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Learning from errors? The impact of erroneous example elaboration on learning outcomes of medical statistics in Chinese medical students.
Wang, Chengwei; Li, Junyi; Li, Haiyan; Xia, Yijing; Wang, Xiaoyu; Xie, Yufei; Wu, Jinyang.
  • Wang C; Department of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
  • Li J; College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China. junyili@sicnu.edu.cn.
  • Li H; College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.
  • Xia Y; College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.
  • Wang X; Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
  • Xie Y; Department of Orthodontics, Shanghai Xuhui District Dental Disease Prevention and Control Institute, Shanghai, China.
  • Wu J; Department of Oral and Cranio-maxillofacial Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
BMC Med Educ ; 22(1): 469, 2022 Jun 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1962808
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Constructivism theory has suggested that constructing students' own meaning is essential to successful learning. The erroneous example can easily trigger learners' confusion and metacognition, which may "force" students to process the learning material and construct meaning deeply. However, some learners exhibit a low level of elaboration activity and spend little time on each example. Providing instructional scaffolding and elaboration training may be an efficient method for addressing this issue. The current study conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of erroneous example elaboration training on learning outcomes and the mediating effects of metacognitive load for Chinese students in medical statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS:

Ninety-one third-year undergraduate medical students were randomly assigned to the training group (n = 47) and the control group (n = 44). Prerequisite course performance and learning motivation were collected as covariates. The mid-term exam and final exam were viewed as posttest and delayed-test to make sure the robustness of the training effect. The metacognitive load was measured as a mediating variable to explain the relationship between the training and academic performance.

RESULTS:

The training significantly improved both posttest and delayed-test performance compared with no training (Fposttest = 26.65, p < 0.001, Partial η2 = 0.23; Fdelayed test = 38.03, p < 0.001, Partial η2 = 0.30). The variation trend in metacognitive load in the two groups was significantly different (F = 2.24, p < 0.05, partial η2 = 0.20), but metacognitive load could not explain the positive association between the treatment and academic performance (ß = - 0.06, se = 0.24, 95% CI - 0.57 to 0.43).

CONCLUSIONS:

Erroneous example learning and metacognitive demonstrations are effective for academic performance in the domain of medical statistics, but their underlying mechanism merits further study.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Students, Medical / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Prognostic study / Qualitative research / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Asia Language: English Journal: BMC Med Educ Journal subject: Education Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S12909-022-03460-1

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Students, Medical / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Prognostic study / Qualitative research / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Asia Language: English Journal: BMC Med Educ Journal subject: Education Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S12909-022-03460-1