How Do Students Deal with Difficult Physiological Knowledge?

Autor/in	Colthorpe, Kay Louise
Titel	How Do Students Deal with Difficult Physiological Knowledge?
Quelle	In: Advances in Physiology Education, 42 (2018) 4, S.555-564 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Colthorpe, Kay Louise)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1043-4046
DOI	10.1152/advan.00102.2018
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Allied Health Occupations Education; Physiology; Knowledge Level; Difficulty Level; Metacognition; Learning Strategies; Familiarity; Study Habits; Information Seeking; Help Seeking; Academic Achievement; Resilience (Psychology); Foreign Countries; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Physiologie; Wissensbasis; Schwierigkeitsgrad; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Learning methode; Learning techniques; Lernmethode; Lernstrategie; Study behavior; Study behaviour; Studienverhalten; Informationserschließung; Help-seeking behavior; Help-seeking behaviour; Hilfe suchendes Verhalten; Schulleistung; Ausland; Australien
Abstract	Physiology courses are considered to be challenging for students to master due to the highly conceptual nature of the discipline and the substantial cognitive effort required to understand disciplinary knowledge. Students must choose appropriate learning strategies to develop their understanding, as their choices may influence both their understanding and their academic achievement. The primary aim of this study was to develop an understanding of why students experience difficulties with physiology and how they respond when facing the challenge of learning this discipline. Undergraduate allied health students (n=231) studying physiology were asked to identify the topics they had difficulty understanding, the strategies they used to deal with that difficult knowledge, and the reasons for their difficulties. Consenting students' responses were subjected to inductive and deductive thematic analyses, and their performance on examinations were collated. Students reported that they found physiology difficult due to their lack of familiarity with it and the level of detail required. To aid their understanding of difficult topics, students commonly reported reviewing information, seeking further information, and seeking social assistance, with more high-achieving students reporting reviewing records, and fewer reporting seeking social assistance than poor achieving students. Most notably, a disconnect was found between students' reporting of difficult modules and their academic achievement on those modules, with students who cited difficulties performing equally well, if not better, than those who do not. Importantly, these findings suggest that students, in recognizing their difficulties and the reasons for them, can implement effective learning strategies to overcome them. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Physiological Society. 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3991. Tel: 301-634-7164; Fax: 301-634-7241; e-mail: webmaster@the-aps.org; Web site: https://www.physiology.org/journal/advances
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01