Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Because medicine is based on biology, and biology is grounded in the science of evolution, one would expect that all students in the health professions would consider competence in the core principles of evolutionary science to be foundational. However, the field and practice of evolutionary medicine education is still nascent. To foster the development of educational resources for clinicians and scientists, the editors of EMPH have organized this Special Collection of recently published articles on evolutionary medicine education that have appeared in the journal. This collection will continue to grow as the Journal publishes new education papers. Please bookmark it to stay abreast of these developments, and consider contributions you can make to this growing collection. The International Society of Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health (ISEMPH) has led the effort to integrate evolution into health professions education. Building on a 2009 Colloquium hosted by the National Academy of Medicine, researchers described and provided a rationale for a set of underlying principles, competencies and learning objectives for premedical and medical education in evolutionary biology [1]. A working group then developed a core set of evolutionary medicine concepts, outlined exemplars of core evolutionary concepts for medical education and aligned them with learning objectives and competencies in medical education. They argued that including such concepts in medical school curricula would enhance critical thinking skills among physicians [2]. Other papers in this Collection further explore these themes in medical education internationally and in other health professions: Grunspan et al. [3] identified a set of 14 core principles to guide learning goals and curricula in health professions education; Grunspan et al. [4] also studied 196 American universities and found that courses in evolutionary medicine were offered in 56% of research-intensive universities, but only in 2% of others types of institutions; In another review, Enam and Hashmi [5] described the success that Pakistani medical schools have had introducing evolutionary medicine into their curriculum; and Basile et al. [6] surveyed 2000 nutrition and dietetics professionals and students and found considerable interest in incorporating evolutionary medicine into curricula and the field itself. ISEMPH also established a Committee on Education and Outreach, chaired by M.D.S. from its inception in 2013 until 2018, and now by J.L. The committee has helped build online resources including EvMedEd, with links to over 1500 education resources for evolutionary medicine [7]. The Committee is now pursuing several additional avenues to engage researchers and educators in expanding opportunities to develop resources for evolutionary medicine education. During the 2019 annual meeting of ISEMPH in Zurich, the Committee discussed the need for developing additional education resources that can address a variety of classroom needs such as learning modules, problem sets, laboratory exercises and undergraduate research experiences that could be added to the EvMedEd section of the ISEMPH website. Based on those discussions, the following activities are currently underway: Dr Daniel Grunspan will lead efforts to establish a common format for such materials so that they are easier to use, to align the format with best effective practices that are evidence-based, and to have these resources address the big ideas and concepts of evolutionary medicine. ISEMPH will engage scientists and educators from across the globe to develop resources that are more geographically and culturally relevant. Thus, we will encourage greater involvement of scientists and educators from outside the USA in the work of the education committee and utilize their networks to inform discussion about development or dissemination of education resources about evolutionary medicine. We will survey prospective users of these resources to learn about their needs so developers spend their time productively, producing products that are most likely to be widely used. Accordingly, the Committee is seeking volunteers who are willing to speak about evolutionary medicine at events such as annual meetings of other disciplinary and professional societies, including in the educational realm. For example, in November 2019, J.L. organized two invited sessions during the annual professional development conference of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) in Chicago, IL to collect this kind of information. We will organize workshops on education at future ISEMPH conferences, building on the 2-h workshop on education during the Zurich ISEMPH. We also will try to increase the impact of the committee’s efforts during international meetings by discussing with the program committee how individual papers or symposia about education in evolutionary medicine might become a more central part of these meetings. J.L. will work with the organizers of the 2020 meeting in Athens, GA, and the 2021 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal to incorporate more sessions about education into those meetings. Through the Education Committee, ISEMPH will serve as facilitator to bring together the many organizations that are already involved or that are planning to become involved with the development of educational resources. This will play to the organizations’ individual strengths, will reduce duplication of effort, and will inform the needs of and suggestions from end users. To enhance this conversation, we will invite representatives from (a) professional societies such as the Society for the Study of Evolution, American Medical Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, (b) teacher organizations, (c) the College Board (because Advance Placement Biology places a strong emphasis on the teaching of evolution), (d) educators from the informal sector (e.g. museums) and (e) education researchers with interests in measuring the efficacy of such efforts. ISEMPH will seek support from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the European Union, or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. With such funding, more formal, ongoing conversations could begin virtually and then culminate in a ‘summit’ at one of ISEMPH’s meetings to develop a longer-term plan of work and ongoing cooperation. We will also request funds so that members of the education committee who are involved with this effort can seek broader input through workshops or other venues at meetings of other organizations such as the annual meetings of NABT and the National Science Teachers Association in the USA and their counterparts in other nations. Following discussions with the Editor-in-Chief of EMPH prior to the annual meeting in Zurich and with other editors and members of the advisory board during that meeting, we decided to implement the following ideas to increase the visibility of education in the journal: Solicit evidence-based papers about education in evolutionary medicine, including those coauthored by scientific and education researchers and practitioners. Add new editors and reviewers to publish addenda to or commentaries about how published research papers in the journal can serve as the basis for classroom discussions about evolutionary medicine. Publish reviews of new books about research in evolutionary medicine to describe their value in enhancing education. Update this Special Collection as new education related papers are published. Readers are encouraged to contact J.L. ([email protected]) if they are interested in helping to advance any of these activities. Conflict of interest: None declared.
DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoz033
Authors: Jay Labov, Mark D Schwartz
Institution: New York University
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,629
OpenAlex ID: W2989564216