Sofie M M Loyens | PubMed Health

PubMed2006

Students' conceptions of constructivist learning: a comparison between a traditional and a problem-based learning curriculum.

This study investigated students' conceptions of constructivist learning activities in a problem-based learning (PBL) and a traditional curriculum. We examined whether students who have chosen for a problem-based curriculum have different conceptions of constructivist assumptions compared to students who have chosen to be enrolled in a traditional, lecture-based curriculum when they enter university. Although constructivism represents an influential view of learning, studies investigating how students conceptualize this perspective have not been conducted before. A structural equation modelling approach was adopted to test the hypothesized model in both student populations and to calculate latent means. Results suggested that students in the PBL environment agree more on constructivist assumptions of cooperative learning and the use of authentic problems, while students in the traditional curriculum acknowledge the importance of motivation to learn more. It is discussed that conceptions of constructivist learning activities can act as an important moderator of PBL effects and should be considered in examining the effects of PBL and probably in all comparative education research.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The role of encapsulated knowledge in clinical case representations of medical students and family doctors.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies on the development of medical expertise, predominantly using measures of free recall and pathophysiological explanations, have shown ambiguous results concerning the relationship between expertise level and encapsulated knowledge. PURPOSE: To investigate differences in clinical case representations by medical students and family doctors. In particular, the role of encapsulated knowledge in clinical case representations was investigated. METHODS: Year 2 (n = 15) and Year 4 (n = 15) medical students and family doctors (n = 15) were instructed to study carefully 2 case descriptions associated with a particular disease. After each case description participants were asked to provide a diagnosis. Subsequently, they judged whether or not a target item presented on a computer screen was related to the case description. Target items consisted of literally stated signs and symptoms, inferred encapsulated items and filler items. RESULTS: Family doctors provided more accurate diagnoses than Year 2 and Year 4 medical students. Furthermore, family doctors were faster and made fewer errors in judging the relatedness of all item types than Year 2 and 4 medical students. In particular, family doctors showed their best performance on the encapsulated items. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that encapsulated knowledge becomes increasingly more prominent as expertise develops. For experienced doctors, encapsulated concepts function as the most important building blocks of clinical case representations.

Clinical Competence↗