Research and Exploration of Ideological and Political Education in the Course of Pathophysiology ()
1. Introduction
The goal of ideological and political education (IPE) in universities and colleges is to continuously improve the ideological cultivation, political literacy, and moral cultivation of the students. IPE also aims to guide higher education students to establish a correct outlook on life, values, and the world [1] . However, there are certain distinct features of ideological and political teaching due to its strong theoretical nature. Therefore, it is somewhat difficult for college students to effectively process the IPE. Since college students are most often ideological and strongly believe in the held narratives, it is not harder to convince them. Moreover, the present teaching modes of IPE courses in universities and colleges are confined to a rigid mode of exam-oriented education. College students are always in a passive mode of learning as teachers serve as the center of all activities ranging from the teaching link to the examination links. Simultaneously, the same unified teaching method makes the teaching content boring, thereby, making it difficult to arouse the interest of the students. The passive learning mode also fails to improve the problem-solving abilities of higher education students, which suppresses their creativity and hinders the cultivation of innovative talents [2] [3] . Hence, there is a dire need to integrate IPE into the course content of universities and colleges in true spirit. As a result, the so-called IPE curriculum shall contain appropriate IPE courses. This will help to address the current educational dilemma in universities and colleges.
Figure 1 illustrates that the curriculum IPE has gone through a hard journey in China until promulgated a guiding outline for the ideological and political construction of college courses in 2020.05.28 [4] . The focus of the proposed IPE guidelines is to outline how to cultivate people, for whom to cultivate people, and which people need cultivation. These concerns represent the fundamental problems of higher education as the effectiveness of building morality and cultivating people is the fundamental standard to assess the educational credibility in universities and colleges. The elements of ability training, knowledge transfer, and value shaping should be integrated into the higher education curriculum to ensure morality building and student cultivation in universities and colleges [5] . There is also a need to properly guide the university students regarding ability
![]()
Figure 1. The background and history of curriculum ideology and politics in China.
training, knowledge transfer, and outlook on the world, values, and life in order to ensure the effective construction of an IPE-focused curriculum. This not only represents the due meaning of talent training but also establishes necessary content for higher education institutes. Such strategic measures both determine and affect matters of national interest such as long-term national stability, successors’ selection, the rise of the economy, and national rejuvenation. The “main channel” of classroom teaching, the “main battlefield” of curriculum construction, and the “main force” of teachers should be firmly held together to enable the teaching faculty, universities and colleges, and course content to properly educate the students, guard a section of canals, and instill an adequate level of responsibility in the people. Consequently, all higher education courses including ideological and political curriculum can go hand in hand, while developing a synergistic effect, integrating implicit and explicit education, and building a pattern of the all-round education system. Besides, the construction objectives of political and ideological courses should be put forward in different majors as shown in Table 1.
Psychology is the branch of science that deals with human psychological phenomena and behaviors, including personality psychology, mental health pedagogy, development psychology, etc. [6] . While the goal of ideological and political education is to pay attention to the development of higher education students. Both fields strive to educate people and attach importance to human development.
![]()
Table 1. Requirements of different majors for ideological and political education.
In short, both areas overlap and demonstrate certain common characteristics. Firstly, both fields adhere to the development concept of “people-oriented and life-oriented” approaches; Secondly, both fields represent the same dedication towards human care; Thirdly, healthy psychology is reported to breed a perfect personality whereas psychological health teaching is a part of the ideological and political education. Therefore, it is feasible to combine ideological and political education with psychological thoughts. The blend of ideological and political teaching with psychological thoughts will result in a heuristic, exploratory, and interactive teaching mode that would allow the students to demonstrate a sense of harvest and enable the teachers to have a sense of happiness [7] .
