Report from the Physiology Majors Interest Group (P‐MIG): Core Concepts of Physiology
Authors: Stanescu Claudia , Rogers Jennifer , VanRyn Valerie , Wehrwein Erica 
Published: June 2021

The Physiology Majors Interest Group (P‐MIG) is a consortium of educators from institutions with undergraduate degree programs in Physiology interested in building a network of peers to share ideas and best practices in teaching undergraduate students. P‐MIG held two stand‐alone conferences in May 2017 at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and in June 2018 at University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. A primary goal of these initial conferences was to discuss the establishment of national guidelines for undergraduate Physiology programs. Subsequently, P‐MIG members self‐selected into two working subcommittees: 1) Core Concepts of Physiology subcommittee; and 2) Professional Skills subcommittee. Fifteen Core Concepts of Physiology have been proposed and developed by Michael, Cliff, McFarland, Modell, and Wright. P‐MIG conference attendees completed surveys prior to the 2017 and 2018 P‐MIG conferences and were asked to choose the top 5 most important core concepts for their program goals and student populations. In 2017, the top responses were: 1) homeostasis (84% of 26 respondents), 2) structure function (81%), 3) cell‐cell communication (50%); 4) scientific reasoning (46%), and 5) levels of organization (42%). In 2018, the top 4 ranked responses were the same as in 2017. The 5th ranked response was a three‐way tie between energy, flow down gradients, and interdependence. During Spring 2018 a student survey was administered by P‐MIG to elicit feedback regarding perceptions of various aspects of their undergraduate experiences. Students (N=667) from 9 institutions completed this informational survey. Students reported the top 5 core concepts taught within their physiology courses to be: 1) homeostasis (4.5±0.8; based upon a 5‐point likert scale: 1 = I do not understand this concept, 5 = I have mastered this concept; 0 = this information was not presented in my physiology course), 2) cell membrane (4.3±0.9, 3) structure‐function (4.3±0.9), 4) interdependence (4.2±0.9), and 5) tie between cell‐cell communication (4.2±0.9) and energy (4.2±0.9). When asked to evaluate the core concepts relevant to their desired future career, students reported (1 = unimportant, 5 = vitally important, 0 = not applicable): 1) homeostasis (4.3±1.0), 2) structure‐function (4.3±1.0), interdependence (4.3±1.0), 4) causality (4.1±1.1), and 5) scientific reasoning (4.1±1.1). Future directions include administering a program self‐assessment rubric to determine which core concepts are currently being taught in (self)‐selected Physiology programs. This data and previously published faculty survey results on the core concepts will be considered in the development of the core concepts portion of the national guidelines for Physiology undergraduate programs. The two subcommittees will present their work at the 3rd Annual P‐MIG Conference on June 18–20, 2019 at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Support or Funding Information

American Physiological Society; Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology; Michigan State University; University of Arizona; University of Iowa; University of Minnesota; University of Oregon

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.