Azarpira Negar, Amini Mitra, Kojuri Javad, Pasalar Parvin, Soleimani Masud, Hossein Khani Saman, Ebrahimi Marzieh, Niknejhad Hassan, Karimian Zahra, Lotfi Farhad, Shahabi Shahram, Saadat Iraj, Dehghani Mohammad Reza, Mohagheghi Mohammad Ali, Adibi Payman, Bagheri Lankarani Kamran
Education Development and Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
BMC Res Notes. 2012 Jan 23;5:61. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-61.
To evaluate the scientific reasoning in basic science among undergraduate medical students, we established the National Medical Science Olympiad in Iran. In this Olympiad, the drawing of a concept map was used to evaluate a student's knowledge framework; students' ability in hypothesis generation and testing were also evaluated in four different steps. All medical students were invited to participate in this program. Finally, 133 undergraduate medical students with average grades ≥ 16/20 from 45 different medical schools in Iran were selected. The program took the form of four exams: drawing a concept map (Exam I), hypothesis generation (Exam II), choosing variables based on the hypothesis (Exam III), measuring scientific thought (Exam IV). The examinees were asked to complete all examination items in their own time without using textbooks, websites, or personal consultations. Data were presented as mean ± SE of each parameter. The correlation coefficient between students' scores in each exam with the total final score and average grade was calculated using the Spearman test.
Out of a possible score of 200, the mean ± SE of each exam were as follows: 183.88 ± 5.590 for Exam I; 78.68 ± 9.168 for Exam II; 92.04 ± 2.503 for exam III; 106.13 ± 2.345 for Exam IV. The correlation of each exam score with the total final score was calculated, and there was a significant correlation between them (p < 0.001). The scatter plot of the data showed a linear correlation between the score for each exam and the total final score. This meant that students with a higher final score were able to perform better in each exam through having drawn up a meaningful concept map.The average grade was significantly correlated with the total final score (R = 0.770), (p < 0.001). There was also a significant correlation between each exam score and the average grade (p < 0.001). The highest correlation was observed between Exam I (R = 0.7708) and the average grade. This means students with higher average grades had better grades in each exam, especially in drawing the concept map.
We hope that this competition will encourage medical schools to integrate theory and practice, analyze data, and read research articles. Our findings relate to a selected population, and our data may not be applicable to all medical students. Therefore, further studies are required to validate our results.
为了评估本科医学生在基础科学方面的科学推理能力，我们在伊朗设立了全国医学科学奥林匹克竞赛。在这个竞赛中，概念图的绘制被用于评估学生的知识框架；学生在假设生成和检验方面的能力也在四个不同步骤中进行评估。所有医学生都被邀请参加这个项目。最后，从伊朗45所不同医学院中选拔出133名平均成绩≥16/20的本科医学生。该项目采用四次考试的形式：绘制概念图（考试一）、假设生成（考试二）、根据假设选择变量（考试三）、衡量科学思维（考试四）。考生被要求在自己的时间内完成所有考试项目，不得使用教科书、网站或进行个人咨询。数据以每个参数的平均值±标准误表示。使用Spearman检验计算每次考试中学生成绩与最终总成绩和平均成绩之间的相关系数。
在满分200分的情况下，每次考试的平均值±标准误如下：考试一为183.88±5.590；考试二为78.68±9.168；考试三为92.04±2.503；考试四为106.13±2.345。计算了每次考试成绩与最终总成绩之间的相关性，两者之间存在显著相关性（p<0.001）。数据的散点图显示每次考试成绩与最终总成绩之间存在线性相关性。这意味着最终成绩较高的学生能够通过绘制有意义的概念图在每次考试中表现得更好。平均成绩与最终总成绩显著相关（R = 0.770），（p<0.001）。每次考试成绩与平均成绩之间也存在显著相关性（p<0.001）。考试一（R = 0.7708）与平均成绩之间的相关性最高。这意味着平均成绩较高的学生在每次考试中成绩更好，尤其是在绘制概念图方面。
我们希望这个竞赛能鼓励医学院将理论与实践相结合，分析数据，并阅读研究文章。我们的研究结果针对的是特定人群，我们的数据可能不适用于所有医学生。因此，需要进一步研究来验证我们的结果。
