Research Article
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Learning approach preferences of medical students in different grades

Year 2020, Volume: 45 Issue: 3, 1051 - 1060, 30.09.2020
https://doi.org/10.17826/cumj.689968

Abstract

Purpose: In order to support medical students’ learning- the manner in which their learning occurs - the quality and development of the learning process needs to be better understood. This research aims to determine the learning approaches preferred by medical school students and the changes that occur over time.
Materials and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was applied, including in the follow-up study. The study group comprised first-year students enrolled at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine from 2011 to 2015 (n = 2714). The follow-up study was conducted in May 2016. This time 1195 students participated. The “Learning Approaches and Study Skills Scale” (ASSIST) was utilized. The scores of the students' learning approaches in the first year were compared to examine the changes in the learning approaches they preferred in the research over the years. In addition, students' first and second scores were compared.
Results: Participation rate of the study was 80%. Students who completed the ASSIST both times (n = 1195) resulted in a response rate of 55%. Learning approaches scores of students between 2011 and 2014 were ranked strategic, deep, and surface learning approaches, respectively. However, in 2015 it was ranked deep, strategic, and surface learning. cohorts. Medical students preferred the strategic learning approach in the first year. Their preference differed in the second assessment. Surface learning scores increased when compared with the first assessment.
Conclusion: Learning skills of students should be supported not only in the first year but also throughout the entire teaching period. Strategic and deep learning scores decreased in the second assessment, while the mean score of the surface learning approach increased in all.

