Interdisciplinary group learning in a kinesiology course: a novel approach

This paper describes an active, collaborative learning project that occurred during a kinesiology course for first-year graduate students in physical (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) that was taught by faculty from both disciplines and designed to promote teamwork and integration of kinesiology concepts. The project required the students to describe and illustrate an assigned functional task, including the involved bony structure, joint mechanics, and muscle actions for joints of the lower extremities. Students from the PT and OT cohorts were intentionally mixed into groups of five students. They were provided with a topic for the assignment and a clear grading rubric. Each group gathered information from a variety of sources to address the topic. The final project was a poster that was presented to the class through an elaborate schedule that required all members of an individual group to present their poster to the group when they arrive at their poster. The presentations were well done and received high marks overall. Student scores were much less critical than faculty scores and included very few comments. The high scores awarded by course faculty indicated the thoroughness of the detail in the posters, as well as the preparedness of the students. An informally determined majority of students commented that being required to present the entire poster required them to comprehend material from the entire course, which we viewed as a positive learning experience.