Hello, it’s been a while!
The reason is
I moved location
For three weeks.
It’s kind of a holiday,
A holiday for the mind,
Though my mind is still engaged,
Engaged with the body
In a different way.
That’s the bit of verse to get me going, because it’s hard to get back to blogging/open journalling/memoiring after a few weeks.
The word-creation muscles need to be flexed regularly - and reading doesn’t count.
I haven’t written much for two weeks. I miss it (which is good).
But it’s hard to tipetty-type away.
I’m by the sea right now (great for the mind, great for the lungs!), not on holiday, but also not working at full speed, or on what I usually work on.
A break from regular life, with a specific focus sprinkled through the day.
The focus this time is: studying for Pilates instructor training.
The training has different parts to it, and I’m in the middle of the anatomy and physiology theory part. (Hence talking about flexing the word-creator muscles, which are often more difficult to flex than the biceps.)
The content is delivered through SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) packages online. That’s good ol’ fashioned e-learning: “Here’s the material for you to get through, and here’s a multiple choice test at the end to help you see how much of what you scanned through has actually gone in.”
There is a level of understanding required, and quite some memorising to be done.
I’m struggling to memorise new words like thoracolumbar fascia, and latissimus dorsi.
I’ve often wondered how I would cope with going back to acting in a word-heavy play, but I’d never wondered what it would be like to study for a course that required learning new information for the long-term. I’m still not sure how I would cope with the first, but I know I’m, struggling with the second.
But now, as opposed to back in the day when I was studying things, I have generative AI.
It’s like always having a buddy you can ask: Can you test me on this?
They’re available 24 hours a day! Except when your usage runs out…
(which happens faster if you upload documents, or create very long chats).
The Technical Bit
As I often do in this blog, here’s my process, in case it’s of interest, or even of some use to you.
Last month I covered some of the ways in which I was using ChatGPT to help me study: By asking it to elaborate on some of the concepts, the bot was helping me digest the material. Now I’m using it to help me retrieve new information, and assess what has gone in.
I decided to use Claude. I’m not sure why. Maybe for the same reason as you would pick one friend over another to help you with a chore.
I’ll share some examples.
ME:
Can you test me on this material for my level 2 anatomy and physiology exam: (pasted text from the course specification.)
Let's do 20 questions, which should be one or two word answers, and give me one question at a time.
20 questions later…
CLAUDE AI
That concludes our 20-question test on anatomy and physiology. You did well overall, correctly answering 16 out of 20 questions. The areas where you had some difficulty were:
Question 6: The correct spelling of the "sit bone" (ischium)
Question 14: Confusing a muscle (latissimus dorsi) with a bone (scapula)
Question 15: Identifying lateral flexion of the neck
Question 17: Distinguishing between phalanges and metacarpals/metatarsals
These might be good areas to review before your exam. If you'd like to go over any of these topics in more detail or have any questions about the material, please feel free to ask.
Claude is always so amenable… but sometimes, it is also wrong!
ME:
I'm confused about the ilium and the ischium. You say “The bone that forms the lower part of the pelvis and joins with the sacrum is the ilium”, but also “The ilium forms the upper, flaring portion of the hip bone”. Does it join both with the pelvis and the sacrum?
CLAUDE:
I apologize for the confusion. (This is Claude’s way of saying, “sorry, I got it wrong”) You've spotted an inconsistency in my explanations, and I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Let me clarify:
1. The ilium is indeed the upper, flaring portion of the hip bone. It does articulate with the sacrum at the sacroiliac joint.
2. The ischium forms the lower and posterior part of the hip bone.
3. The pubis forms the anterior part of the hip bone.
All three of these bones (ilium, ischium, and pubis) fuse together during development to form the hip bone (os coxae).
My earlier statement about the ilium forming the lower part of the pelvis was incorrect. The confusion arose because the ilium does connect to the sacrum, but it's not the lower part of the pelvis.
To correctly answer the question "Which bone forms the lower part of the pelvis and joins with the sacrum?", a more accurate answer would be: The sacrum itself forms the lower part of the pelvis, and it joins with the ilium of the hip bone at the sacroiliac joint.
I apologize for this error and thank you for your critical thinking. It's important to have accurate information, especially when studying anatomy.
It’s nice to be thanked for my critical thinking, even if I can’t help hearing a robot voice when I read the text!
Just a Bit Too Much Niceness
At some point, Claude got a bit too encouraging. This happened suddenly in a new chat, without me changing my prompt. I asked:
Can you test me on this part of the level 2 anatomy and physiology exam, ymca board in the uk?
Please ask me 20 short answer questions, and drop them in one by one.
After one of the questions, Claude said:
Your understanding of the valve names is excellent. The key thing to remember is that these valves control blood flow between chambers or between a chamber and a major blood vessel.
Let's move on to the next question:
What is the main difference between arteries and veins in terms of blood pressure?
ME:
arteries carry greater blood pressure, and they have thicker walls.
CLAUDE:
Excellent answer! You've correctly identified two key differences between arteries and veins:
1. Blood pressure: Arteries indeed carry blood at higher pressure than veins.
2. Wall structure: Arteries have thicker walls to withstand this higher pressure.
Your response demonstrates a good understanding of the structural and functional differences between these blood vessels. This difference in pressure and structure is crucial for the efficient functioning of the circulatory system.
I like this, because it reiterates what I’ve learned, in different words.
I don’t like this, because I find it condescending - my answers can hardly be described as “excellent”!
Here’s another such reply: “I appreciate your effort, but that's not quite correct.” What it means is: you’re wrong.
I carried out a similar exercise with ChatGPT, asking it to give me multiple choice questions. That is very impressive, imagine how long it would take a person to come up with 20 questions with multiple choice answers. But as a learning method, I prefer to be asked questions, because I have to work harder to find the answer. It’s a learning technique, called “retrieval practice”.
These use cases are not the most imaginative but, for me, right now, they’re the most useful. This is what technology is about. Finding out how it can best help you when you need help. For now, let me get back to the transversus abdominus, the thoracolumbar fascia and the local and global muscles involved in core stability.
Thanks for reading and being part of my learning process, in all sorts of ways!