Cultivation of medical ethics in students is one of the imperative roles of new medicine. The notion of new medicine emphasizes cultivating the medical spirit of the student under the new curriculum [8] . “Curriculum of ideological and political education” refers to the effective incorporation of IPE in higher education institutes by adopting all means of curriculum and teaching reforms. It is also a strategic role of the curriculum reform to implement the fundamental task of morality and character building. Therefore, at present, the universities and colleges should prioritize the IPE of medical students and enable the professional classrooms to shoulder the responsibility of IPE [9] [10] . The specialty courses serve as the significant carriers that support the educational reform to integrate the political and ideological theories into the curriculum and foster character building through moral education [11] . Pathophysiology works as a bridge between basic medicine and clinical medicine, integrating IPE into the theoretical curriculum of “pathophysiology” to cultivate the medical business of loving the party and patriotism, and practicing the socialist core values with a correct scientific outlook [12] [13] .
A large number of studies report the practice and effect evaluation of curriculum ideological politics [14] [15] [16] . However, few studies have explored the guiding role of psychological education in the curriculum of ideological politics. As a result, this study examines the effect of ideological politics in the curriculum from the perspective of psychological education among Chinese students.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
This study received formal approval from the medical ethics committee of Yangtze University. Consequently, it was conducted from Feb 2022 to May 2022. Furthermore, written consent was obtained from the study respondents at the beginning of the survey. Lastly, the age of all study participants was over 18 years.
The undergraduate and graduate students were organized by grade wise to complete the online questionnaire through scanning of the codes after attending the pathophysiology course at Yangtze University. A total of 211 valid questionnaires were collected from 133 undergraduate and 78 graduate students.
2.2. Research Methods and Contents
A self-designed questionnaire adopts the network survey method in this study. Moreover, the students are required to scan the questionnaire star QR code through WeChat or QQ and complete the questionnaire on an anonymous and voluntary basis. The content includes basic information about the students including gender, age, political outlook, educational background, grade, major, etc. The student’s attitude towards pathophysiology teaching is assessed through variables such as teaching attitude, teaching content, teaching methods, self-learning ability, learning effect, cognition, and attitude toward the political and ideological courses. The questionnaire is dominated by single choice and multiple topics, with one question for each answer. In addition to this, the scale consists of 4 items including 36 questions that are to evaluate two dimensions of the strategy: “adopt” and “keep”, using a 5-point Likert-type scale [17] [18] that ranges from “5” (strongly agree) to “1” (strongly disagree). The research method of this study is thoroughly evaluating the implementation of the IPE courses and putting forward further suggestions for possible improvements.
2.3. Statistical Analysis
The original data is imported into the SPSS database, and descriptive analysis of sociodemographic characteristics is carried out with the help of SPSS 26.0 statistical software. Simultaneously, the chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, and other methods are also used in this study.
3. Results
3.1. Demographic Characteristics of Participants
A total of 211 valid questionnaires are received from 58 males and 153 females, accounting for 72.5% of the total distributed questionnaires. There are 78 graduate students and 133 undergraduate students, accounting for 63.0% of the total studies who participated in the study. Lastly, the number of members of the Communist Youth League accounted for 71.0% of the total participants. Table 2 represents the socio-demographic characteristics of the study participants.
3.2. Influence of Educational Background and Age on Teaching Effect
The results of the chi-square test indicate that among the three basic characteristics
![]()
Table 2. Demographic characteristics of study participants.
of gender, educational background, and political outlook, there is only a significant difference between educational background and the data of interest in the ideological and political courses that are presently carried out by the school. Moreover, there are significant differences in the dimensions of motivation and behavior analysis of the students’ learning professional courses, and the feedback data on gender differences in professional courses’ learning. There are no significant differences in terms of gender, educational background, and political outlook on the dimensions of students’ exploration and analysis of the implementation of curriculum ideology and politics in the professional courses. Table 3 and Table 4 comply all these details.
3.3. Single Factor Analysis of Satisfaction with the Implementation of IPE in Pathophysiology
Single factor analysis determines the degree of interest in IPE and pathophysiology courses, the degree of importance of professional courses, the professional harvest after learning pathophysiology, the understanding of the relationship between IPE courses and curriculum, the understanding of the relationship between professional education and IPE, and the penetration level between curriculum IPE and pathophysiology. Moreover, the single factor analysis confirms that there is a significant difference in terms of satisfaction with the evaluation of the effect of IPE in pathophysiology (p < 0.05). See Table 5 for details.
