Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
BMC Med Educ. 2020 Nov 11;20(1):423. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02353-5.
Kolb's Cycle of Learning Theory acts as a foundational framework for the evolution of knowledge gained by learners throughout their education. Through Kolb's cycle of experiential learning, one's preferred way of learning could impact academic achievement in the pre-clinical years of medical education.
The medical student classes of 2020 and 2021 at a public university in the southeastern U.S. were invited to complete Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). For those participants completing the LSI, examination results for their pre-clinical blocks were obtained and matched to the LSI results. Examination scores (locally-developed examinations and customized National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) final examinations) were compared by LSI classification for each examination using Kruskal-Wallis Test.
Out of 360 possible participants, 314 (87.2%) completed the Learning Style Inventory. Convergers and Assimilators made up 84.1% [Convergers (n = 177, 56.4%), Assimilators (n = 87, 27.7%)]. Accommodators (n = 25, 7.9%) and Divergers (n = 25, 7.9%) made up the remaining sample. Accomodators' scores were significantly lower on locally-developed examinations in Principles of Medicine, Hematology, and Gastrointestinal System. The only NBME examination that demonstrated a significant difference across learning styles was from the Cardiovascular block.
Upon reviewing Kolb's LSI, our study indicated that performance on the customized NBME examinations minimized the variance in performance compared to locally-developed examinations. The lack of variance across learning styles for all but one NBME final examination appears to provide a more equitable assessment strategy.
科尔布的学习理论循环为学习者在整个教育过程中获得的知识的发展提供了一个基础框架。通过科尔布的体验式学习循环，一个人的学习方式可能会影响医学教育的临床前阶段的学业成绩。
美国东南部一所公立大学的 2020 年和 2021 年的医学生班级被邀请完成科尔布的学习风格量表（LSI）。对于那些完成 LSI 的参与者，他们的临床前模块的考试成绩被获得并与 LSI 结果相匹配。使用 Kruskal-Wallis 检验，根据 LSI 分类比较每个考试的考试成绩（本地开发的考试和定制的全国医师执照考试（NBME）期末考试）。
在 360 名可能的参与者中，有 314 名（87.2%）完成了学习风格量表。聚合者和同化者占 84.1%[聚合者（n=177，56.4%），同化者（n=87，27.7%）]。适应者（n=25，7.9%）和发散者（n=25，7.9%）构成了其余的样本。适应者在医学原理、血液学和胃肠道系统的本地开发考试中的分数明显较低。唯一在学习风格上表现出显著差异的 NBME 考试是心血管模块的考试。
在回顾科尔布的 LSI 时，我们的研究表明，与本地开发的考试相比，定制的 NBME 考试的表现最小化了表现的差异。除了一个 NBME 期末考试外，学习风格之间几乎没有差异，这似乎提供了一个更公平的评估策略。
