Science under the microscope

One early career academic is moving away from the traditional ‘look down a microscope’ science model and encouraging an inquiry-oriented approach to learning through self-research.

Catherine Gorrie, photo by Joanne Saad

For Senior Lecturer Catherine Gorrie in UTS’s School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, teaching is all about engagement and the use of innovative teaching methodologies – and it’s evident in her interactive histology class. She recently won a UTS Early Career Teaching Award for her teaching resource HistoLab and its success in helping prepare students for their laboratory exercises.

Histology, the microscopic study of human tissue, is a core subject taught to second- and third-year biomedical and forensic science students. Students learn about tissue identification and how the structures of tissue elements relate to whole body function. The theory is confirmed with what they see looking down a microscope in class.

“Traditionally, this subject is taught in medical and science schools where you’d look at an image in a text book, then look at the same image under the microscope on glass slides,” explains Gorrie.

“However, over the past eight years, there has been a shift in methods of teaching microscopy subjects, moving from glass slides to digitised tissue images as a teaching resource.”

Gorrie is currently enrolled in the UTS Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, a course offered by the Institute for Interactive Media and Learning. It encourages its students to think critically about university teaching and the consequences for student learning.

Based on student interactions with web-based resources and digital technologies, Gorrie realised there were a number of aspects her histology subject wasn’t addressing in terms of learning practice.

“This subject has no research assignments or essays within the assessment component, so there’s nothing that requires an independent, inquiry-oriented approach. That’s what I’ve tried to introduce with HistoLab. The idea of it is to encourage students to research for themselves, prepare for their practical classes and utilise the technology in the practical so they become familiar with it.”

HistoLab is a virtual teaching and learning resource that allows students to log into an online platform to study and familiarise themselves with different cell and tissue structures using high-resolution images on a computer. The HistoLab software is accessible to students through UTSOnline.

The purpose of the learning interface is to give students access to images in between the lecture and the lab practicals, allowing them time to prepare for their lab exercises. Images are scanned at high resolution and digitalised in static form. Students are able to examine different sections of tissue, but the best part is that it can all be done on a computer, anywhere, anytime meaning students can learn remotely.

“When my students attend practical class and have hands-on access to the slides and microscopes, they know what to look for and where because they’re prepared. They can then use their time more efficiently in class investigating the more detailed morphology and specialisations of individual cells and tissues,” says Gorrie.

“This technology and application is certainly transforming the traditional practical methods of teaching science in a laboratory.”

This style of teaching allows Gorrie to incorporate shared interactive learning within the laboratory where students can visualise the slide images and discuss the findings as a group.

“I’ve made the program really easy. I’ve written a lot of pre-lab instructions and tutorial information for how the students can use HistoLab after the lecture. I’m trying to move away from the old style of ‘Go to the lecture and learn the theory, then go to the lab and look at the slides, then go home’.”

Digital image of cells lining the gallbladder supplied by Catherine Gorrie

Between the lecture and the practical lab exercise, students can log into HistoLab where they will view an image that will be part of the teaching set for their practical class. They can then complete a series of basic multiple choice questions in preparation for the content covered in class.

Gorrie can then download the student HistoLab results to identify the knowledge gaps of her students prior to the practical. This means she can address and spend more time on the problem areas with students during class time.

Feedback shows students using HistoLab increased their understanding of material and knowledge of tissues and demonstrated an increase in their overall subject results by five to 10 marks.

“I’ve only run HistoLab for one semester in 2013. This was not a compulsory component of the class and the overall student uptake was about 50 per cent. The students who completed both modules, on average, had improved their results in comparison to students who did not use Histolab at all.”

Following its success, Gorrie’s attention is turning to how HistoLab could be rolled out into other science microscopy subjects, such as haematology, microbiology and parasitology.

“HistoLab is still in the development stages but it certainly has potential to change the way we teach science subjects.

“By going virtual, or more digital, some of my classes could be taken out of the laboratory and into some of the new interactive student spaces that are emerging as part of all the new developments around the UTS campus. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”