D Dante Yeh1, Yoon Soo Park2. 1. Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: Dyeh2@mgh.harvard.edu. 2. Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review is to synthesize recent literature relating to factual knowledge acquisition and retention and to explore its applications to medical education. RESULTS: Distributing, or spacing, practice is superior to massed practice (i.e. cramming). Testing, compared to re-study, produces better learning and knowledge retention, especially if tested as retrieval format (short answer) rather than recognition format (multiple choice). Feedback is important to solidify the testing effect. CONCLUSIONS: Learning basic factual knowledge is often overlooked and under-appreciated in medical education. Implications for applying these concepts to smartphones are discussed; smartphones are owned by the majority of medical trainees and can be used to deploy evidence-based educational methods to greatly enhance learning of factual knowledge.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review is to synthesize recent literature relating to factual knowledge acquisition and retention and to explore its applications to medical education. RESULTS: Distributing, or spacing, practice is superior to massed practice (i.e. cramming). Testing, compared to re-study, produces better learning and knowledge retention, especially if tested as retrieval format (short answer) rather than recognition format (multiple choice). Feedback is important to solidify the testing effect. CONCLUSIONS: Learning basic factual knowledge is often overlooked and under-appreciated in medical education. Implications for applying these concepts to smartphones are discussed; smartphones are owned by the majority of medical trainees and can be used to deploy evidence-based educational methods to greatly enhance learning of factual knowledge.
Authors: Nicola White; Linda Jm Oostendorp; Christopher Tomlinson; Sarah Yardley; Federico Ricciardi; Hülya Gökalp; Ollie Minton; Jason W Boland; Ben Clark; Priscilla Harries; Patrick Stone Journal: Palliat Med Date: 2019-11-14 Impact factor: 4.762
Authors: Marjolein Versteeg; Renée A Hendriks; Aliki Thomas; Belinda W C Ommering; Paul Steendijk Journal: Med Educ Date: 2019-12-20 Impact factor: 6.251