DEEP LEARNING STRATEGIES AND THE PERFORMANCE OF PRE-MEDICAL STUDENTS

Back to Page Authors: M. Woolley, S. Pierre, L. Orlando

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Keywords: approach to learning, deep Learning, premedical students, R-SPQ-2F

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Abstract: The School of Arts and Sciences at St. George’s University, Grenada, West Indies offers preclinical medical and veterinary programs as a pathway for entry into the medical or veterinary schools. These programs, while still considered undergraduate in nature, place high cognitive demands on students due to the pace and volume of material covered in their respective program. The Learning Strategies Unit, a division of the Department of Educational Services, a student support center at St. George’s University, runs a mandatory single credit course (PMED 301) for these preclinical students to hone their study skills and approach to their curriculum content. An interesting question to be considered is how does the approach to learning effect or influence student learning. This study’s objective was to determine whether a deep approach to learning, utilizing specific generative strategies could improve the academic performance of premedical and pre-veterinary students and to ascertain to what degree the PMED 301 Learning Strategies class can impact approach to learning. The Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) (Biggs et al., 2001) was used, as pre and post study design, at the beginning and end of the Spring 2018 term to gauge changes in an individuals’ learning approach. The PMED 301 cohort comprised of 173 students in which the R-SPQ-SF was distributed as pivotal points of the semester with a ten week span between pre and post-test distribution. Even though the time span is relatively short, our aim was to inquire if students are able and willing to alter their approaches to their learning with the overarching goal of entry into a professional program. Analysis and article submission is in the developmental phase with an anticipated completion date of November 2019.

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