An international comparison of knowledge levels of medical students: the Maastricht Progress Test

Abstract

The increasing international mobility of medical students has inspired the search for an international assessment format. As one step along this line, kinetics of knowledge acquisition and final cognitive levels of students were compared among one Dutch, one German and four Italian medical faculties. For this comparison, the Maastricht Progress Test (MPT) was used. For four out of the six participating faculties, it was possible to compare the level of knowledge of sixth-year students. These data showed no significant differences on the test as a whole. On the other hand, as judged from cross-sectional data on students from all study years, the kinetics of knowledge acquisition showed different trends. In one school applying problem-based learning, acquisition of knowledge by students occurred almost linearly. In another school, over the first 2 years, acquisition of knowledge occurred only in the basic sciences but not in clinical or public health/behavioural sciences. In two other schools over that same period, students seemed to gain no knowledge at all. In some faculties, a marked boost in knowledge was noted with third- or fourth-year students. These findings may be explained by peculiarities of the respective curricula, selection of students during their studies, and national or local assessment procedures. It is preliminarily concluded that the different educational approaches and assessment systems in medical education in Europe seem to have only limited influence on the final level of knowledge of the graduates. On the other hand, these differences may influence the kinetics of knowledge acquisition, especially in distinct domains like basic or clinical sciences. Therefore, the MPT may not be suitabe to solve the problem of assessment of individual international exchange students, but it may be helpful in identifying corresponding cognitive levels on, for example, basic sciences for students in different curricula.

The Effectiveness of Problem-Based Instruction: A Comparative Study of Instructional Methods and Student Characteristics

“…Berkson (1993) found that "the graduate of PBL is not distinguishable from his or her traditional counterpart" (p. 85).This conclusion is consistent with a number of studies that have shown no statistically significant differences in learner performance compared to students receiving lecture-based instruction (Albano et al, 1996;Blake, Hosokawa, & Riley, 2000;Farquhar, Haf, & Kotabe, 1986;Kaufman & Mann, 1988). Culver (2000) conducted a meta-analysis of studies comparing the impact of PBL and lecture-discussion instruction and concluded that there was "no convincing evidence that PBL improves knowledge base and clinical performance" (p. 259).…”

O Teste de Progresso como Indicador para Melhorias em Curso de Graduação em Medicina

“…The knowledge acquisition of international mobility medical students among Dutch, German and Italian medical schools was compared using the Mastricht Progress Testing. They concluded that this test could be used to identify corresponding cognitive levels of students on individual domains in different curricula 14,15 . A study performed with students of all six classes of two medical schools in the Netherlands, one PBL and non-PBL, showed no differences in the total test scores.…”

Comparing Effects of Different Applications on Pre-Service Teachers: A Meta–Analysis

“…Similarly, according to Johnston, Schooling and Leung (2009), problem based learning was less effective at imparting knowledge than usual teaching consisting of a lecture followed by a group tutorial. In addition, most studies have shown that there were no statistically significant differences in learner performance of problem based learning compared to students receiving lecture-based instruction (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993;Albano et al, 1996;Blake, Hosokawa & Riley, 2000;Kaufman & Mann, 1988). In a meta-analytic study comparing the impact of problem based learning and lecture-discussion instruction conducted by Culver (2000), it was concluded that there was "no convincing evidence that problem based learning improves knowledge base and clinical performance" (p. 259).…”