Pre‐Clinical Medical Students' Use of Motivational and Cognitive Study Strategies During Anatomy Learning: A Three‐Year Cross‐Sectional Survey

Abstract

Medical students' motivation and study strategies are crucial in determining academic performance. This study aimed to assess the motivation and learning strategies of medical students as well as their association with performance in anatomy examinations. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, two focus group discussions, and students' current anatomy cumulative grade point average (cGPA) were used. Generally, the medical students strongly felt that anatomy is fundamental to the practice of medicine and surgery. This result was consistent with high task value scores of 5.99 ± 1.25. They were also driven by extrinsic goal orientation (5.59 ± 1.42) and intrinsic goal orientation (5.08 ± 1.26). Most medical students typically relied on elaboration (5.35 ± 1.25) ahead of other cognitive strategies namely rehearsal (5.30 ± 1.11), organization (5.15 ± 1.34), and lowest‐rated critical thinking (4.77 ± 1.19). The students also relied on resource management strategies, effort regulation (5.15 ± 1.20) and time and study environment regulation (5.03 ± 1.03) more than the moderately scored peer learning (4.95 ± 1.50) and help‐seeking (4.95 ± 1.09). In the focus group discussions, students reported that they often narrate or explain to each other what they would have read and understood from anatomy lectures, tutorials, and textbooks. They also bemoaned the lack of institutional support for stress burdens. The motivation and learning strategies subscales were not correlated with anatomy cGPA. Males were driven by extrinsic goals and experienced significantly higher levels of test anxiety than females (P < 0.05). Knowing the motivation and learning strategies students employ early in the medical curriculum can be leveraged to promote self‐directed learning and academic achievement.

“What medical students with better academic results do: a cross-sectional analysis”

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Humanistic Spirit Training of Medical Students Based on Multisource Medical Data Fusion

“…Faced with such a severe situation, medical institutions need to actively find countermeasures. The cultivation of the humanistic spirit of medical students helps to create a good medical environment and strengthen the effective communication between doctors and patients [4].…”

Body painting, ultrasound, clinical examination, and peer‐teaching: A student‐centered approach to enhance musculoskeletal anatomy learning

“…In a study of anatomy learning strategies, most preclinical students relied on elaboration ahead of other cognitive strategies and lowest rated critical thinking, and relied more on resource management, effort, time, and regulation of the learning environment rather than the moderately rated peer learning and help seeking. Nevertheless, in focus groups, they reported that they often narrated or explained to each other what they understood from anatomy lectures, tutorials, and textbooks (Zilundu et al, 2021). In the present study, all students used online materials to prepare their presentations.…”