Interesting tidbit:
Abdulla et al. "Learning Styles in First Year Students in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine." Acta Medica Philippina

Abstract
"This study determine the learning styles of first year Medical Students in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) through an inventory derived from Entwitles' Inventory Approach to learning. Students scores on the scales were correlated with general weighted average as a measure of academic performance. Two of the eight scales of the inventory "reproducing" and "prediction for success were significantly related to academic perfomance."

Terms
Reproduction - rote memorization
Prediction for success - highly organized study methods with versatile approach; lack of doubt or fear of failure

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The authors attribute the results with the selection of med students. They seem to hope that students change learning styles as they go through med school. I think that students use reproduction because it is the only way to survive a very competetive environment where there is little time to study. The paper is old though so I hope the CM environment is more conducive for the more preferred styles of deeper learning (see the paper).

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If they did this in CPH, they'll probably see similar results. I think it's a fault in the CPH method. Though the fourth year is better compared to the third year, memorization will still play a big part in order to pass subjects. It's not too bad for some subjects such as Med Micro but promoting memorization tests for Clinical Chemistry and Nutrition is really bad. And what is worse is that being a PH specialist demands that a person be more than a walking textbook. Critical thinking, problem-solving and being able to see the bigger picture and connect the dots (in short integrate stuff) are more important. On the other hand, a person should know much about a subject (memorize!) before doing this lest he/she makes wrong conclusions or repeat other people's mistakes.

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Good accidents...

Another so-so day in central lab but I'll be optimistic as we seem to be finished with the "boring sections". Boring in the sense that there is so many interesting things to do but we are allowed only to watch. *sigh*

And I saw some people, mostly our general pathology instructors.

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I'm going to be interviewed for UPCM. I should be really happy but I'm not. I guess the novelty of getting into med school is gone. I really should appreciate these things as I know a bunch of people who are depressed since they didn't make it to the interview list.

Funny thing though, my interview is scheduled on deployment day. No way am I going to miss deployment day so I tried to get my interview date moved. I hope I get my desired date. I really do not want to commute alone to Batangas. That'd be both depressing and scary.

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On some other news, the dance class I planned to attend tomorrow got canceled. &@#1! There is still next Saturday though.

I need to attend class before community begins.

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Have I mentioned how illogical the problem tree used by UPM in San Juan, Batangas? Floating arrows, missing relationships, and worse, weird (illogical) relationships. *sigh* And it's supposed to be created by really experienced UPM faculty.

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It's so hard to stalk someone if that person doesn't have net footprints.

Spent the whole day in the Immunopathology section of the PGH Central Laboratory. We just stood around and watched med techs do their stuff.

Seriously, there was so much nothing to do that we jumped at the chance to type lab records on the computer.

Then again, it was HIV day so we were able to watch the med tech do all the tests that the section offers. And, the people were very nice. I wonder how they'll be treating the 11th group that will be staying there. They'll be so tired of explaining their set-up over and over again.

I hope we'll be able to do something in the other sections.

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I just found out a smoking area INSIDE the PGH. It's in the CR/locker room for the personnel of the Central Lab. So much for trying to gain their ISO. Really, why? I think it's common knowledge among lab workers (including the administrative staff and higher-ups) yet they aren't doing anything. This is based from the lack of reaction from the section head when I told her what I saw. They smoke so much the smell stuck on my scrubs even though I just passed by them.

Smoking INSIDE effing PGH! Screw your ISO dreams if this continues.

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Yesterday was fun though. I had fun shouting "Picture!", watching people take their poses (with a very strong Korean/Japanese influence) and waiting for them to realize that I wasn't going to take the picture. I have a very weird and twisted sense of humor.

I hate this. Unfair. The other groups received feedback regarding their theses and how they wrote it. We didn't and now we have a graded thesis with a MISTAKE on it. It was a really obvious mistake but what hurts more is that the committee didn't even point it out to us during the open forum. Granted we could have done a better job writing that part but it is also the committee's job to point out our mistakes. We even submitted a not to be graded version of our paper, a scientific poster and even presented it yet these mistakes went unnoticed by all. Really? Why? It's on the freakin' abstract for crap's sake!

