The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which a custom-designed interactive module and subsequent instructor-led recall session enhanced first-year veterinary medicine student comprehension of membrane electrophysiology. Membrane electrophysiology provides students with a foundation about biological membranes, ion flow, and cellular electrical activity from which they are expected to conceptualize cellular communication and predict potential abnormalities. The interactive module was designed in response to feedback from previous first-year cohorts on the comprehension challenges associated with this area. This study employed Thematic Analysis on N=84 student responses from six open-ended survey questions to identify learning barriers and assess the pedagogical efficacy of the interactive module. We hypothesized that the visual nature of the activity and subsequent instructor-led recap would be positively received but would reveal persistent conceptual difficulties related to the understanding of electrochemical driving forces. Overall, the results were positive, with 79% of students rating the activity as helpful and 91.7% finding the instructor-led recap beneficial. The most prominent positive theme was the enhancement of understanding through visual representation with students using positive associations with terms like “animations” and “schematics”. Analysis revealed that, despite positive reception, core conceptual weaknesses persisted around three areas: (1) correctly predicting membrane potential changes (hyper/depolarization) based on ion flow; (2) relating quantitative values (e.g., Nernst/equilibrium potentials) to cellular function; and (3) differentiating channel/receptor specificity. Students identified conflicting instructional content and lack of foundational material in lecture notes as contributing to the weaknesses. Conclusions: Curricular revisions and innovative approaches are needed to correct comprehension incompetencies in membrane electrophysiology in veterinary education. We recommend implementing interactive, visual learning modules, harmonizing instructor terminology to address conflicting explanations, and formally integrating active recall training to bridge the gap between abstract theory and applied physiological concepts. Funding: Office of Academic Affairs, College of Veterinary Medicine. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
LCSW et al. (Fri,) studied this question.