Superficial Versus Deep Learning in A Professional Veterinary Anatomy Curriculum

The importance of teaching methods to promote deep learning of course material in order to be successful within professional curricula is widely accepted. Many studies have evaluated the importance of learning style on performance within professional medical and veterinary curricula. However, to our knowledge, no studies have directly correlated assessments of superficial vs. deep learning strategies of students and their performance within professional veterinary curricula, including in anatomy coursework. Thusly, the purpose of this study was to correlate superficial vs. deep learning styles of professional veterinary students with performance within a one‐week veterinary anatomy precourse. Professional veterinary students participated in a previously published, dissection‐based anatomy precourse prior to the start of the professional curriculum. This precourse covered the musculoskeletal anatomy of the canine thoracic limb and the final exam was composed of both a written and practical component. At the start of the precourse, students took the published and validated Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) to describe, in a systematic way, how students learn or study, specifically evaluating whether they are a superficial or deep learner. Their scores in each ASSIST category and subcategory were correlated to performance on the cumulative final exam within the veterinary anatomy precourse. Several significant correlations were identified between ASSIST scores and performance on the precourse final exam. A high score in the “Total Surface Apathetic Approach” overall category indicates a student who utilizes more superficial methods of learning. A significantly negative correlation (p=0.022) was found between this score and students' performance on the precourse final exam, indicating those students who employed more superficial learning strategies performed worse in the precourse. This category can be further broken down into subcategories, including “Unrelated Memorizing” and “Fear of Failure”. “Unrelated Memorizing” significantly and negatively correlated with precourse grade (p=0.014), indicating students who utilized rote memorization of material performed worse in the precourse. “Fear of Failure”, while not significantly so, trended towards a negative correlation (p=0.081), indicating that students who had a higher fear of failure resulted in poor grades within the course. Lastly, the overall category “Transmitting Information”, where a high score identifies students who prefer lecturers to tell them exactly what to write, exams covering only the material within the notes, and books that provide definite facts, also significantly (p=0.028) and negatively correlated with precourse exam grade. Taken together, these data provide direct evidence of a negative correlation between superficial learning styles and performance within a professional‐level veterinary anatomy course. Further work will be conducted into how students perceived their experience in the precourse and whether their experiences differed by learning styles.