Supporting Institution

Hacettepe University Scientific Research Coordination Unit

Project Number

Project Number: THD-2016-11789

References

  • 1. General Medical Council. (1993). Tomorrow’s doctors: Recommendations on undergraduate medical education. London: GMC
  • 2. Newble, D.I., & Entwistle, N.J. (1986). Learning styles and approaches: Implications for medical education. Med Educ. 20(3):162–175.
  • 3. Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1976a). On qualitative differences in learning: I – outcome and process. Br J Educ Psychol. 46:4–11.
  • 4. Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1976b). On qualitative differences in learning: II – outcome as a function of the learner’s conception of the task. Br J Educ Psychol. 46:115–27.
  • 5. Entwistle, N, & McCune, V. (2004). The conceptual bases of study strategy inventories. Educ Psychol Rev. 16(4):325–345.
  • 6. Senemoğlu, N. (2011). College of education students’ approaches to learning and study skills. Educ Sci. 36(160):65–80.
  • 7. Biggs, J. (2001). Enhancing learning: a matter of style or approach? In: Sternberg RJ and Zhang LF, editors. Perspective on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.; p. 73–102.
  • 8. Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). The society for research into higher education teaching for quality learning at university. USA: McGraw Hill.
  • 9. Abraham, R.R., Kamath, A., Upadhya, S., & Ramnarayan, K. (2006). Learning approaches to physiology of undergraduates in an Indian medical school. Med Educ. 40(9): 916–923.
  • 10. Watkins, D. (2000). Learning and teaching: A cross-cultural perspective. Sch Leader Manag. 20(2):161–173.
  • 11. Entwistle, N.J. (1995). Frameworks for understanding as experienced in essay writing and in preparing for examinations. Educ Psychol. 30(1):47–54.
  • 12. Clarke, D.M., & McKenzie, D.P. (1994). Learning approaches as a predictor of examination results in preclinical medical students. Medical Teacher. 2009;16:221–227.
  • 13. Reid, W.A., Duvall, E., & Evans, P. (2007). Relationship between assessment results and approaches to learning and studying in Year 2 medical students. Med Educ. 41:754–762
  • 14. Rajaratnam, N., D’cruz, S.M., & Chandrasekhar, M. (2013). Correlation between the learning approaches of first year medical students and their performance in multiple choice questions in physiology. Natl J Integr Res Med. 4(5):43–48.
  • 15. Feeley, A.M., & Biggerstaff, D.L. (2015). Exam success at undergraduate and graduate-entry medical schools: Is learning style or learning approach more important? A critical review exploring links between academic success, learning styles, and learning approaches among school-leaver entry (“traditional”) and graduate-entry (“nontraditional”) medical students. Teach Learn Med. 27(3):237–244.
  • 16. Mattick K, Dennis I, & Bligh J. (2004). Approaches to learning and studying in medical students: Validation of a revised inventory and its relation to student characteristics and performance. Med Educ. 38: 535–543.
  • 17. Martin, I.G., Stark, P., Jolly, B. (2000). Benefiting from clinical experience: The influence of learning style and clinical experience on performance in an undergraduate objective structured clinical examination. Med Educ. 34(7):530–534.
  • 18. Carrick, J. (2010). The effect of classroom and clinical learning approaches on academic achievement in associate degree nursing students [dissertation]. Indiana (PA): University of Pennsylvania. Available from: http://dspace.lib.iup.edu:8080/dspace/ handle/2069/239
  • 19. May, W., Chung, E.K., Elliott, D., & Fisher, D. (2012). The relationship between medical students’ learning approaches and performance on a summative high-stakes clinical performance examination. Med Teach. 34:e236–e241.
  • 20. Fox, R.A., McManus, I.C., & Winder, B.C. (2001). The shortened Study Process Questionnaire: An investigation of its structure and longitudinal stability using confirmatory factor analysis. Br J Educ Psychol. 71:511–530.
  • 21. Watkins, D.A., & Hattie, J. (1985). A longitudinal study of the approach to learning of Australian tertiary students. Hum Learn. 4:127–42. Cited in Vashe et al. 2016.
  • 22. Biggs, J.B. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
  • 23. Gow, L., & Kember D. (1990). Does higher education promote independent learning? High Educ. 19:307–322.
  • 24. Papinczak, T., Young, L., Groves, M., & Haynes, M. (2008). Effects of a metacognitive intervention on students’ approaches to learning and self-efficacy in a first year medical course. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 13(2):213–232.
  • 25. Cebeci, S., Dane, Ş., Kaya, M., & Yiğitoglu, R. (2013). Medical students’ approaches to learning and study skills. 3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA-2012). Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 93:732–736.
  • 26. Raidal S., & Volet, S. (2009). Preclinical students’ predispositions towards social forms of instruction and self-directed learning: A challenge for the development of autonomous and collaborative learners. High Educ. 57(5):577–596.
  • 27. Kegels, E., Vandekerckhove, M., Remmen, R., Gijbels, D., & Van Petegem, P. (2008). Learning approaches in a traditional curriculum at senior student level may be responsive to practice-based learning in the primary care setting. Educ Prim Care. 19(6):624–631.
  • 28. Walker, R., Spronken-Smith, R., Bond, C., Macdonald, F., Reynolds, J., & McMartin, A. (2010). The impact of curriculum change on health sciences first year students’ approaches to learning. Instr Sci. 38(6):707–722.
  • 29. Mosca, C., Makkink, A., & Stein, C. (2015). Learning approaches used by students in an undergraduate emergency medical care programme. Afr J Health Professions Educ. 7(1):55–57.
  • 30. Zeegers, P. (2001). Approaches to learning in science: A longitudinal study. Br J Educ Psychol. 71(Pt 1):115–132.
  • 31. Chung, E.K., Elliott, D., Fisher, D., & May, W. (2015). A comparison of medical students’ learning approaches between the first and fourth years. South Med J. 108(4):207–210.
  • 32. Balasooriya, C.D., Hughes, C., & Toohey, S. (2009). Impact of a new integrated medicine program on students’ approaches to learning, Higher Education Research & Development, 28(3): 289–302.
  • 33. Gijbels, D., & Dochy, F. (2006). Students’ assessment preferences and approaches to learning: Can formative assessment make a difference? Educ Stud. 32(4):399–409.
  • 34. Hilliard, R.I. (1995). How do medical students learn: Medical student learning styles and factors that affect these learning styles. Teach Learn Med. 7(4):201–210.
  • 35. İlhan Beyaztaş, D., & Senemoğlu, N. (2015). Learning Approaches of Successful Students and Factors Affecting Their Learning Approaches. Education and Science. 40(179):193–216.
  • 36. Wickramasinghe, D.P., & Samarasekera, D.N. (2011). Factors influencing the approaches to studying of preclinical and clinical students and postgraduate trainees. BMC Med Educ. 11:22.
  • 37. Richardson, J.T.E. (1995). Mature students in higher education: II. An investigation of approaches to studying and academic performance. Stud High Educ. 20:5–17.
  • 38. Ward, P.J. (2011). First year medical students’ approaches to study and their outcomes in a gross anatomy course. Clin Anat. 24(1):120–127.
  • 39. Samarakoon, L., Fernando, T., & Rodrigo, C. (2013). Learning styles and approaches to learning among medical undergraduates and postgraduates. BMC Med Educ. 13:42.
  • 40. Vashe, A., Vasudha, D., Rao, R., Abraham, R.R., Pallath, V., & Torke, S. (2016). Curricular impact on learning approaches and critical thinking skills of medical students. Educ Med J. 8(4):39–45.
  • 41. Tait, H., Entwistle, N.J., & McCune, V. (1998). ASSIST: A re-conceptualization of the approaches to studying inventory. In: Rust C. editor. Improving students as learners. Oxford: Oxford Brooks University; p. 262–271.
  • 42. Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S.( 2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). New York: Pearson.
  • 43. Çokluk, Ö., Şekercioğlu, G., & Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2010). Sosyal Bilimler İçin Çok Değişkenli İstatistik: SPSS ve LISREL Uygulamaları [Multivariate Statistics for Social Sciences: SPSS and LISREL Applications]. Ankara: Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık. Turkish.

