Imagine if nursery rhymes and fairytales had been published in academic\u00a0journals? How different they would be! This is a bit of fun, but with a serious motive… improved research literacy!<\/p>\n
A good groupwork activity is to ask students to design an abstract or poster for a nursery rhyme or children’s fairytale, and then present it to their class. Discussion of the methodology and results can then be encouraged. These activities are a great way to introduce paramedic students to the concept of research.<\/p>\n
A very entertaining paper published in CMAJ in 2003 investigated the worrying trend of head injuries in nursery rhymes. You can read the paper in full here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.cmaj.ca\/content\/169\/12\/1294.full<\/a><\/p>\n The Christmas special papers published in the\u00a0BMJ are also a great way to show students that research can be fun, and is not as intimidating as it seems initially. For instance, a recent tongue-in-cheek paper from 2013 investigated the drinking habits of the famous secret agent James Bond (http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/347\/bmj.f7255<\/a>). Check out the best of the BMJ papers here –\u00a0http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/the-best-of-the-british-medical-journals-goofy-christmas-papers-180948177\/?no-ist<\/a><\/p>\n Asking students to perform a critical appraisal of these papers can help to develop critical thinking skills, and the lessons learned can subsequently be applied to clinical research papers.<\/p>\n Here’s my full collection of titles so far (thanks to all those who suggested titles on Twitter!) – click to view full image.<\/p>\n\n\t\t