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Learning Success (learning + success)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Effects of peer-assisted training during the neurology clerkship: a randomized controlled study

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 12 2008
J. G. Heckmann
Objective:, To determine the efficacy of peer-assisted clinical skills training for students during their neurology clerkship. Methods:, Students (n = 122) were randomized to get clinical skills training from either student (peer) instructors (experimental group) or from experienced clinical staff (control group). The remaining schedule during the clerkship did not differ between both groups. Primary endpoint was students' practical skills and knowledge tested at the end of the course by a written test and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Secondary endpoints were evaluation of the practical training and self-estimated gain in theoretical and practical competence. Results:, In the written test, the peer-trained group (n = 66) scored 69.5 ± 10.2 (95% CI 67,72) points of 100 and the postgraduates-trained group (n = 56) 66.7 ± 11.4 (95% CI 63.6,69.8) (P = 0.15). In the OSCE the peer-trained group scored 93.7 ± 6.3 (95% CI 92.1 to 95.2) points of 100 and the postgraduates-trained group 92 ± 5.1 (95% CI 90.6 to 93.4) (P = 0.11). In the evaluation and self-assessment items, there was no significant difference between the two groups except for the postgraduates' higher competence (P = 0.004). Conclusion:, Peer-trained students pass written exam and OSCE as efficient as postgraduates-trained students. Self-assessed learning success is equally rated in both groups. [source]

Strategies for Language Learning and for Language Use: Revising the Theoretical Framework

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006
ERNESTO MACARO
Since the late 1970s, there has been widespread research interest in the strategies that learners use in learning and using second languages. This interest has generated a parallel research effort in language learner strategy instruction. The body of work to date suggests a possible relationship between strategy use and second language learning success. It also provides some evidence that learners can be helped to use strategies more effectively. Several criticisms, however, have been made of this field of research, particularly pertaining to a lack of theoretical rigour. This article reviews the problems related to strategy research and proposes a revised theoretical framework in which strategies are differentiated from skills, processes, and styles. Rather than offering an all-encompassing definition of a strategy, the article proposes a series of features essential to describing a strategy. The framework aims to enhance current theory. [source]

Levodopa: Faster and better word learning in normal humans

ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 1 2004
Stefan Knecht MD
Dopamine is a potent modulator of learning and has been implicated in the encoding of stimulus salience. Repetition, however, as required for the acquisition and reacquisition of sensorimotor or cognitive skills (e.g., in aphasia therapy), decreases salience. We here tested whether increasing brain levels of dopamine during repetitive training improves learning success. Forty healthy humans took 100mg of the dopamine precursor levodopa or placebo daily for 5 days in a randomized double-blind and parallel-group design. Ninety minutes later on each day, subjects were trained on an artificial vocabulary using a high-frequency repetitive approach. Levodopa significantly enhanced the speed, overall success, and long-term retention of novel word learning in a dose-dependent manner. These findings indicate new ways to potentiate learning in a variety of domains if conventional training alone fails. [source]

Explaining the modality and contiguity effects: New insights from investigating students' viewing behaviour

APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Florian Schmidt-Weigand
The study examined viewing behaviour and learning outcome during multimedia learning in order to explore split-attention processes in modality and spatial contiguity effects. Fourty students viewed a computer instruction depicting the process of lightning. Exploratory text was spoken, written near or written far from accompanying animations. Students who received spoken text outperformed students who received written text in recalling the major steps (retention) and in identifying correct solutions to problems (transfer), replicating a modality effect. Differences between near and far written text presentation in retention (d,=,0.51) and transfer (d,=,0.68) tests failed statistical significance. Two major characteristics concerning the learners' viewing behaviour were identified: (a) in written text presentation, learning was largely text directed and (b) learning success was related to the time learners' spent looking at animations, indicating that the processing of animations is a crucial factor in explanations of modality and spatial contiguity effects. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]