Farklı düzeylerdeki tıp fakültesi öğrencilerinin öğrenme yaklaşımı tercihleri

Year 2020, Volume: 45 Issue: 3, 1051 - 1060, 30.09.2020
https://doi.org/10.17826/cumj.689968

Abstract

Amaç: Tıp öğrencilerinin öğrenmelerini desteklemek için - öğrenmelerinin gerçekleşme şekli - öğrenme sürecinin kalitesi ve gelişiminin daha iyi anlaşılması gerekmektedir. Bu araştırma tıp fakültesi öğrencileri tarafından tercih edilen öğrenme yaklaşımlarını ve zaman içinde meydana gelen değişiklikleri belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır.
Gereç ve Yöntem: İzlem çalışması dahil olmak üzere kesitsel bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Çalışma grubunu 2011-2015 yılları arasında Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi'ne kayıtlı birinci sınıf öğrencileri (n = 2714) oluşturmaktadır. İzlem çalışması Mayıs 2016'da 1195 öğrenci katılımıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmada Öğrenme Yaklaşımları ve Çalışma Becerileri Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Çalışmada öğrencilerin yıllar içinde tercih ettikleri öğrenme yaklaşımlarındaki değişiklikleri incelemek amacıyla ilk yıl öğrenme yaklaşımlarının puanları karşılaştırılmıştır. Ek olarak öğrencilerin ilk ve ikinci puanları da karşılaştırılmıştır.
Bulgular: Çalışmaya katılım oranı %80'dir. Çalışma ASSIST ölçeğini iki kez yanıtlayan öğrencilerin oranı (n = 1195) ise %55'dir. 2011-2014 yılları arasında öğrencilerin öğrenme yaklaşımları puanları sırasıyla stratejik, derin ve yüzeysel öğrenme yaklaşımları olarak sıralanmıştır. Bununla birlikte, 2015 yılı kohort puanları derin, stratejik ve yüzeysel öğrenme olarak sıralanmıştır. Tıp öğrencileri ilk yıl stratejik öğrenme yaklaşımını tercih ettikleri görülmektedir. İkinci değerlendirmede tercihleri farklılaşmaktadır. Yüzeysel öğrenme puanları ilk değerlendirmeye göre artmıştır.
Sonuç: Öğrencilerin öğrenme becerileri sadece ilk yıl değil, tüm öğretim süresi boyunca desteklenmelidir. İkinci değerlendirmede öğrencilerin stratejik ve derin öğrenme puanları azalırken, yüzeysel öğrenme yaklaşımının ortalama puanı toplamda artmıştır.

