Not Just About Knowledge: Add More Measurements for a More Comprehensive Picture of Medical Student Learning.

Abstract

To the Editor: Chang and colleagues are to be commended for their longitudinal research into the growth of medical students’ knowledge, and how it relates to metacognition, critical thinking, and self-regulation strategies. 1 Following students for 18 months and assessing them at multiple time points is no small undertaking, but I have questions about the methodology. The students’ knowledge was the only parameter the authors’ measured over time, so I would like to ask why they did not also measure students’ metacognition, critical thinking, and self-regulated learning strategies? If we believe, for example, that self-regulated learning strategies are amenable to development, 2 perhaps this should have also been measured throughout the study and not just at the start. These measurements would give a more comprehensive picture of the students’ development, and perhaps provide insight into patterns of growth beyond just their knowledge acquisition. If unable to be measured serially, perhaps a measurement of all the parameters at the beginning and the end would provide information about whether they too had grown over the duration of the study. It would be illuminating (and surprising!) if they had not changed, and comparing their evolution with the growth in knowledge may have helped shed light on why some students progressed more rapidly than others. It may also have enabled educators to focus efforts on assisting students with their metacognition, critical thinking, and/or self-regulated learning at critical times within those early years of learning.