Peer-Assisted Learning in Introductory Histopathology Improves Learner Scores and Delivers Learner Satisfaction

A novel instrument of cognitive and social congruence within peer-assisted learning in medical training: construction of a questionnaire by factor analyses

“…Despite the increasing relevance of cognitive and social congruence in peer learning addressed by many studies, these two concepts are not often studied. Previous studies investigated the effectiveness of peer teaching or tutorials led by student tutors and consequently assumed that cognitive and social congruence might be the reason for an efficient class [ 18 – 21 ]. Hence, cognitive and social congruence might be seen as kind of a “black box”, as there is no practical evidence of both constructs at a behavioural level [ 18 ].…”

“…Previous studies investigated the effectiveness of peer teaching or tutorials led by student tutors and consequently assumed that cognitive and social congruence might be the reason for an efficient class [ 18 – 21 ]. Hence, cognitive and social congruence might be seen as kind of a “black box”, as there is no practical evidence of both constructs at a behavioural level [ 18 ]. Vygotsky postulated that humans generate knowledge and meaning from the interaction between experiences and ideas and therefore construct their own knowledge which might represent cognitive congruence [ 22 ].…”

“…However, literature showed that there are various ways to measure cognitive and social congruence [ 2 , 6 , 11 , 16 , 25 – 27 ]. In this context, the practical and behavioural part of cognitive and social congruence were neglected [ 18 ]. The questionnaire of Vaughan & Macfarlane [ 27 ], e.g., did not explicitly assess cognitive and social congruence, but the behaviour of student tutors and students that might reflect both concepts.…”

Qualitative analysis of cognitive and social congruence in peer-assisted learning – The perspectives of medical students, student tutors and lecturers

“…The concept of cognitive and social congruence can be seen as a 'black box' in the PAL context. Many studies reported that PAL is effective due to cognitive and social congruence [22][23][24][25]. However, there is no empirical evidence regarding how cognitive and social congruence contribute to an effective PAL learning experience [24].…”

Medical Students’ Perceptions of Pathology and a Proposed Curricular Integration with Histology: A Future Vision of Curricular Change

“…This fact also applies to histology teaching in which much effort has been made to boost students' knowledge retention. Both "traditional" and "nontraditional" methods have been used (Hightower et al, 1999), and modalities such as peer teaching (Beck et al, 2016), audiovisual tools (Campos-Sánchez et al, 2014) and technological and traditional drawing approaches (Cogdell et al, 2012;Rafi et al, 2017) have been extensively studied and tested. In addition, virtual microscopy proved to be beneficial in many aspects (Herrmann et al, 2015;Hortsch, 2017).…”