Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

Abstract

Students' metacognitive skills and perceptions are considered important variables for high-quality learning. In this study, students' perceptions were used to identify histological threshold concepts (integrative, irreversible, transformative, and troublesome) in three health sciences curricula. A specific questionnaire was developed and validated to characterize students' perceptions of histological threshold concepts. A sample of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in the dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy degree programs participated in the study. Concepts assessed in the study were clustered to ten categories (factors) by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concepts linked to tissue organization and tissue functional states received the highest scores from students in all degree programs, suggesting that the process of learning histology requires the integration of both static concepts related to the constituent elements of tissues and dynamic concepts such as stem cells as a tissue renewal substrate, or the euplasic, proplasic and retroplasic states of tissues. The complexity of integrating static and dynamic concepts may pose a challenging barrier to the comprehension of histology. In addition, several differences were detected among the students in different degree programs. Dentistry students more often perceived morphostructural concepts as threshold concepts, whereas medical students highlighted concepts related to two-dimensional microscopic identification. Lastly, pharmacy students identified concepts related to tissue general activity as critical for the comprehension and learning of histology. The identification of threshold concepts through students' perceptions is potentially useful to improve the teaching and learning process in health sciences curricula.

Tematický celek “Tkáně” v gymnaziální biologii

“…Význam tohoto typu studií v oborových didaktikách je dle našeho názoru zatím nedoceněn. Konceptuální rámce jsou vytvářeny spíše pro témata procedurálního charakteru (evoluce: Beniermann et al (2021) či práce s fylogenetickými stromy autorů Schramm et al ( 2021)), a pro témata více deskriptivní chybí -modelově obsah výuky histologie je tak zvykový, bez mezinárodního konsensu (Martin-Piedra et al, 2022).…”

Promoting metacognition in an allied health anatomy course

“…Previous studies have also linked these metacognitive skills to improved educational outcomes in medical education. For example, undergraduate medical students with greater metacognitive awareness have been shown to be more adept at identifying threshold concepts that are key to understanding a topic (Martin‐Piedra et al, 2022) as well as more motivated to learn independently, leading to autonomous self‐regulated learning (Siqueira et al, 2020). Allied health students in a gross anatomy course also performed better on assessments after engaging in a metacognitive “blank page” challenge (Naug et al, 2016).…”

“…Additionally, undergraduate engineering students who consistently engaged in metacognitive reflection were found to perform better on examinations, projects, and homework assignments when compared to their less reflective peers (Menekse et al, 2022). Ultimately, this self-awareness leads to improved academic performance, increased ownership of learning, and more positive and growth-oriented attitudes towards learning (Cho et al, 2017;Lazendic-Galloway et al, 2019).…”

Uncovering Challenges and Pitfalls in Identifying Threshold Concepts: A Comprehensive Review

“…This step involves confronting the result with a second source of opinions. For example, a concept may be characterized as a threshold concept in an area by a researcher, but this proposition is subsequently validated through focus groups with students [64], workshops with academics, or questionnaires [69]. Other articles report a similar methodological design (Group 2B), relying on a subsequent validation step but allowing for the possibility that new concepts may be identified as threshold concepts in this same step.…”