam question of any style out of any concept. So be prepared to answer questions on everything.
- Some students only write what the instructor puts on the board. Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, it probably is not a good strategy. It is very tiring to write on the board, so we don't write down everything we say.
- Some material that is discussed is probably well-known to you, so maybe you don't need to jot it down because you know you'll remember it. Some students remember everything they hear and don't have to write much. Be aware of your knowledge and your skills and style, and work accordingly.
MY INSTRUCTOR GOES TOO FAST, HELP!
- Your instructor tries to go at a reasonable pace. She writes a lot of what she says, which slows her down, and explains many of the more difficult concepts twice. It is important, however, to go fast enough that all the organ systems can be covered in two semesters.
- Some things that might help you include tape recording the lectures, or getting together with 2-3 other students and each taking turns reading your notes out loud while the others follow along. That way, things you didn't write down may be in your friend's notes, and also you may discover that you wrote something down differently that the other person. If one of you wrote it incorrectly, this is a good opportunity to look up the concept in your text book and figure out who was correct.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND A CONCEPT?
- Ask your instructor! You can send her an e-mail [amills@utm.edu], ask her before lecture if she arrives early, go to her office (312 Brehm) during her office hours [listed in syllabus] or at a time you pre-arrange, or you can ask during lab.
- Look it up! You also have a very well-written text book. Sometimes it helps to see an explanation written by someone else, and compare to what you wrote in your notes (which should be what your instructor said).
- Sometimes the hardest thing is realizing that you don't understand. If you understand a concept, you should be able to write an explanation of it (e.g., practice how you would describe something if asked on an essay exam).
HOW DO I PREPARE FOR THE EXAMS?
- Make sure you understand your notes. Don't approach reviewing your notes as a way to memorize everything. There will be some details that you have to memorize, of course, but concepts are ideas to understand, not to memorize steps that have no meaning. Steps in physiological processes are logical, at least to some extent, and it is essential that you understand the logic. Understanding logic and being able to follow it is much easier than memorizing steps that mean nothing to you.
- Looking over end-of-chapter questions that your instructor selected will help you test your understanding of concepts. While your instructor will probably not use many of these questions word-for-word, she will test you over those concepts. If you can arrive at the correct answer only for questions that are worded identically to questions you studied, then you do not truly understand (instead, you are relying on recall).