3.4. The Most Suitable Teaching Method for IPE
The summary of students’ suggestions regarding the improvement in pathophysiology Curriculum under the background of “Curriculum Ideology and politics” highlights that “telling relevant stories in combination with teachers’ own experience and perception”, “adding classic cases to professional courses”, “understanding more curriculum background knowledge through reports”, “group PBL teaching” and “professional norms, professional ethics, and scientific spirit” has become more concentrated feedback of the students. Figures 2-4 illustrate the stated details.
![]()
Table 3. The relationship between different academic qualifications and the motivation of learning ideological and political courses.
![]()
Table 4. Relationship between genders and motivation to study professional courses.
![]()
Table 5. Comparison of satisfaction scores of ideological and political implementation of pathophysiology course (n = 211).
![]()
Figure 4. Ideological and political elements.
4. Discussion
Recently, there is an increase in the interest to explore how the teaching of IPE courses can organically be combined with the teaching of professional courses, and how the students can be turned into all-round socialist builders and successors. Therefore, universities and colleges should strive to run IPE courses, consider the role of classroom teaching as the mainstream of education, educate the people through the whole process of school education and teaching, and deeply explore the elements of IPE in various courses. The reform of higher education has become a crucial role in professional education [19] . The results of the questionnaire reveal that the integration of IPE courses into the teaching process of “pathophysiology” theory course commonly benefits the students, stimulates their interest in knowledge-seeking, and obtain experiences that serve as the basis for the follow-up courses related to ideological and political construction and teaching practices, and possess reference value to further enrich the teaching reforms. A round of teaching practices and exploration carried out in this study has promoted the thinking, planning, and progress of the ideological and political curriculum but there are still some areas that need to be improved in the future.
4.1. Improving the Ideological and Political Education Literacy of Professional Teachers in Medical College and Improving Their Ability of Ideological and Political Teaching
The teaching of IPE courses is the process of spiritual exchange, which cultivates a positive learning attitude and interest of the students through education, and meets the psychological needs of both students and educators [20] . Since 80% of the teachers in higher education institutes are educators of professional courses, therefore, 80% of the courses offered in universities and colleges are professional courses, and students spend 80% of their time on these professional courses. Besides, 80% of the students assume that the teachers of professional courses exhibit the highest impact on their thoughts, and the curriculum IPE is meant to carry out ideological and political education through professional courses in order to achieve the purpose of all-round education [21] . Carrying out curriculum IPE is not simply a simple superposition of professional courses and ideological education, nor a story inserted into professional course teaching, but an educational idea and educational thought embodied in the teaching of professional course teaching. Such a mode of teaching not only gives full play to the professional benefits but also integrates core socialist values into the education system. Hence, there is not only a need to emphasize the teaching of professional knowledge, but also the cultivation of moral quality. Teachers are the center of the education system; therefore, they serve as the organizer, practitioners, and promoters of IPE functions in the curriculum [22] . Teachers must be backed with professional knowledge, high ideological and political awareness, as well as firm ideals and beliefs. This will naturally convince the students to accept the IPE in the professional courses. Educators of professional courses should also actively participate in the IPE conferences that are organized by the state authorities. This will help the teachers to learn the necessary philosophies of teaching and share the experience with other ideological and political educators, thereby; deeply understanding the needs and direction of the ideological and political reform in the curriculum. On the one hand, there is a need to improve the IPE quality, strengthen the professional cultivation and improve the professional skills; On the other hand, professional teachers should communicate and learn with the ideological and political teachers, obtain corresponding professional guidance and assistance, design excellent ideological and political teaching programs and disseminate the acquired IPE knowledge in the classroom. Similarly, teachers can also timely understand the phased ideological needs and psychological state of the students through counselors.
