Integrated Basic Science Within the Instructional Design of Pattern Recognition Training

Investigators hypothesize that the introduction of basic science explanations within the instructional design of case-based training in visual diagnostics will improve students' learning curves, retention, and retrieval of knowledge/skill following a washout period. Research question: In a group of medical students with limited dermatological training, what is the effect of integrating biomedical causal explanations of visual criteria during a prolonged case-based skin cancer training program in visual pattern recognition when compared with an identical instructional design without biomedical explanations? How will the displacement of students' cognitive resources from practicing pattern recognition towards understanding the pattern, affect their learning behavior, learning curve (accuracy and time per diagnosis), and retrieval of pattern recognition skills following a washout period? The above-mentioned research questions will be tested through a randomized trial with an allocation ratio of 1:1. All participants will be trained in skin cancer diagnostics through a mobile application that offers simulation training and learning through written modules about the various differential diagnoses. Approximately half of the participants will be subject to a written content that displays the dermoscopic visual criteria without an explanation while the remaining half will be subject to the dermoscopic criteria + an explanation of the underlying cause. The training program consists of 500 training cases, a 14 day wash-out period, and a final training session of 100 cases.

Sex

All

Minimum age

22 Years

Maximum age

100 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Actively enrolled at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences University of Copenhagen
* Passed exams in basic histopathology and cellular physiology

Exclusion Criteria:

* former training in dermoscopy or skin cancer diagnostics in general