Furness Taylen, Wilson Carey, Ryan Anna, Judd Terry
Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Med Teach. 2025 Jul;47(7):1199-1210. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2024.2421989. Epub 2024 Oct 31.
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Medical curricula are designed to provide students with strong foundational biomedical knowledge and the opportunity to develop and practice effective, appropriate, and safe clinical skills. However, instruction on optimal study strategies (i.e. "learning how to learn") is often overlooked in medical programs. In this paper, we explore the attitudes towards learning and study habits of a large cohort of graduate-entry medical students in Australia.
Participants in this observational study were invited to complete a questionnaire regarding their attitudes towards study behaviours and strategies, and to complete regular "study diaries" using a custom smartphone application. We collected data for first to fourth-year medical students at various timepoints throughout their academic year.
We found that these students generally had a high level of literacy regarding the efficacy of evidence-based study techniques, such as practice testing and active participation, but also tended to favour less effective and more convenient and time-efficient study approaches and activities. Students also reported engaging in distracting off-task activities during approximately 61% of their "private study" sessions; however, due to the self-report nature of the data, this is likely an underestimate.
In conclusion, we found that there appears to be a disconnect between medical students' knowledge and practice of effective study techniques. Given this apparent dissonance-and the significant demands placed on student time and attention-we encourage educators to consider how they might best support students to engage in effective study techniques.
背景/目的：医学课程旨在为学生提供扎实的基础生物医学知识，以及培养和实践有效、恰当且安全的临床技能的机会。然而，关于最佳学习策略（即“学会如何学习”）的教学在医学课程中常常被忽视。在本文中，我们探讨了澳大利亚一大群本科毕业入学的医学生对学习的态度和学习习惯。
这项观察性研究邀请参与者完成一份关于他们对学习行为和策略态度的问卷，并使用一款定制的智能手机应用程序完成定期的“学习日记”。我们在学年中的不同时间点收集了一年级至四年级医学生的数据。
我们发现，这些学生总体上对基于证据的学习技巧（如实践测试和积极参与）的有效性有较高的认知水平，但他们也倾向于选择效果较差但更方便、省时的学习方法和活动。学生们还报告说，在大约61%的“自主学习”时段中会参与分散注意力的非学习活动；然而，由于数据的自我报告性质，这可能是低估了。
总之，我们发现医学生在有效学习技巧的知识和实践之间似乎存在脱节。鉴于这种明显的不一致——以及对学生时间和注意力的巨大要求——我们鼓励教育工作者考虑如何最好地支持学生采用有效的学习技巧。
