Debunking myths in medical education: The science of refutation.

Anique B H De Bruin

doi:10.1111/medu.14028

Abstract

de Bruin argues that efforts to eradicate erroneous assumptions students and teachers hold about learning requires refutation, a process that combines both correct scientific knowledge and rejection of misconceptions.

Highlights

We contend that myths are more than an “unbearable necessity” in medical education; they are an important part of the social fabric of the medical education community
Of all the many individual differences studied in education research, one particular factor consistently affects the chance that an individual will learn new information and explains more variance in learning than many other factors combined: the student's level of prior knowledge
Some of our intuitions will be correct, but the omnipresence of learning myths calls for design, testing and the implementation of teaching strategies that address the issue of how to maximise the rejection of incorrect knowledge and encourage its replacement with correct knowledge in such a way that learners will use it in practice

Summary

Introduction

We contend that myths are more than an “unbearable necessity” in medical education; they are an important part of the social fabric of the medical education community. Debunking myths in medical education: The science of refutation

Results

Conclusion