The mistakes of the other groups were pointed out. Mistakes that could have led to the demise of their theses and these were pointed out and subsequently corrected. Now they didn't receive any deductions in their grades. I'm being GC but it is still unfair. We are undergraduate students writing research papers for the first time. We needed guidance and you didn't give us any when we expected it. My suspicion that nobody among the committee managed to read our paper thoroughly is true.

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To be clear, I agree with the comments and understand that it will make our thesis better but from a GC student POV, it really sucks. Maybe I should brace myself for more comments from the other members tomorrow. And if we were just being caught in a political play occurring in the college, argh!

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My dad's becoming stupider. Or may more stubborn. Or both. I really should be over the hating the parents thing but he's really pushing it. One thing is that they tell me to plan our vacation to Japan and when I demand certain stuff they won't give it to me because they think it's illegal. uh... hello? anybody there? And he believes that eating this weird salt solution will lower his blood pressure. Salt. Sodium. Lower blood pressure? He also doesn't believe when I tell him that ingesting two tablespoons of oil (regardless of plant source) is bad and will make him gain weight. Hahaha! Good thing I have my mother to call unto to help me fight his belief in quackery. I blame you Jaime Galvez Tan!

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Some old photos revisited...

I'm liking the colors and movement in these two. I guess I should thank the poor lighting conditions.

Not taken by me as I'm that white shirted person in the background. Those, however, are my glasses.

I'll be probably taking tomorrow my last written exam ever. Actually, it is composed of 2 tests and makes up for a whopping 90% of our grades. I say probably because there is a chance that I need to take the finals for our medical entomology class. Nevertheless, I do feel that I am graduating this April (yes, iskolars graduate on April not March).

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I performed my last dance with stdc yesterday. I plan to stop performing once I'm in med school; I'll probably still take some classes but I won't be stepping on stage. I don't even plan on joining the batch performaces for various med variety/talent shows.

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The list for those who passed for the interview to UPCM still hasn't been released. Not that I'm super worried. Hahaha... My friends believe that I'll be interviewed but will not be accepted. The panel will think I'm some kind of psycho. If I do not get accepted, I'll just apply for the PHM program but I'll be asking many questions to the admissions of CM first.

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Have I mentioned in the past that I only applied to UPCM? Hahaha... UP or bust! Granted I'm not looking forward to at least 2 more years of classrooms, transes and tests.

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About the OSR thing. I think the suggested changes to the SR criteria are good. However, I am concerned that we won't have enough time to hold another referendum. Maybe I haven't read enough but those campaigning for the No Vote seems to have no plan in case they win. And the Yes campaign seem to be fearmongering. Bad bad strategy to be used on smart people (Assumption: Iskolars are smart).

B&W is growing on me. Maybe I should buy that 5k Pentax film camera...

Life was so simple back in kindergarten. You just have to sit down and learn the alphabet. Say it properly and get a star.

Yes I have another test tomorrow.

New Year pictures. The Christmas season is such a good time to practice using flash and bokeh.

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In other news, we just passed our thesis for grading. I was forced to weedle through an issue we had to resolve. I somehow managed to not give a straight answer. Which is really not a good thing for science and technical writing.

And my clock is slowly resetting itself. My bed time comes at a later stage. I'm now both a very early morning and night(before 12pm) person. I'm least coherent during the unholy hours(1-4pm).

I am making my second video project. No, it's not a lame ass attempt for fame and fortune. It's more of a lame ass attempt to pass a subject. Then again, the first vid I made (I had a partner for this one. She was in charge of the script.) got high marks. I think it was actually the highest in our class because the professor even showed it to other classes. Highest despite that there were only two of us who made the vid and the other groups were made up of at least 4 people. Anyway, this 2nd video is for our entom case study. I had to learn how to use Adobe Premiere in one night. I also served as camera person and editor. The video is actually more of a slide show than a real vid. We'll be using live voice overs and the 2nd half would probably be on powerpoint. The latter happening depends on how OC I become tomorrow and how early my 1st class would end. Which reminds me that I should text my groupmates to come early tomorrow morning so we could take the remaining pictures we need.

running around
picture for our informal case study presentation 

Update: The Philstar published a story on the Quesci suspension issue. The site they mentioned, however, was the wrong one.This site is slanderous with a few pictures with words: "Die Sadsad Die."

