ABSTRACT
Las creencias que un individuo tiene sobre lo que es el conocimiento y las formas de adquirirlo, sus creencias epistemológicas, afectan su forma de aproximarse al aprendizaje, lo cual tiene implicaciones para el proceso de formación de los estudiantes. Se ha sugerido que estas creencias están constituidas por dimensiones relativamente independientes, unas relacionadas a la naturaleza del conocimiento y otra a la naturaleza del proceso de aprendizaje. Se indagó sobre la posible naturaleza multidimensional de las creencias epistemológicas de los estudiantes de medicina, mediante un cuestionario tipo Likert, y su posible influencia sobre el rendimiento académico en la asignatura Bioquímica. El análisis de los resultados mostró la existencia de cuatro dimensiones en las creencias epistemológicas medidas. Igualmente se encontró que la creencia en que el conocimiento está formado por unidades discretas e independientes, se correlaciona de manera significativa con un pobre rendimiento académico en la asignatura mencionada
An individual's beliefs about knowledge and the ways to acquire it, i.e. his/her epistemological beliefs, affect the way to approach the learning process; this has implications in the training of students. It has been suggested that such beliefs are made up by relatively independent dimensions, some related to the nature of knowledge, others to the nature of the learning process. We have inquired into the possible multidimensional nature of epistemological beliefs of medical students, through a Likert-type questionnaire, and its possible influence on academic performance in Biochemistry as a subject of study. Analysis of results showed four dimensions in the measured epistemological beliefs. It was also found that the belief that knowledge is made up of discrete and independent units correlates significantly with poor performance in the mentioned subject
Subject(s)
Female , Knowledge Bases , Learning , Underachievement , Aptitude , Knowledge , Models, EducationalABSTRACT
From July to December 1986, 607 adults of both sexes with urethral and cervicovaginal symptoms visited a venereal disease center in México City. Urethral mucosa and cervical canal smears were taken from 148 selected individuals from whom Neisseria gonorrhoeae had been isolated and who had not been treated with antimicrobials for at least the three previous weeks. Gonococci strains were identified by the morphological characteristics of the colonies staining by Gram's method, the oxidase test, and carbohydrate breakdown, and the penicillin-resistance of the isolated strains was determined. It was found that 26.3 per cent of the N. gonorrhoeae strains were penicillinase producing (PPNG) and 4.7 per cent had chromosome-mediated resistance (CMRNG). There was no significant difference in the distribution of PPNG strains in serogroups 1A (WI) and 1B (WII/III); however, all the CMRNG strains belonged to the 1B group and were isolated from males. Treatment with penicillin, ampicilin, and other antimicrobials was ineffective in one out of every three patients in the study group. For high-risk patients in whom this treatment is unsuccessful, such as the subjects of this study, the use of spectinomycin is recomended. To prevent an increase in penicillin-resistan strains, the authors suggest laboratory identification and monitoring of infected persons, follow-up of patients and identification of contacts