Pedagogical approaches using Core Concepts: A case study using the physiology concept of 'Homeostasis' as an example

Aim: This research aimed to establish core concepts in the context of physiology. Core concepts are fundamental ideas (Michael & McFarland, 2011) which educators across many disciplines have considered as a pedagogical approach to enhance teaching of their curricula (Crowther, 2017). Our broader team comprising twenty-five physiology educators reached consensus on seven core concepts (Tangalakis et al., 2023a). Our sub-group team focussed on the “Homeostasis” concept, where our goal was to define themes and sub-themes to simplify and support understanding of this concept.

Background: Considerable interest exists across STEMM disciplines in the identification and use of the core concept approach to scaffold student learning (Stanescu et al., 2020). Our team’s previous work revealed the physiology core concepts were poorly represented across Australian HE curricula (Tangalakis et al., 2023b). Following consensus our sub-group unpacked the key principles of Homeostasis, which is most commonly used to describe how the internal environment of mammalian systems maintains relative constancy.

Description: Broad themes and more specific sub-themes were identified, thus establishing an inventory that educators could potentially use to describe the concept of Homeostasis.

Method: A four-phase Delphi Method was employed to reach consensus on the concepts. Themes and sub-themes were then established and reviewed by the broader educator team by rating the perceived 'importance' and 'difficulty' for student understanding. Response data was analysed using a one-way ANOVA.

Evidence: Five themes and eighteen subthemes that were up to three levels deep were defined. It was evident that the first theme “The organism has regulatory mechanisms to maintain a relatively stable internal environment, a process known as homeostasis” was rated as Essential by 96% of respondents.

Contribution: Our team has developed an educator resource to support the delivery of physiology curricula which will result in consistency in Australian undergraduate programs and allow for future benchmarking.