AISC – ERB Trial

How do we best learn to understand the pattern?

There is increasing evidence in favor of integrating basic biomedical sciences in the instructional design of medical education. Understanding the underlying concepts and causes of a disease or illness seems to help trainees create and make sense of the diagnosis. Integration of basic sciences in the instructional design of written learning material improves the long-term retention and transfer of acquired knowledge, possibly through consolidation of illness scripts that can later be utilized during the formation of new similar scripts.

This study aims to investigate the optimal instructional design of written information to improve a trainee’s formation and consolidation of illness scripts during pattern recognition training in skin cancer diagnostics. We will explore how the integration of a biomedical scientific explanation (basic science) of clinical features (external rules) within the instructional design affects the simultaneous formation of mental representations. This randomized controlled study will be conducted on medical students from Denmark and Australia with a basic understanding of cellular physiology and anatomy. We will investigate the effect of basic science vs. external rules within the instructional designs and its effect on immediate performance, retention, and transfer of knowledge.

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