The struggle to understand: exploring medical students' experiences of learning and understanding during a basic science course

Abstract

PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Studies in Higher Education. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Weurlander, M., Scheja, M., Hult, H., Wernerson, A. (2016) The struggle to understand: Exploring medical students' experiences of learning and understanding during a university course. Studies in Higher Education AbstractThe aim was to explore students' 'journey' towards conceptual understanding during an undergraduate course. The task that medical students face -to learn a substantial quantity of detailed knowledge and integrate into a coherent whole in a limited time frame -is demanding. Seven students were interviewed in a group, and seventeen students gave their reflections in writing. Data was gathered from both groups on five separate occasions. Our findings suggest that students seek different kinds of understandings as they get to grips with their studies. The forms of understanding were: understanding as 'knowing the language', 'knowing the map', 'knowing the catalogue' and as 'experiencing an integrated whole'. Students first appeared to focus on the first two forms, and later in the course, as they learned more, they focused on the 'catalogue' or the 'integrated whole'. Our findings point to potential pathways students might take towards gaining deeper understanding. Keywords: deep learning, course experience, forms of understanding, approach to learning, medical educationThe struggle to understand 3 Introduction Learning is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that has intrigued both researchers and educators for a long time. Since the 1970s, researchers have explored learning from the learner's perspective, which has revealed new insights into students' learning. Marton and colleagues found two main approaches that students adopted: the surface and the deep approaches to learning (Marton and Säljö 1976a, 1976b. The intention students have with their studies seems to have a major influence on their learning (Entwistle and Peterson 2004;Entwistle 2009). A surface approach has been associated with an intention to memorize and reproduce learning material in order to meet the assessment requirements. In contrast, students who approached their learning with an intention to understand, wanted to learn for their own sake, looked for the underlying meaning in the task or text, related new information with prior knowledge, and were also more likely to reach a deep understanding. However, the relationship between memorizing and understanding has been shown to be more complex, and students aiming for a deep understanding have also been found to use memorization as a learning strategy (Kember 1996;Entwistle and Entwistle 2003;Marton, Wen, and Wong 2005). Other researchers described student learning patterns more broadly, including aspects such as study strategies, conceptions and regulation of learning (Vermunt 2005, Vermunt andVermetten 2004;...

Association Between Perception of Clinical Learning Environments and Learning Approach on Clerkship Students of Medical Faculty

“…8 Mahasiswa dalam kegiatan pembelajaran program studi profesi dokter diharapkan menggunakan pendekatan belajar mendalam. 9,10 Pendekatan belajar mendalam membantu mahasiswa dalam memusatkan perhatian, konsentrasi, dan usaha dalam belajar keterampilan klinis. 13 Pendekatan belajar mendalam juga penting Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan responden sebagian besar menggunakan pendekatan mendalam yaitu sebesar 150 (84,27%) mahasiswa.…”

“…Hasil penelitian ini sudah mengacu pada mahasiswa dalam kegiatan pembelajaran program studi profesi dokter yang diharapkan menggunakan pendekatan belajar mendalam. 9,10 Pendekatan belajar mendalam berhubungan dengan performa akademik yang lebih baik. 11 Penelitian yang terkait mengenai hubungan social support dengan pendekatan belajar pernah dilakukan oleh Lassesen dan Jensen 12 mendapatkan hasil bahwa dukungan sosial berkorelasi positif terhadap pendekatan belajar.…”

What happens to misunderstandings of biomedical concepts across a medical curriculum?

“…What if a significant proportion of senior medical students still hold incoherent and unscientific biomedical ideas that remain unresolved through training? While researchers disagree on the role of biomedical knowledge in clinical reasoning, they concur that basic sciences are fundamental to a coherent conceptual understanding of the human body (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). It is possible that, as medical students progress through the curriculum, there are moments when complex content related to biomedical sciences may be misunderstood.…”

Self-Regulated Learning and Student Life

“…One study, for example, concludes that the high failure rate among students who take Calculus courses are caused by their attempts to memorize, rather than understand, the concepts taught in the courses (Nasir et al, 2017). At the same time, learning medicine may require more memorization than understanding (Weurlander et al, 2016). There is also an interesting argument that memorization plays an important role in understanding (Nasrollahi-Mouziraji & Nasrollahi-Mouziraji, 2015).…”