Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a learning model based on workstation activities

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Curriculum Development
• Learning Sciences

Background:

• Implementation of Work-Station Learning Activities (WSLA) as an integrated curriculum component.
• Need to evaluate the impact of WSLA on academic performance and student reception.
• Mixed methods research approach to assess the novel learning model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of Work-Station Learning Activities (WSLA) on medical students' academic performance.
• To understand how medical students perceive and receive the WSLA methodology.
• To compare learning outcomes between students exposed to WSLA and traditional methods.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative comparison of two student cohorts (n=320 vs. n=336) based on Bloom's taxonomy levels.
• Qualitative analysis through semi-structured interviews with six purposefully selected students.
• Assessment of performance using multiple-choice questions evaluating learning objectives.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in performance for lower-level Bloom's taxonomy objectives (38.8% vs. 39.0%).
• Significant outperformance by WSLA students in upper-level objectives (68.5% vs. 54.2%, p <0.001).
• WSLA methodology increased the probability of mastering complex objectives by 1.64 times (p = 0.007).

Conclusions:

• WSLA positively impacts academic performance, particularly for higher-order thinking skills in medical education.
• Students perceive WSLA's clinical scenarios as motivating and a constructive learning framework.
• The study supports WSLA as an effective strategy for promoting deep learning and complex concept understanding.