4.2. The Psychological Characteristics and the IPE Needs of Students in the Curriculum Make a Reasonable Teaching Plan
The IPE in professional courses is a kind of implicit education, which requires the students and teachers to achieve educational goals in an interactive manner. Hossain [23] point out that from the context of teachers, targeted ideological and political practices should be performed as per the psychological characteristics and distinct needs of the higher education students. This narrative is in the line with research implications proposed in this paper. Different characteristics of the students such as different majors, graders, and genders should be taken into account to deliver the information-based IPE for the students. Furthermore, there is a need to dynamically analyze the classroom conditions and network teaching modes of the studies. Contemporary college students represent a new generation of humans who grew up in the modern environment of the internet, therefore various social media resources fill up their minds, make their thoughts in a diversified state, and shape their outlook on values, life, and world [24] . In addition, since there are more female students in medical school (such as Yangtze University) therefore, their mental thoughts are not stable enough, and their emotions fluctuate significantly. Humanistic psychology believes that the dominant position of students should be respected, and their suggestions should be rationally adopted in the process of humanization of curriculum content and curriculum content design. The design of the IPE’s course content should also meet the appropriate needs of students. While learning the professional content, teachers should also focus on the spiritual needs of the students, and nurture a positive outlook on life and values among them. This will encourage the students to properly balance the dynamics of individual needs, people, country, and society; thereby, establishing correct values and realizing individual and collective needs.
4.3. Application of Personality Theory and Advanced Teaching Methods
Personality commonly refers to the psychological qualities manifested in the psychology, temperament, and living habits of a person. The teaching of ideological and political theory requires the teachers to emphasize the “personal teaching” along with the “oral teaching”, enhance their own personality charms, and rely on their own personality strengths to infect and convince the students. Studies show that the personality charm of teachers exhibits a profound and lasting impact on the students [25] [26] . Therefore, teachers must improve their own personality in order to improve the actual effect of education and truly convince the students of their theories. Consequently, this study concludes that as a part of IPE, teachers’ teaching their own stories is the most effective way to spread ideological and political education, reaching around 81.04% of the IPE. In terms of teaching methods, 74.41% of the students choose the group PBL teaching mode, whereas 64.45% of the students choose the flipped classroom teaching mode as most of the students are willing to independently explore the education experience. Based on this, teachers should change their ideas, perform a good job in role transformation, and return the “pathophysiology” classroom to students, who can share, self-study, ask questions, etc., in order to improve the ideological and political level of the courses. Supplemented by teachers’ learnings, particularly in the case of the graduate students, teachers can completely hand over the classrooms to their students in order to give full play to the distinct benefits of the graduate students and cultivate students’ attitude toward active learning. This will support the reforms of flipped classrooms, and online mixed teaching modes, and update the teaching content and learning paths [27] [28] .
5. Conclusion and Prospect
This study concludes that there is a dire need to promote the innovative development of medical education and teaching with the new medical science. In addition to this, the curriculum thought, and politics must be run through the cultivation of medical talents. Combined with the characteristics of teaching students, this study only makes a preliminary exploration of the “curriculum thought and politics” of pathophysiology. It also aims to make good use of the pathophysiology classroom teaching to cultivate high-quality medical talents with both morality and ability. However, the IPE of pathophysiology curriculum is a novel concept, which needs to actively promote the implementation of the ideological and political construction of school curriculum, constantly improve and explore a curriculum IPE and teaching system that is suitable for medical students in the universities and colleges of China.
Although this study has been able to achieve its all objectives, still this study has certain limitations: Firstly, it is based on the investigation of only one course of university students. Secondly, there is also a need to further evaluate the effect of ideological and political education needs. Lastly, the follow-up study should also adopt and improve the multidisciplinary research and evaluation system.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a project grant from national innovation and entrepreneurship training program for College Students (grant no. 202010489017), teaching and research projects of Graduate School of Yangtze University (grant no. YJY202330), the Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Yangtze university (grant no. JY2020134), the Curriculum Ideology and Politic Project of Graduate School of Yangtze University (grant no. YSZ202111), and Yangtze University 2022 Full-English Teaching Course Construction Project (grant no. 202215).
Authors’ Contributions
PXC designed and supervised the study, LTT and ZYH reviewed the references, PXC wrote the manuscript, PXC contributed to tables and figures, PXC revised the manuscript, PXC acquired funding.
NOTES
*Corresponding author.