Project Number

Project Number: THD-2016-11789

References

  • 1. General Medical Council. (1993). Tomorrow’s doctors: Recommendations on undergraduate medical education. London: GMC
  • 2. Newble, D.I., & Entwistle, N.J. (1986). Learning styles and approaches: Implications for medical education. Med Educ. 20(3):162–175.
  • 3. Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1976a). On qualitative differences in learning: I – outcome and process. Br J Educ Psychol. 46:4–11.
  • 4. Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1976b). On qualitative differences in learning: II – outcome as a function of the learner’s conception of the task. Br J Educ Psychol. 46:115–27.
  • 5. Entwistle, N, & McCune, V. (2004). The conceptual bases of study strategy inventories. Educ Psychol Rev. 16(4):325–345.
  • 6. Senemoğlu, N. (2011). College of education students’ approaches to learning and study skills. Educ Sci. 36(160):65–80.
  • 7. Biggs, J. (2001). Enhancing learning: a matter of style or approach? In: Sternberg RJ and Zhang LF, editors. Perspective on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.; p. 73–102.
  • 8. Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). The society for research into higher education teaching for quality learning at university. USA: McGraw Hill.
  • 9. Abraham, R.R., Kamath, A., Upadhya, S., & Ramnarayan, K. (2006). Learning approaches to physiology of undergraduates in an Indian medical school. Med Educ. 40(9): 916–923.
  • 10. Watkins, D. (2000). Learning and teaching: A cross-cultural perspective. Sch Leader Manag. 20(2):161–173.
  • 11. Entwistle, N.J. (1995). Frameworks for understanding as experienced in essay writing and in preparing for examinations. Educ Psychol. 30(1):47–54.
  • 12. Clarke, D.M., & McKenzie, D.P. (1994). Learning approaches as a predictor of examination results in preclinical medical students. Medical Teacher. 2009;16:221–227.
  • 13. Reid, W.A., Duvall, E., & Evans, P. (2007). Relationship between assessment results and approaches to learning and studying in Year 2 medical students. Med Educ. 41:754–762
  • 14. Rajaratnam, N., D’cruz, S.M., & Chandrasekhar, M. (2013). Correlation between the learning approaches of first year medical students and their performance in multiple choice questions in physiology. Natl J Integr Res Med. 4(5):43–48.
  • 15. Feeley, A.M., & Biggerstaff, D.L. (2015). Exam success at undergraduate and graduate-entry medical schools: Is learning style or learning approach more important? A critical review exploring links between academic success, learning styles, and learning approaches among school-leaver entry (“traditional”) and graduate-entry (“nontraditional”) medical students. Teach Learn Med. 27(3):237–244.
  • 16. Mattick K, Dennis I, & Bligh J. (2004). Approaches to learning and studying in medical students: Validation of a revised inventory and its relation to student characteristics and performance. Med Educ. 38: 535–543.
  • 17. Martin, I.G., Stark, P., Jolly, B. (2000). Benefiting from clinical experience: The influence of learning style and clinical experience on performance in an undergraduate objective structured clinical examination. Med Educ. 34(7):530–534.
  • 18. Carrick, J. (2010). The effect of classroom and clinical learning approaches on academic achievement in associate degree nursing students [dissertation]. Indiana (PA): University of Pennsylvania. Available from: http://dspace.lib.iup.edu:8080/dspace/ handle/2069/239
  • 19. May, W., Chung, E.K., Elliott, D., & Fisher, D. (2012). The relationship between medical students’ learning approaches and performance on a summative high-stakes clinical performance examination. Med Teach. 34:e236–e241.
  • 20. Fox, R.A., McManus, I.C., & Winder, B.C. (2001). The shortened Study Process Questionnaire: An investigation of its structure and longitudinal stability using confirmatory factor analysis. Br J Educ Psychol. 71:511–530.
  • 21. Watkins, D.A., & Hattie, J. (1985). A longitudinal study of the approach to learning of Australian tertiary students. Hum Learn. 4:127–42. Cited in Vashe et al. 2016.
  • 22. Biggs, J.B. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
  • 23. Gow, L., & Kember D. (1990). Does higher education promote independent learning? High Educ. 19:307–322.
  • 24. Papinczak, T., Young, L., Groves, M., & Haynes, M. (2008). Effects of a metacognitive intervention on students’ approaches to learning and self-efficacy in a first year medical course. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 13(2):213–232.
