Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dean's Office of Study Affairs, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education and Educational Research, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dean's Office of Study Affairs, Department of Quality Assurance, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
BMC Med Educ. 2022 Apr 6;22(1):250. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03283-0.
Acquiring medical knowledge is a key competency for medical students and a lifelong requirement for physicians. Learning techniques can improve academic success and help students cope with stressors. To support students' learning process medical faculties should know about learning techniques. The purpose of this study is to analyse the preferred learning techniques of female and male as well as junior and senior medical students and how these learning techniques are related to perceived learning difficulties.
In 2019, we conducted an online survey with students of the undergraduate, competency-based curriculum of medicine at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. We chose ten learning techniques of high, moderate and low utility according to Dunlosky et al. (2013) and we asked medical students to rate their preferred usage of those techniques using a 5-point Likert scale. We applied t-tests to show differences in usage between female and male as well as junior and senior learners. Additionally, we conducted a multiple regression analysis to explore the predictive power of learning techniques regarding perceived difficulties.
A total of 730 medical students (488 women, 242 men, M = 24.85, SD = 4.49) use three techniques the most: 'highlighting' (low utility), 'self-explanation' (moderate utility) and 'practice testing' (high utility). Female students showed a significantly higher usage of low-utility learning techniques (t(404.24) = -7.13, p < .001) and a higher usage of high-utility learning techniques (t(728) = -2.50, p < .05) than male students (M = 3.55, SD = .95). Compared to junior students (second to sixth semester; M = 3.65, SD = .71), senior students (seventh semester to final clerkship year; M = 3.52, SD = .73) showed a lower use of low-utility learning techniques (t(603) = 2.15, p < .05). Usage of low-utility techniques is related to more difficulties (β = .08, t(724) = 2.13, p < .05). Usage of moderate-utility techniques is related to less learning difficulties (β = -.13, t(599) = -3.21, p < .01).
Students use a wide range of low-, moderate- and high-utility learning techniques. The use of learning techniques has an influence on the difficulties perceived by students. Therefore, they could benefit from knowing about and using high-utility learning techniques to facilitate their learning. Faculties should inform their students about effective learning and introduce them to useful learning techniques.
获取医学知识是医学生的一项关键能力，也是医生终身的要求。学习技巧可以提高学业成绩，帮助学生应对压力。为了支持学生的学习过程，医学院应该了解学习技巧。本研究的目的是分析女医学生和男医学生以及低年级医学生和高年级医学生的首选学习技巧，以及这些学习技巧与感知学习困难的关系。
2019 年，我们对柏林夏里特医科大学本科、基于能力的医学课程的学生进行了一项在线调查。我们根据 Dunlosky 等人（2013 年）选择了十种高、中、低效用的学习技巧，并要求医学生使用 5 点李克特量表对这些技巧的首选使用情况进行评分。我们使用 t 检验来显示女医学生和男医学生以及低年级医学生和高年级医学生之间使用情况的差异。此外，我们进行了多元回归分析，以探讨学习技巧对感知困难的预测能力。
共有 730 名医学生（488 名女性，242 名男性，M=24.85，SD=4.49）最常使用三种技巧：“突出显示”（低效用）、“自我解释”（中效用）和“练习测试”（高效用）。女医学生的低效用学习技巧使用率显著高于男医学生（t（404.24）=-7.13，p<.001），高效用学习技巧使用率也高于男医学生（t（728）=-2.50，p<.05）（M=3.55，SD=.95）。与低年级学生（第二至第六学期；M=3.65，SD=.71）相比，高年级学生（第七学期至最后实习年；M=3.52，SD=.73）的低效用学习技巧使用率较低（t（603）=2.15，p<.05）。低效用技术的使用与更多的困难有关（β=0.08，t（724）=2.13，p<.05）。中等效用技术的使用与较少的学习困难有关（β=-0.13，t（599）=-3.21，p<.01）。
学生使用广泛的低、中、高效用学习技巧。学习技巧的使用对学生感知到的困难有影响。因此，他们可以从了解和使用高效用学习技巧中受益，以促进他们的学习。学院应该告知学生有效的学习方法，并向他们介绍有用的学习技巧。