The real sites though either have the related posts deleted or have the most damaging ones set for contacts only. The only public posts I read were the apology posts and a post full of remorse. What was clear though is that the students were provoked into this action due to campus repression. The triggers seem to be the replacement of the school paper's adviser and the ceasing of the school's two award-winning publications.

I hope to see a full account of the tale in the coming days. Hopefully, both the admin and the students would reveal their stories.

Meanwhile, I'll still criticize whoever I want. Granted, I will try my best to understand the issue first.

WTeF!

And I thought this issue was resolved.

There may still be hope.

The students seem to have done something wrong and almost libelous. However, the principal is overreacting. Who does she think she is? Why does she repress the rights of these students to free speech? And no, don't take the school into the issue. The school's rep won't be damaged; the rep of the people in charge of appointing principals will be damaged. How do they choose anyway?

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My blood boiled when they interviewed that corrupt ex-principal trying to sound all high and mighty. May we ask where are our PTA funds?

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I recall reading a similar case about students in the US creating a video making fun of their teacher. They also experienced sanctions from the admin but I forgot what actions they did. I think it is deep in the one of the Scienceblogs...

Survived the defense.
Our worst fears did not come to pass.
The committee was quiet. For some strange reason. Maybe they haven't read our full paper.
That would be unfair for us since it means their comments and inputs wouldn't be included in the graded paper we would be submitting next week.

No pictures. I didn't bring my camera. Tama na ang isang mitsa ng buhay.

I still have to "matter load" for our bioethics debate tomorrow. I have a grasp of the arguments I just lack the necessary cases and examples that would be our arguments better. I'm too tired so I'll just probably read more tomorrow. Hopefully, my groupmates would come up with more arguments and examples. Though they really should because I basically formed the blueprint of our defense alone.

I need index cards too.

Okay, so our wonderful tarp was messed up. It ended up just black and white. Drat the conversion from data to print. And somebody failed to informed us that the abstract was not needed in tarp. Oh well... it's our paper that will make up most of our grade. More importantly, I think our paper is good enough except for the lapses in grammar and glaring typos.

Okay so I made a blog entry and blogger didn't do the autosave thing so now it's gone.
Shit you!
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I'm so tired. I spent the whole day making this scientific poster. It was supposed to be blue (water refilling stations = water = blue) but it ended up black. Blame good mistakes. I think it looks good anyway. All chic and science-y. It doesn't even feel like a paper on public health (which is a science btw). It looks more like a physics or chemistry poster.

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I need to read other papers. If I don't, I won't be able to properly revise our paper. Good thing I have dependable groupmates! More eyes, better probability to spot errors. Still, they're also tired.

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I really like how our Discussion chapter turned out. My contribution was really good. My BS skills are improving. Of course this illusion will end on Tuesday, the day we defend our thesis but I'll try to savor the moment.

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Who knew the abstract was so effing hard to write?! And we had to write 2 versions, one for the paper and one for the poster.

Good: The first draft is finished. Bad: The first draft sucks.
Worse: We only have three days left.
Good again: They won't be grading the paper will be submitting on Monday.
Bad again: If the argument is full of holes, the open forum will be hell.

It's the New Year and I spent most of the day on the PC doing checking and editing work. Way to start a year...

I'm on the verge of finishing encoding. I just need to encode three more sheets. Three out of the 100 we had(I encoded 19, scored ~30, checked 21 and collected ~50). Why I'm procrastinating? I don't know. I think it's the finality and fear of having actual data. And I'm having doubts about the quality of our data... no wait no... my issue is how the heck we are supposed to analyze the data. Some of the data basically shoves the interpretation into our faces but some are messed up. I also think that we should interview some more people next week; three would probably enough. I should be thankful that our data is for descriptive purposes (with some qualitative data that would be used to come up with testable hypotheses) because it would be hell if these were for analytical ones .

Though, I realized half-way through the collection that we could have done an analytical study, a case-control to be more definite. Maybe we could recommend it, I would also love to work on it. I even have a rough methodology thought up. If our professor pushes through with his plan(possibly an analytic study building from our data) I'll definitely volunteer to join the team even if it involves collecting data during the summer months.

I'm possibly talking gibberish to many people out there.