Using cognitive theory to facilitate medical education

Abstract

BackgroundEducators continue to search for better strategies for medical education. Although the unifying theme of reforms was “increasing interest in, attention to, and understanding of the knowledge base structures”, it is difficult to achieve all these aspects via a single type of instruction.MethodsWe used related key words to search in Google Scholar and Pubmed. Related search results on this topic were selected for discussion.ResultsDespite the range of different methods used in medical education, students are still required to memorize much of what they are taught, especially for the basic sciences. Subjects like anatomy and pathology carry a high intrinsic cognitive load mainly because of the large volume of information that must be retained. For these subjects, decreasing cognitive load is not feasible and memorizing appears to be the only strategy, yet the cognitive load makes learning a challenge for many students. Cognitive load is further increased when inappropriate use of educational methods occurs, e.g., in problem based learning which demands clinical reasoning, a high level and complex cognitive skill. It is widely known that experts are more skilled at clinical reasoning than novices because of their accumulated experiences. These experiences are based on the formation of cognitive schemata. In this paper we describe the use of cognitive schemata, developed by experts as worked examples to facilitate medical students’ learning and to promote their clinical reasoning.ConclusionWe suggest that cognitive load theory can provide a useful framework for understanding the challenges and successes associated with education of medical professionals.

Instructional Strategies to Manage Cognitive Load in Orthodontics

“…Goal-Free Principle. 1,6,9,10 Goal Free Principle suggests replacing conventional tasks with goal-free tasks. For example while teaching Treatment Planning in Orthodontics rather than asking students to make most appropriate treatment plan for the given case, it would be better to ask them to give possible treatment options for the case in question.…”

“…Interestingly however position holders and who have O-level / A-level background were among those who responded that this strategy is better for learning. 1,6,9,10 2. Worked Example 1,6,[9][10][11][12] Worked Example provides learner with at least one demonstration before asking the learners to search for the solution themselves.…”

“…1,6,9,10 2. Worked Example 1,6,[9][10][11][12] Worked Example provides learner with at least one demonstration before asking the learners to search for the solution themselves. For Example let students criticize a ready-made treatment plan several times for Problem completion provide learner with a partially completed problem and ask them to complete the missing steps.…”

“…Only 22.72% of the students responded positive to the question related to redundancy principle which actually means that student still wants that things should be repeatedly explained and in different formats. 1,6,[9][10][11][12] 8. Personalization Principle 4,8 Personalization Principle suggests that people learn better when words presented are conversational rather than expository.…”

Training Clinical Reasoning: Historical and Theoretical Background

“…To avoid the "retrospective bias" -teaching problem solving as if one is working toward a solution known in advance -the method works best when the teacher or tutor is not familiar with the case but has access to exactly the same information as the students (Kassirer 2010;Kassirer and Kopelman 1991). Critics might argue that this is a reduced form of clinical problem solving -and it is, deliberately so -for clinical reasoning is demanding and involves a high cognitive load (Qiao et al 2014;Young et al 2014); hence, it cannot be properly taught in an authentic context, where students simultaneously have to deal with a real patient: in this context, dealing with a real patient would impose "extraneous load" to the detriment of the "germane load," i.e., learning (van Merriënboer and Sweller 2010). On the other hand, in clinical reasoning sessions, students will learn how to deal with a case report or case record, an aspect of clinical practice that is difficult to train in practical context.…”