Medical Students Who Prepare for a Lecture Learn More Than Those Who Do Not: An Experimental Study

Purpose: Medical students tend to attend lectures unprepared before studying the literature for an examination. Would students not profit more from lectures if they study the literature first?Method: One hundred and two students from a Saudi-Arabian medical school were included in the study. Half of them received a four-page text to be studied before a 15-minutes lecture; the other half received the lecture first and then the text. Knowledge level was tested using a concept retrieval test at three points in time, before the experiment, after reading the text, and after attending the lecture. This enabled studying the effects of the various treatments separately.Results: The mean student-scores were as follows: After lecture-only: 54.7±23.5, after reading-only: 45.7±11.2, lecture-then-reading: 69.9±15.8 and reading-then-lecture: 78.2±17.4. The combination of lecture and reading in both groups was statistically significantly different from lecture-only. Reading-then-lecture was significantly better than lecture-then-reading.Conclusion: In contrast to existing practices of students in medical education, it is better to study first before attending a lecture. Keywords: Lectures; self-study; concept retrieval test. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-8-06 Publication date:March 31st 202

Process study of verbal interactions in problem based learning

The goal of this study was to increase our understanding of the learning-oriented verbal interactions taking place between students during the entire problem-based learning (PBL) process, and to identify the relationships between what students say with their learning outcomes. The verbal interactions of one PBL group of five students throughout an entire PBL process were recorded in this data-intensive case study consisting of more than 1000 utterances. Our results show that a large proportion of students' learning-oriented verbal interaction focused on stating or recalling facts with a much lower percentage involving constructive statements, arguments, evaluation, proposals and critical questions. Simple correlation analysis indicated that percentages of questions, verification questions and requests correlated negatively with student achievement while critical questions, arguments and evaluations positively. At the practical level, suggestions that are relevant to educational practice can be derived from our observations. Furthermore, this study gives insight to the different types of group interactions during the entire PBL process, including those during the self-directed study time, to help us better understand the learning processes involved in PBL

Микро- и макроскорость роста усталостной трещины в сталях и сплавах под влиянием закрытия трещины

На основе экспериментальных данных показано, что различие между макро- и микроскоростью роста усталостной трещины на втором участке кинетической диаграммы усталостного разрушения обусловлено закрытием трещины в пределах его наличия. Установлены зависимости между макро- и микроскоростью роста усталостной трещины, а также структурой материала на втором участке при разных асимметриях цикла нагружения с учетом влияния закрытия трещины. Создана методика экспертизы разрушения конструкционных материалов по микро- и макроскорости роста усталостной трещины.На основі експериментальних даних показано, що розбіжність між макро- та мікрошвидкістю росту втомної тріщини на другій ділянці кінетичної діаграми втомного руйнування викликана явищем закриття тріщини в межах його наявності. Встановлено залежності між макро- та мікрошвидкістю росту втомної тріщини, а також структурою матеріалу на другій ділянці за різних асиметрій циклу навантаження з урахуванням впливу закриття тріщини. Створена методика експертизи руйнування конструкційних матеріалів за мікро- та макрошвидкістю росту втомної тріщини.On the basis of experimental results, we demonstrate that the disagreement of the macro- and microrates of fatigue crack propagation in the second portion of the fatigue-crack growth diagram is due to crack closure within the region of its presence. Relationships between macroand microrates of fatigue crack propagation and the material structure within the second portion of the curve under various load ratios have been established with account for the influence of crack closure. A procedure is proposed for the expertise of fracture of structural materials according to micro- and macrorates of fatigue crack propagation

Effect of worksheet scaffolds on student learning in problem-based learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of worksheets as a scaffolding tool on students’ learning achievement in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Seventeen PBL classes (N = 241) were randomly assigned to two experimental groups—one with a worksheet provided and the other without. Students’ learning of the topic at hand was evaluated by comparing results from pre- and post-lesson concept recall tests. We also obtained information about students’ perceptions of factors impacting their learning using a Learning Impact Questionnaire. The data was analyzed by means of analyses of variance. Results of the study indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the levels of understanding for both groups of students. In addition, survey results revealed that the strongest factor perceived by students to impact their learning in a PBL context is the tutor followed by team and class dynamics, while the influence of the worksheet was rated lowest. These findings suggest that scaffolds such as worksheets may not play a significant role in enhancing students’ learning within the social constructivist framework of problem-based learning. On the other hand, the importance of the role of tutor and collaborative small group learning which are key features of PBL is reinforced

Construct validity of a questionnaire for measuring student engagement in problem-based learning tutorials

Background: Student engagement is student investment of time and energy in academic and non-academic experiences that include learning, teaching, research, governance, and community activities. Although previous studies provided some evidence of measuring student engagement in PBL tutorials, there are no existing quantitative studies in which cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement of students in PBL tutorials is measured. Therefore, this study aims to develop and examine the construct validity of a questionnaire for measuring cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement of students in PBL tutorials. Methods: A 15-item questionnaire was developed guided by a previously published conceptual framework of student engagement. Focus group discussion (n = 12) with medical education experts was then conducted and the questionnaire was piloted with medical students. The questionnaire was then distributed to year 2 and 3 medical students (n = 176) in problem-based tutorial groups at the end of an integrated course, where PBL is the main strategy of learning. The validity of the internal structure of the questionnaire was tested by confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling assuming five different models. Predictive validity evidence of the questionnaire was studied by examining the correlations between students’ engagement and academic achievement. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis indicates a good fit between the measurement and structural model of an 11-item questionnaire composed of a three-factor structure: behavioral engagement (3 items), emotional engagement (4 items), and cognitive engagement (4 items). Models in which the three latent factors were considered semi-independent provided the best fit. The construct reliabilities of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional factors were 0.82, 0.82, and 0.76, respectively. We failed however to find significant relationships between academic achievement and engagement. Conclusions: We found a strong evidence to support the construct validity of a three-factor structure of student engagement in PBL tutorial questionnaire. Further studies are required to test the validity of this instrument in other educational settings. The predictive validity is another area needing further scrutiny.</p

The role of illness scripts in the development of medical diagnostic expertise: Results from an interview study

In this article, we describe a study in which some current ideas about illness scripts are tested. Participants at 4 levels of medical expertise were asked to describe either a prototypical patient or the clinical picture associated with a number of different diseases. It was found that participants at intermediate levels of expertise mentioned, both absolutely and relatively, many enabling conditions (patient contextual factors such as sex, age, medical history, and occupation) when asked to describe a prototypical patient with a disease, whereas the instruction to describe the clinical picture of a disease revealed a monotonic relation with expertise level. The amount of biomedical information in the descriptions decreased with increasing expertise level for both types of instruction. In addition, a positive relation was found between number of actual patients seen with a particular disease and number of enabling conditions mentioned. These results were interpreted as supportive of the present conceptualization of the illness script theory