The science of teaching of psychomotor skills – and a little bit of art too

Abstract

This presentation will explore contemporary approaches to teaching psychomotor skills drawing on evidence and theory from different disciplines. Although I focus on the present, I'll invite participants to reflect on recent history before sharing best evidence that supports the development of psychomotor skills. The origins of contemporary models will be considered briefly such as the 5-level Dave taxonomy with progressive stages of Imitation, Manipulation, Precision, Articulation, and Naturalization. I then move to the work of Sawyer et al (2015) who propose an evidence-based pedagogical framework for procedural skill training using simulation. The framework was developed based on a review of the literature using a critical synthesis approach and builds on earlier models of procedural skills training in medicine. The 6-step pedagogical framework: Learn, See, Practice, Prove, Do, and Maintain will be illustrated. In the Prove phase, trainees demonstrate competence in simulation prior to performing the procedure on a patient (Do). I'll also make reference to a research programme on simulation-based mastery learning led by McGaghie at Northwestern and the popularized theoretical notion of deliberate practice (Ericsson, 2015). Finally, we'll consider the art (and human) side of teaching psychomotor skills.