  • 25. Cebeci, S., Dane, Ş., Kaya, M., & Yiğitoglu, R. (2013). Medical students’ approaches to learning and study skills. 3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA-2012). Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 93:732–736.
  • 26. Raidal S., & Volet, S. (2009). Preclinical students’ predispositions towards social forms of instruction and self-directed learning: A challenge for the development of autonomous and collaborative learners. High Educ. 57(5):577–596.
  • 27. Kegels, E., Vandekerckhove, M., Remmen, R., Gijbels, D., & Van Petegem, P. (2008). Learning approaches in a traditional curriculum at senior student level may be responsive to practice-based learning in the primary care setting. Educ Prim Care. 19(6):624–631.
  • 28. Walker, R., Spronken-Smith, R., Bond, C., Macdonald, F., Reynolds, J., & McMartin, A. (2010). The impact of curriculum change on health sciences first year students’ approaches to learning. Instr Sci. 38(6):707–722.
  • 29. Mosca, C., Makkink, A., & Stein, C. (2015). Learning approaches used by students in an undergraduate emergency medical care programme. Afr J Health Professions Educ. 7(1):55–57.
  • 30. Zeegers, P. (2001). Approaches to learning in science: A longitudinal study. Br J Educ Psychol. 71(Pt 1):115–132.
  • 31. Chung, E.K., Elliott, D., Fisher, D., & May, W. (2015). A comparison of medical students’ learning approaches between the first and fourth years. South Med J. 108(4):207–210.
  • 32. Balasooriya, C.D., Hughes, C., & Toohey, S. (2009). Impact of a new integrated medicine program on students’ approaches to learning, Higher Education Research & Development, 28(3): 289–302.
  • 33. Gijbels, D., & Dochy, F. (2006). Students’ assessment preferences and approaches to learning: Can formative assessment make a difference? Educ Stud. 32(4):399–409.
  • 34. Hilliard, R.I. (1995). How do medical students learn: Medical student learning styles and factors that affect these learning styles. Teach Learn Med. 7(4):201–210.
  • 35. İlhan Beyaztaş, D., & Senemoğlu, N. (2015). Learning Approaches of Successful Students and Factors Affecting Their Learning Approaches. Education and Science. 40(179):193–216.
  • 36. Wickramasinghe, D.P., & Samarasekera, D.N. (2011). Factors influencing the approaches to studying of preclinical and clinical students and postgraduate trainees. BMC Med Educ. 11:22.
  • 37. Richardson, J.T.E. (1995). Mature students in higher education: II. An investigation of approaches to studying and academic performance. Stud High Educ. 20:5–17.
  • 38. Ward, P.J. (2011). First year medical students’ approaches to study and their outcomes in a gross anatomy course. Clin Anat. 24(1):120–127.
  • 39. Samarakoon, L., Fernando, T., & Rodrigo, C. (2013). Learning styles and approaches to learning among medical undergraduates and postgraduates. BMC Med Educ. 13:42.
  • 40. Vashe, A., Vasudha, D., Rao, R., Abraham, R.R., Pallath, V., & Torke, S. (2016). Curricular impact on learning approaches and critical thinking skills of medical students. Educ Med J. 8(4):39–45.
  • 41. Tait, H., Entwistle, N.J., & McCune, V. (1998). ASSIST: A re-conceptualization of the approaches to studying inventory. In: Rust C. editor. Improving students as learners. Oxford: Oxford Brooks University; p. 262–271.
  • 42. Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S.( 2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). New York: Pearson.
  • 43. Çokluk, Ö., Şekercioğlu, G., & Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2010). Sosyal Bilimler İçin Çok Değişkenli İstatistik: SPSS ve LISREL Uygulamaları [Multivariate Statistics for Social Sciences: SPSS and LISREL Applications]. Ankara: Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık. Turkish.
There are 43 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Clinical Sciences
Journal Section Research
Authors

Sevgi Turan 0000-0001-9287-0641

Dilek İlhan Beyaztaş 0000-0002-7642-9087

Arif Onan 0000-0003-1666-9078

Melih Elçin 0000-0002-1652-906X

Project Number Project Number: THD-2016-11789
Publication Date September 30, 2020
Acceptance Date May 31, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020 Volume: 45 Issue: 3

Cite

MLA Turan, Sevgi et al. “Learning Approach Preferences of Medical Students in Different Grades”. Cukurova Medical Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, 2020, pp. 1051-60, doi:10.17826/cumj.689968.