A Botanic Trail as a Complementary Tool to Master Class in Physiology. A Comparison of Students’ Impression in Different Grades

Abstract

In the last years, European Universities have rearranged their study programs towards more practical contents in order to develop a broader range of competences in the students. In this sense, a group of Lecturers in Physiology of different Degrees (Pharmacy, Biotechnology and Medicine) have developed multidisciplinary activity, included in the problem based learning methodology, and supported on a tool previously established in the University Campus: the Botanic Trail. This tool consists on the identification of the plant species located in the Campus by means of signs with the QR codes, whose capture leads to a website (www.sendabotanicaue.es) containing extensive information about botany, pharmacognosy and the toxicology of each species. The activity started when each group of 4-5 students of the first or second year were assigned a plant found in the Campus. Then, the students should investigate their active ingredients and explain the mechanism of action, pharmacology, medical application and toxicology of at least one of these ingredients. The results of this investigation should be presented in a poster format and explained to the rest of the class. The students’ impression about the activity was recorded before and after its development with a questionnaire. The analysis of the data collected shows that, initially, students of the three Degrees agreed with the inclusion of resources, such as the Botanic Trail, as a complement to master classes. However, after carrying out the activity, a different point of view has emerged depending on the Degree analyzed. Thus, Pharmacy-Biotechnology students consider interesting the activity, and useful for complementing the theoretical contents of the course in Physiology. However, Medicine students do not consider that these types of activities make a significant difference on their training, although they do not appear to be against including them. Taken together, these results indicate a different assessment of the inclusion of complementary resources to the master class depending on the profile of the students.