Abstract
BackgroundNo consensus exists on whether medical students develop towards more deep (DA) or surface learning approaches (SA) during medical training and how this impacts learning outcomes. We investigated whether subgroups with different trajectories of learning approaches in a medical students’ population show different long-term learning outcomes.MethodsPerson-oriented growth curve analyses on a prospective cohort of 269 medical students (Mage=21years, 59 % females) traced subgroups according to their longitudinal DA/SA profile across academic years 1, 2, 3 and 5. Post-hoc analyses tested differences in academic performance between subgroups throughout the 6-year curriculum until the national high-stakes licensing exam certifying the undergraduate medical training.ResultsTwo longitudinal trajectories emerged: surface-oriented (n = 157; 58 %), with higher and increasing levels of SA and lower and decreasing levels of DA; and deep-oriented (n = 112; 42 %), with lower and stable levels of SA and higher but slightly decreasing levels of DA. Post hoc analyses showed that from the beginning of clinical training, deep-oriented students diverged towards better learning outcomes in comparison with surface-oriented students.ConclusionsMedical students follow different trajectories of learning approaches during a 6-year medical curriculum. Deep-oriented students are likely to achieve better clinical learning outcomes than surface-oriented students.
Highlights
No consensus exists on whether medical students develop towards more deep (DA) or surface learning approaches (SA) during medical training and how this impacts learning outcomes
Learning approaches are significant predictors of academic performance for medical learners [9] and the amount of clinical knowledge acquired during clinical training as well as the success in final examination are positively associated with the use of Deep learning approaches (DA) during medical studies [10, 11]
Whereas a lot of work has been done on other samples of university students, essentially concerning their academic performance, our results extend previous findings by showing that learning approaches have an impact on the acquisition of clinical knowledge and skills
Summary
No consensus exists on whether medical students develop towards more deep (DA) or surface learning approaches (SA) during medical training and how this impacts learning outcomes. The way students use learning approaches during medical school can predict their approaches to work when they will become practicing doctors [12]. Pedagogical interventions need to be informed by empirical evidence from observational studies in order to maximise chances of producing tangible results. It remains unclear whether and how learning approaches change over time and impact students’ clinical learning outcomes
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