
Leni Marshall
University of Wisconsin-Stout
“Every Body Ages: Contemporary Feature Films, Health Humanities and Age Studies in the Classroom”
Students love it when their “textbook” wins an Oscar! Contemporary popular films can increase student engagement, broaden student perspectives and convey valuable, yet often overlooked, insights into health humanities topics, including age studies. In this sample class session, participants review and practice applying basic film studies and age studies vocabulary, definitions and analytical questions using clips from movies such as “Bridge of Spies,” “Spotlight” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Participants will also generate and receive feedback on a lesson plan that incorporates health humanities age studies analyses in their own classes – because every body ages.

Craig Klugman
DePaul University
“Art Rounds: Teaching Observation and Communication Through Museum Art”
Art Rounds is a program that brings health professions students to art museums to learn observation skills. Through the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) system, students learn to see deeply, to listen and reflect, to become more comfortable with ambiguity and to increase their communication skills. In this session, participants will engage in a demonstration of the VTS method. They will learn more about the course structure, including assignments. I will share the results of the rigorous pre-/post-testing of students (including standardized instruments, student comments and thematic analysis of free writing about images) that demonstrate what students gained from the experience.

Margie Hodges Shaw
University of Rochester Medical Center AND

Marianne Chiafery
University of Rochester School of Nursing
“A Framework and Methods for Teaching Bioethics Knowledge, Skills and Behaviors”
In this session participants will engage in educational activities designed to teach knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary for bioethical decision-making. The content is neonatal decision-making, but the framework supports any bioethics content and any level of learning. Explore your personal values about decisions at the margins of life; consider the values of others; learn the historical and current legal and professional obligations; and practice skills necessary for navigating morally complex decisions. This workshop includes a team-based learning exercise, a shared media experience, individual reflection, class discussion and mini-lectures. Come test what methods and strategies you can adopt.

Sylvia Pamboukian
Robert Morris University
“A Dog’s Life; or, Why I Want to Be Treated by James Herriot, Veterinarian”
Veterinarian James Herriot has long delighted readers with his stories about the animals of the Yorkshire Dales. After reading the assigned stories prior to class, students will practice close reading, a strategy of information gathering that focuses on how specific words, phrases, images and metaphors subtly influence readers’ perceptions. Based on the close reading, students will then construct persuasive arguments using counterargument as a way of anticipating objections. Arguments may address themes such as the use of pets in health care and the challenges of maintaining “professionalism” in the face of class differences and of tricky conditions such as obesity.