Adv Physiol Educ 39: 128, 2015; doi:10.1152/advan.00015.2015.

Illuminations

The gastrointestinal system: a piece of cake Vinay Oommen and Praghalathan Kanthakumar Department of Physiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India Submitted 26 January 2015; accepted in final form 6 March 2015

often comprises of a large percentage of didactic lectures. A 1-h didactic lecture is often much longer than the average attention span of most students (2). It is preferable to use different methods to decrease the possible monotony of the didactic lecture (1). This is even more important when the topic being discussed has a greater number of facts that require memorizing. In this article, we describe a simple activity that can be used to enliven didactic teaching of the gastrointestinal system. This involved baking a cake and looking in detail at the ingredients of the cake and the different physiological processes that take place in the body as a piece of cake courses through the gastrointestinal tract.

PHYSIOLOGY TEACHING

3. The cake in the stomach. This addressed gastric anatomy, gastric secretions, and digestion in the stomach. 4. The cake in the intestine. This addressed digestion and absorption in the intestine along with intestinal motility. 5. The cake in the pot. This addressed secretory and absorptive functions of the colon, the formation of feces, and the defecation reflex. At different points during the series of lectures, the questions that were asked in the initial handout were referred to. Anonymous feedback was taken from the students after the series of didactic lectures. One of the questions in this feedback referred to the baking exercise. The question specifically asked if the exercise of baking the cake and the orientation of the lectures around the same theme contributed to the understanding of gastrointestinal physiology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS

Materials required. The following materials are required for this activity: an electric oven, ingredients for the cake, bakeware, and adequate safety equipment. Activity presentation. This activity was presented to first-year medical students during didactic lectures on the physiology of the gastrointestinal system. The activity first involved baking two cakes. Although baking the cakes in the lecture hall was preferable, this was not possible due to safety issues. This was therefore done in a small kitchen along the usual pathway to the lecture hall. The baking was started before the lecture, so that as students filed into the classroom, they were met with the waft of a freshly baking chocolate cake. The ingredients required for the second cake were kept ready in the lecture hall. At the start of the lecture, two volunteers were asked to prepare the batter for the cake. The recipe for the cake was simultaneously projected. Once the batter was ready, this was sent for baking. The first cake was then brought in. Students were then given a set of questions as a handout. They were asked to find out the answers to these questions as the lectures progressed. Questions were framed to elicit important facts of gastrointestinal physiology, such as the mechanisms that prevent regurgitation of food into the nasopharynx and trachea, enzymes that act on various ingredients of the cake, and the importance of dietary fiber and other minor nutrients present in the cake. The series of didactic lectures was then delivered, using the theme of the cake throughout. They were titled as follows: 1. The cake in the mind. This addressed the cephalic phase of gastrointestinal secretions. 2. The cake in the mouth. This addressed mastication, salivary secretion, and digestion in the mouth. Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: V. Oommen, Dept. of Physiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632002, India (e-mail: [email protected]).

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The exercise was well received by the students. Baking the cake created a lot of excitement. The baked cake was distributed at the end of the class and even generated requests for the recipe. Of the 90 students who provided feedback, 72.2% said that the exercise helped them understand the gastrointestinal system better, 14.5% said that it was not effective, and 13.3% did not respond to this particular question. Students who found this exercise useful used phrases such as “It was funѧ,” “It made the topic more interesting,” and “ѧkept us motivatedѧ” to describe their experience. DISCUSSION

This article describes a simple exercise that can be used to illustrate gastrointestinal physiology. In the setting of a traditional didactic lecture, such an activity can help explain concepts as well as improve student attention. DISCLOSURES No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the author(s). AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS Author contributions: V.T.O. and P.K. conception and design of research; V.T.O. and P.K. analyzed data; V.T.O. and P.K. interpreted results of experiments; V.T.O. and P.K. drafted manuscript; V.T.O. and P.K. edited and revised manuscript; V.T.O. and P.K. approved final version of manuscript. REFERENCES 1. Richardson D. Don’t dump the didactic lecture; fix it. Adv Physiol Educ 32: 23–24, 2008. 2. Roopa S, Geetha MB, Rani A, Chacko T. What type of lectures students want?–a reaction evaluation of dental students. J Clin Diagn Res 7: 2244 –2246, 2013.

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The gastrointestinal system: a piece of cake.

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