The Application of Cognitive Teaching and Learning Strategies to Instruction in Medical Education

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how cognitive learning theory can be utilized in medical education by examining teaching strategies and providing practical applications. The main findings are as follows. First, there are seven teaching strategies and specific sample activities that instructors can use based on learning processes in medical schools. These strategies include promoting the perception of sensory stimuli, maintaining divided or selective attention, reducing the cognitive load, implementing encoding strategies, facilitating information retrieval, incorporating distributed learning for retention, and utilizing metacognitive strategies. Second, this study discusses nine instructional events to which cognitive learning strategies have been applied. These events encompass gaining attention, informing learners of goals, stimulating recall of prior learning, presenting new content, providing learning guidance, offering exercises and learning activities, giving feedback, assessing performance, and improving retention and transfer. Third, principles of curriculum design have been implemented from a cognitive perspective. Fourth, case studies of instruction employing cognitive teaching strategies are discussed. Cognitive learning theory has two implications: first, if instructors in medical schools apply the results of the study to design classes and curricula, they would be able to minimize learners’ cognitive load due to ineffective teaching strategies or curricula; second, cognitive teaching strategies that aim to elicit improvements in thinking skills could provide useful teaching strategies for medical education, which aims to train experts with high-level thinking processes. In this sense, cognitive learning theory can be effectively applied in current medical education.