Abstract
Core concepts are sometimes called “big ideas.” As such, each core concept is built up from a set of component ideas. Thus, understanding a core concept—being able to use it to solve a problem—requires an understanding of each of these smaller components. We have referred to the process of deconstructing a core concept into its critical components as “unpacking,” and the result of unpacking is a conceptual framework.
The process that we have used to unpack core concepts results in a set of “critical components” that must be understood by physiology students at all educational levels. The “constituent ideas” will vary for different educational levels (along the novice to expert continuum) and purposes.
We will describe the process that we have used to “unpacking” the core concept of homeostasis into a logical, legitimate, and useful conceptual framework. We will also describe the process we used to validate these conceptual frameworks using a Delphi method. Finally, we briefly mention the many ways in which conceptual frameworks can be used in teaching and learning physiology.
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Michael, J., Cliff, W., McFarland, J., Modell, H., Wright, A. (2017). What Does It Mean to “Unpack” a Core Concept?. In: The Core Concepts of Physiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6909-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6909-8_4
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