The science module in the MHH's model curriculum - development, implementation, results

At the Hannover Medical School (MHH), a compulsory science module was introduced into the medical curriculum for the 2020/2021 academic year. This article presents the didactic premises - with a focus on teaching scientific skills and critical thinking - and describes their implementation in the form of a longitudinal teaching concept with a final research paper. Results on the students' learning gains are reported against this background.

The National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue for Medicine (NKLM) and the results of curriculum mapping were used to identify learning objectives and teaching formats. Learning gains in the newly designed module were assessed using student competence assessments. The research paper concept and initial results are evaluated on the basis of around 200 papers submitted. Furthermore, student feedback (N=81) was collected and analysed using an online questionnaire that was administered after the submission of the research paper.

The science module was implemented as a longitudinal teaching concept. The learning objectives are taught through electronic assessment portfolio tasks (ePF tasks), seminars and a final research paper. Formative feedback is provided to assess the ePF tasks. Around 90% of a cohort successfully completed the tasks and achieved significant learning gains. To date, around 200 students have successfully completed a 10-15 page research paper. They consider the acquisition of scientific writing skills and the ability to conduct structured literature research to be the greatest learning gains.

The introduction of additional components of scientific training offers numerous opportunities and challenges. Teaching the relevant skills is resource-intensive, as teaching usually requires smaller supervision ratios. To strengthen the feedback culture in medical education, little-used teaching methods such as assessment portfolios and research papers can be employed.