Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum

Background: Epistemological beliefs have a pervasive influence on learning and practice. Understanding these beliefs and how they develop, could play an important role in medical student training and shape later clinical practice. Methods: The epistemological beliefs of first-year medical students f...

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Main Authors: Zimitat, Craig, Assenheimer, D., Knox, K., Nadarajah, V.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33590
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author Zimitat, Craig
Assenheimer, D.
Knox, K.
Nadarajah, V.
author_facet Zimitat, Craig
Assenheimer, D.
Knox, K.
Nadarajah, V.
author_sort Zimitat, Craig
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: Epistemological beliefs have a pervasive influence on learning and practice. Understanding these beliefs and how they develop, could play an important role in medical student training and shape later clinical practice. Methods: The epistemological beliefs of first-year medical students from an Australian and Malaysian university were explored using a domain-specific instrument. Results: There were significant differences between the disciplinary epistemological beliefs of Australian and Malaysian medical students across many items, and two specific factors (Certainty of Knowledge and Justification for Knowing). Discussion: These findings have potential implications for teaching in biomedical disciplines and adaptation of Western curriculum innovations in Eastern educational contexts. Further work is needed to confirm and understand any epistemological differences and subsequent implications for learning and teaching in medicine.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-335902017-09-13T15:31:15Z Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum Zimitat, Craig Assenheimer, D. Knox, K. Nadarajah, V. Background: Epistemological beliefs have a pervasive influence on learning and practice. Understanding these beliefs and how they develop, could play an important role in medical student training and shape later clinical practice. Methods: The epistemological beliefs of first-year medical students from an Australian and Malaysian university were explored using a domain-specific instrument. Results: There were significant differences between the disciplinary epistemological beliefs of Australian and Malaysian medical students across many items, and two specific factors (Certainty of Knowledge and Justification for Knowing). Discussion: These findings have potential implications for teaching in biomedical disciplines and adaptation of Western curriculum innovations in Eastern educational contexts. Further work is needed to confirm and understand any epistemological differences and subsequent implications for learning and teaching in medicine. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33590 10.4103/1357-6283.188748 restricted
spellingShingle Zimitat, Craig
Assenheimer, D.
Knox, K.
Nadarajah, V.
Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title_full Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title_fullStr Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title_full_unstemmed Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title_short Medical students' epistemological beliefs: Implications for curriculum
title_sort medical students' epistemological beliefs: implications for curriculum
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33590