Pictures worth a thousand words earn national science teaching award

A University of the Sunshine Coast bioscientist has received a national award for her back-to-basics method of teaching body functions to help student nurses improve patient care.

UniSC Senior Lecturer Dr Judy Craft was recognised in the recent Australian Awards for University Teaching for her excellence in the development and delivery of bioscience programs and resources for nursing and health students.

Dr Craft's method - hand-drawing simple diagrams and asking students to do the same - has proven so successful that she also teaches registered nurses in workplaces such as hospitals how to update their science skills.

"While teaching and researching, I found that nursing students were challenged by bioscience subjects such as anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology due to the level of difficulty and perceived lack of clinical relevance," she said.

"However, studies show that patient outcomes can be affected by insufficient bioscience understanding in clinical settings.

"This approach is novel compared to textbook images and sophisticated digital resources. It has demystified concepts and given students so much confidence.

"An added benefit is the importance of these active learning processes, given concerns about the use of generative artificial intelligence in university settings."