Background The ICAP framework based on Cognitive Science posits four modes of cognitive engagement: Interactive, Constructive, Active, and Passive. Focusing on the wider applicability of discussion as interactive engagement in medical education, we investigated the effect of discussion when self-study preceded it and further investigated the effect of generating questions before discussions. Methods This study was conducted in the second semester of 2018, and 129 students majoring in health professions, including medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and nursing, participated. The students were assigned into four different trial groups, who were asked to fill out a Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire after completing each session. Their performance in post-test scores and their mental efforts were analyzed. Results A Bonferroni test for group comparison indicated that the self-study and question-generated group had the highest performance and that the lecture and question-received group had the lowest performance when comparing the total score. By using a mediation model, it was confirmed that the participants who showed a higher level of testing mental effort also showed higher levels of studying and discussion mental effort. Conclusions Our findings support the ICAP framework and provide practical implications for medical education, representing the fact that students learn more when they are involved in active learning activities, such as self-study and question generation, prior to discussions.

BackgroundThe ICAP framework based on cognitive science posits four modes of cognitive engagement: Interactive, Constructive, Active, and Passive. Focusing on the wide applicability of discussion as interactive engagement in medical education, we investigated the effect of discussion when it was preceded by self-study and further investigated the effect of generating questions before discussions.MethodsThis study was conducted in the second semester of 2018 and was participated in by 129 students majoring in health professions, including medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and nursing. The students were assigned to four different trial groups and were asked to fill out a Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire after completing each session. Their performance in posttest scores was analyzed using Bonferroni test, and mental effort was analyzed using mediation analysis.ResultsThese results indicated that the self-study and question group had the highest performance and that the lecture and summary group had the lowest performance when comparing the total score. Using the analysis of mental effort, it was confirmed that the relationship between different study conditions and post-test performance was mediated by mental effort during test.ConclusionsOur findings support the ICAP framework and provide practical implications for medical education, representing the fact that students learn more when they are involved in active learning activities, such as self-study and question generation, prior to discussions.

Background The ICAP framework based on Cognitive Science posits four modes of cognitive engagement: Interactive, Constructive, Active, and Passive. Focusing on the wider applicability of discussion as interactive engagement in medical education, we investigated the effect of discussion when self-study preceded it and further investigated the effect of generating questions before discussions. Methods This study was conducted in the second semester of 2018, and 129 students majoring in health professions, including medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and nursing, participated. The students were assigned into four different trial groups, who were asked to fill out a Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire after completing each session. Their performance in post-test scores and their mental efforts were analyzed. Results These results indicated that the self-study and question group had the highest performance and that the lecture and summary group had the lowest performance when comparing the total score. Using the analysis of mental effort, it was confirmed that the participants who showed higher levels of mental effort also showed higher levels of studying and discussion. Conclusions Our findings support the ICAP framework and provide practical implications for medical education, representing the fact that students learn more when they are involved in active learning activities, such as self-study and question generation, prior to discussions.

Background: Writing is a useful learning activity that promotes higher-order thinking, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness. In previous research, researchers tested the effect of summary writing on students’ comprehension and found no significant difference from that of re-studying texts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to expand previous findings and investigate the effect of two types of writing tasks on medical students’ academic performance, specifically in the transfer of knowledge.Methods: An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three study conditions: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their comprehension and transfer of knowledge using rote-memory type items and transfer type items respectively.Results: The results showed that the two writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. However, the three groups showed no significant difference in their scores for rote-memory type items. Also, there was a positive correlation between the writing scores and transfer type item scores in the AW group.Conclusions: This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in medical education for greater educational benefits. Our findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

Background Writing is a useful learning activity that promotes higher-order thinking, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness. In previous research, researchers tested the effect of summary writing on students’ comprehension and found no significant difference from that of re-studying texts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to expand previous findings and investigate the effect of two types of writing tasks on medical students’ academic performance, specifically in the transfer of knowledge. Methods An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three study conditions: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their comprehension and transfer of knowledge using rote-memory type items and transfer type items respectively. Results The results showed that the two writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. However, the three groups showed no significant difference in their scores for rote-memory type items. Also, there was a positive correlation between the writing scores and transfer type item scores in the AW group. Conclusions This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in medical education for greater educational benefits. Our findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

Background Since the 1970s, writing has been widely used in classroom settings. Writing enhances learning, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness, especially in the medical education setting. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate the effect of writing on medical students’ academic performance. Methods An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three different groups: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their understanding and transfer of knowledge. We also tested students’ higher-order thinking ability using Remote Association Test (RAT). Results The results showed that the writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. The three groups did not show any difference in rote-memory type items, but RAT scores have a positive correlation with rote-memory scores. Conclusions This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in classrooms for greater educational benefits, especially in medical education. These findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

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