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A comparison of medical student and undergrad study skills in anatomy lab courses
Author(s) -
Barger J. Bradley,
Husmann Polly
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.956.4
Subject(s) - memorization , medical education , curriculum , plan (archaeology) , psychology , undergraduate education , mathematics education , anatomy , medicine , pedagogy , biology , paleontology
Anatomy lab courses form a crucial yet challenging part of the curriculum for medical students and many undergraduates. There is a pervasive and destructive opinion that memorization is the only skill needed for success in anatomy courses. The instructors in our anatomy courses spend a lot of time trying to change this opinion. This research uses a survey to investigate the study habits of our students, and compare these skills to final course grades. In this study we surveyed a group of medical students and undergraduate students from two institutions about their study skills for anatomy lab exams. These study skills were then compared to the final grades in the course to find which skills correlate most strongly with success in learning lab content, as defined by final grades. Medical students do appear to use more effective learning strategies, but also spend more total hours studying for anatomy. We plan to show these results to future semester of undergrads to help them plan their studying. While this may not break the memorization paradigm, it will suggest more useful ways to spend study hours for anatomy. Grant Funding Source : none