Using the Lens of Student Learning to Examine the Pedagogies of Practice

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Signature Pedagogies and Pedagogies of Practice: Implications for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice

Abstract

Purpose
Exploring how students within a profession develop their ways of thinking can help us understand the enactment of pedagogies of practice within the signature pedagogy.

Framework
The signature pedagogies within the professions are the forms of instruction most characteristic of preparation for that profession.1 Recent research has begun to articulate the signature pedagogy in physical therapy with a focus on the human body as teacher.8,13 Additionally the signature pedagogy in physical therapy identifies the role of movement as central to physical therapy practice, teaching, and learning. Within each signature pedagogy, instructors engage in pedagogies of practice that include representations, decompositions, and approximations of practice.10 The relations between teaching practice and student learning20 suggest that the representations of practice available to students likely influence students’ professional development. Examining student thinking and engagement in practice can further our understanding of the enactment signature pedagogy.

Methods
This paper draws on both cross-sectional (across programs) and longitudinal (within a single program) data from students in entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy programs. Video and audio recordings of students completing a clinical encounter with a standardized patient in an out-patient orthopedic setting were analyzed for their framing of the clinical problems and interactions with the patient.21-23 These students also completed conceptual interviews regarding their perspectives (beliefs/ values/ priorities) within physical therapy practice.24-26

Data Sources/ Evidence
Physical therapy students demonstrate increasingly more logical and informed approaches to clinical problem solving during their interactions with standardized patient. The students’ problem framing indicates clear attention to the human body and movement (consistent with the signature pedagogy of physical therapy); however, their attention is focused at the biomechanical level, demonstrating a privileging of the habits of mind and hand with lesser attention to habits of heart. During their professional education, some students progressed from a technical view of practice to a more relational view, yet others maintained a technical view throughout their education. The students interactions with the patient were consistent with their perspectives on practice.27 The students indicated strong influences of clinical observations on their perspectives on practice, while faculty classroom presentation frequently influenced their views on the technical aspects of practice

Conclusions
The strengths and limitations in students’ development can indicate facets of practice that are privileged or neglected in educational representations. Based on the students actions and reasoning, the technical (apprenticeship of hands and mind) may be privileged over professional identity formation (the apprenticeship of the heart) in physical therapy education. The faculty selection of representations of practice (which influence student conceptions) may be more implicit than explicit influenced by faculty bias towards the technical aspects of practice. The findings presented in this paper raise questions regarding the influence of the “apprenticeship of observation”1 on both faculty selection of representations of practice and students own preconceived notions of physical therapy practice.12

Significance
The conceptualization of pedagogical practices using the signature pedagogies and pedagogies of practice as frameworks may support instructors in becoming more cognizant of their selection of representations in the classroom.

Author

• Sarah Gilliland, West Coast University