Isra Medical Journal

Title:

Assessing the Use of Learning Strategies in Students of Basic Medical Sciences

Authors:

Huma Musarrat Khan, Rehan Ahmed Khan, Rahila Yasmeen

Published on:

2017-08-31

Journal Reference:

Volume 9- Issue 4 July - August 2017

Pages:

218-221

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ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of learning strategies in students of basic medical sciences and to observe gender wise differences in theuse of these strategies

STUDY DESIGN: A quantitative cross sectional study

PLACE AND DURATION: At Foundation University Medical College from 1st January 2016 to 31st July 2016.

METHODOLOGY: 1st and 2nd year MBBS students were administered the Learning Strategies component of “Motivated Strategies forLearning Questionnaire.” The learning strategies assessed were; “Rehearsal, Elaboration, Organization, Critical Thinking,Metacognitive Self-Regulation, Time and study environment, Effort regulation, Peer Learning and Help Seeking,” Each of these wereassessed by multiple items. The students assessed themselves for each item on a Likert scale of 1 to 7.

RESULTS: 231 students participated. The mean Likert scores of the learning strategies were between 4.98 and 4.23. The highest scorewas of “Elaboration”(4.98±1.212). “Help Seeking”(4.23±1.18) followed by “Peer Learning” (4.25 ±1.44) had the lowest scores. Genderwise comparison of means did not show any significant difference except for “Organization”. In it, the mean score in the females was5.01±1.49 and males was 4.48±1.50 (p=0.019).

CONCLUSION: The students exhibit a reasonably good use of learning strategies. They are especially good at using “Elaboration.”Female students show a greater use of “Organization” as a learning strategy.

KEY WORDS: Learning strategies, Basic Medical Sciences, Male students, Female students.