Fostering clinical reasoning in physiotherapy: comparing the effects of concept map study and concept map completion after example study in novice and advanced learners

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Bernard Charlin¹  Tamara van Gog²  Sílvia Mamede³  Monica Windsor⁴  Joseph-Omer Dyer⁵  Katherine Montpetit-Tourangeau⁶  Anne Hudon⁶ 

[1] Centre de pédagogie appliquée aux sciences de la santé (CPASS), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada;Department of Neurology, Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada;Department of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands;Institute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-Ville, H3C 3J7, Montreal, QC, Canada;School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-Ville, H3C 3J7, Montreal, QC, Canada;Centre de pédagogie appliquée aux sciences de la santé (CPASS), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada;School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-Ville, H3C 3J7, Montreal, QC, Canada;Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR), Montreal, Canada;

关键词: Clinical reasoning;    Concept map;    Cognitive load;    Worked example;    Near transfer;    Far transfer;    Physiotherapy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-017-1076-z

 received in 2016-05-08, accepted in 2017-11-16,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHealth profession learners can foster clinical reasoning by studying worked examples presenting fully worked out solutions to a clinical problem. It is possible to improve the learning effect of these worked examples by combining them with other learning activities based on concept maps. This study investigated which combinaison of activities, worked examples study with concept map completion or worked examples study with concept map study, fosters more meaningful learning of intervention knowledge in physiotherapy students. Moreover, this study compared the learning effects of these learning activity combinations between novice and advanced learners.MethodsSixty-one second-year physiotherapy students participated in the study which included a pre-test phase, a 130-min guided-learning phase and a four-week self-study phase. During the guided and self-study learning sessions, participants had to study three written worked examples presenting the clinical reasoning for selecting electrotherapeutic currents to treat patients with motor deficits. After each example, participants engaged in either concept map completion or concept map study depending on which learning condition they were randomly allocated to. Students participated in an immediate post-test at the end of the guided-learning phase and a delayed post-test at the end of the self-study phase. Post-tests assessed the understanding of principles governing the domain of knowledge to be learned (conceptual knowledge) and the ability to solve new problems that have similar (i.e., near transfer) or different (i.e., far transfer) solution rationales as problems previously studied in the examples.ResultsLearners engaged in concept map completion outperformed those engaged in concept map study on near transfer (p = .010) and far transfer (p < .001) performance. There was a significant interaction effect of learners’ prior ability and learning condition on conceptual knowledge but not on near and far transfer performance.ConclusionsWorked examples study combined with concept map completion led to greater transfer performance than worked examples study combined with concept map study for both novice and advanced learners. Concept map completion might give learners better insight into what they have and have not yet learned, allowing them to focus on those aspects during subsequent example study.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017