How Biomedical Misconceptions May Arise and Affect Medical Students׳ Learning: A Review of Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence

Badenhorst, Elmi; Hartman, Nadia; Mamede, Sílvia

doi:10.1016/j.hpe.2016.01.005

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…illustrate that according to faculty teachers physiological topics are experienced by medical students as being among the most difficult [ 21 ]. This finding is supported by research that has shown a high prevalence of misunderstandings among students in medical physiology education [ 22 – 25 ]. According to conceptual change theory, these so-called misconceptions are different from a mere lack of knowledge; misconceptions are robust to change and are therefore difficult to alleviate by traditional teaching methods [ 26 ].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…As a secondary objective, we investigated the prevalence of misconceptions among students to gain insight into their conceptual understanding of the subject matter. In the present study, we focused on basic sciences particularly given the high prevalence of misconceptions [ 21 – 25 , 43 ]. Misconceptions may not only affect students’ conceptual understanding, but also have significant impact on their clinical reasoning skills [ 23 , 44 , 45 ], and are therefore considered an important subject of investigation in medical education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Versteeg

Steendijk

2019

Perspect Med Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction Students learn more effectively when they know what they do not know. Gaining insight into students’ metacognitive awareness is needed as misalignment between actual and self-perceived knowledge impedes their learning process. The optimal method of measuring self-perceived knowledge is still under debate. In this study, we evaluate the use of psychology-derived post-decision wagering for mapping students self-perceived knowledge. Methods Students ( n = 71) performed a pre-test on medical physiology, followed by a teacher-moderated discussion and a post-test with isomorph questions. Half of the students rated their self-perceived knowledge on each question using post-decision wagering, i. e. betting 1–5 points on the correctness of their answer, whereas the other half used a 5-point Likert scale to rate their confidence. Results Self-perceived knowledge scores were higher for post-decision wagering (pre: 3.75 ± 0.14, post: 4.60 ± 0.07) compared with Likert scales (pre: 3.13 ± 0.08, post: 3.92 ± 0.08) despite similar actual knowledge scores. Furthermore, Likert ratings showed a near-normal distribution, whereas wagers were placed preferentially using the outer ends of the scale. Correlations between mean actual and self-perceived knowledge scores were low in both groups. On average, 8.5% of responses were classified as misconceptions, defined as highly confident incorrect answers. Discussion Despite the presumed reliability of post-decision wagering, our findings suggest that we should adhere to the use of Likert scales as a balanced measure for self-perceived knowledge in medical education. Moreover, the prevalence of misconceptions did not alter after instruction, indicating a need for instructional designs that enhance students’ conceptual understanding in basic sciences.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Versteeg

Steendijk

2019

Perspect Med Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presence of misconceptions is among the recurring arguments to explain the struggle that students experience in gaining conceptual understanding (Badenhorst et al 2016 ; Feltovich et al 1993 ; Michael 1998 ). These misconceptions may originate from various sources, including teaching methodology (Badenhorst et al 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer instruction improves comprehension and transfer of physiological concepts: a randomized comparison with self-explanation

Versteeg

Blankenstein

Putter

et al. 2018

Adv in Health Sci Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comprehension of physiology is essential for development of clinical reasoning. However, medical students often struggle to understand physiological concepts. Interactive learning through Peer instruction (PI) is known to stimulate students’ comprehension, but its relative efficacy and working mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated if and how PI could optimize comprehension of physiological concepts and transfer relative to Self-explanation (SE) which is considered a lower-order type of overt learning. First-year medical students (n = 317) were randomly assigned to either PI or SE in a pre-post test design, followed by a set of near and far transfer questions. In both PI and SE groups post-test scores were significantly improved ( p < 0.0001) with PI outperforming SE (+ 35% vs. + 23%, p = 0.006). Interestingly, a substantial number of students with initial incorrect answers even had enhanced scores after discussion with an incorrect peer. Both methods showed higher transfer scores than control ( p = 0.006), with a tendency for higher near transfer scores for PI. These findings support PI as a valuable method to enhance comprehension of physiological concepts. Moreover, by comparing the effects of interactive PI with constructive SE we have established new insights that complement educational theories on overt learning activities. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10459-018-9858-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

“…Understanding physiological phenomena is challenging for students, given the wide variety of contexts (e.g., cardiovascular, neuromuscular, respiratory; animal vs. plant) and scales involved (e.g., using molecular-level interactions to explain organism functioning; Wang, 2004;Michael, 2007;Badenhorst et al, 2016). To address these learning challenges, Modell (2000) identified seven "general models" that undergird most physiology phenomena (i.e., control systems, conservation of mass, mass and heat flow, elastic properties of tissues, transport across membranes, cell-to-cell communication, molecular interactions).…”

Section: Identifying the Learning Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design-Based Research: A Methodology to Extend and Enrich Biology Education Research

Scott

Wenderoth

Doherty

2020

LSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

How Biomedical Misconceptions May Arise and Affect Medical Students׳ Learning: A Review of Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Peer instruction improves comprehension and transfer of physiological concepts: a randomized comparison with self-explanation

Design-Based Research: A Methodology to Extend and Enrich Biology Education Research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

How Biomedical Misconceptions May Arise and Affect Medical Students׳ Learning: A Review of Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a&nbsp;measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a&nbsp;measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Peer instruction improves comprehension and transfer of physiological concepts: a randomized comparison with self-explanation

Design-Based Research: A Methodology to Extend and Enrich Biology Education Research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?

Putting post-decision wagering to the test: a measure of self-perceived knowledge in basic sciences?