Timmer Marnix C J, Steendijk Paul, Arend Sandra M, Versteeg Marjolein
Center for Innovation in Medical Education, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Med Sci Educ. 2020 Jun 9;30(3):1211-1219. doi: 10.1007/s40670-020-00995-0. eCollection 2020 Sep.
Poor knowledge retention is a persistent problem among medical students. This challenging issue may be addressed by optimizing frequently used instructional designs, such as lectures. Guided by neuroscientific literature, we designed a spaced learning lecture in which the educator repeats the to-be-learned information using short temporal intervals. We investigated if this modified instructional design could enhance students' retention.
Second-year medical students ( = 148) were randomly allocated to either the spaced lecture or the traditional lecture. The spaced lecture consisted of three 15-min instructional periods, separated by 5-min intervals. A short summary of the preceding information was provided after each interval. The traditional lecture encompassed the same information including the summary in the massed format, thus without the intervals. All students performed a baseline knowledge test 2 weeks prior to the lectures and students' knowledge retention was assessed 8 days after the lectures.
The average score on the retention test ( = 0.74) was not significantly different between the spaced lecture group (33.8% ± 13.6%) and the traditional lecture group (31.8% ± 12.9%) after controlling for students' baseline-test performance ((1,104) = 0.566, = 0.458). Students' narrative comments showed that the spaced lecture format was well-received and subjectively benefitted their attention-span and cognitive engagement.
We were unable to show increased knowledge retention after the spaced lecture compared with the traditional lecture. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for further research. Ultimately, we aim for optimized spaced learning designs to facilitate learning in the medical curriculum and to help educate health professionals with a solid knowledge base.
知识留存率低是医学生中一直存在的问题。这个具有挑战性的问题可以通过优化常用的教学设计（如讲座）来解决。在神经科学文献的指导下，我们设计了一种间隔学习讲座，教育者在其中使用较短的时间间隔重复待学习的信息。我们研究了这种改进的教学设计是否能提高学生的知识留存率。
将二年级医学生（n = 148）随机分为间隔讲座组或传统讲座组。间隔讲座由三个15分钟的教学时段组成，中间间隔5分钟。每个间隔后会提供前一段信息的简短总结。传统讲座包含相同的信息，包括集中呈现形式的总结，即没有间隔。所有学生在讲座前两周进行了基线知识测试，并在讲座后8天评估学生的知识留存情况。
在控制学生的基线测试表现后，间隔讲座组（33.8% ± 13.6%）和传统讲座组（31.8% ± 12.9%）在留存测试中的平均得分（M = 0.74）没有显著差异（t(1,104) = 0.566，p = 0.458）。学生的叙述性评论表明，间隔讲座形式受到好评，并且主观上有益于他们的注意力持续时间和认知参与度。
与传统讲座相比，我们未能证明间隔讲座后知识留存率有所提高。基于这些发现，我们为进一步的研究提供了建议。最终，我们旨在优化间隔学习设计，以促进医学课程中的学习，并帮助培养具有扎实知识基础的卫生专业人员。
