Dynamiskt lärande : En ämnesdidaktisk avhandling om fysiologiska fenomen och läkarstudentens lärande

Sammanfattning: It is well known that the outcome of teaching and learning in higher education is often unsatisfactory. Earlier studies have shown that medical students often have a surface approach to their studies and that misconceptions of fundamental physiological phenomena are common. The aim of this thesis is to support educational practice in medicine, particularly in medical physiology. The thesis can be categorised as subject matter-specific education research, which means that questions about teaching and learning are closely linked to the subject studied. The researcher should be well acquainted with the subject in question. The subject area dealt with in this thesis is physiological phenomena related to cardiovascular pressure-flow relations.The thesis consists of studies of 3-dimensional intra cardiac pressure-flow phenomena in the heart (studies 1 and 2) and studies of how students conceive of and develop an understanding of physiological phenomena related to blood pressure and blood pressure regulation (studies 3 and 4).Flow in the left atrium as well as inflow-patterns to the left ventricle were studied. The 3-dimensional method elucidates vortical flow phenomena which were previously unknown. The findings could contribute to increasing physicians and technicians understanding of flow phenomena in the diagnosis and assessment of heart disease and to the further development of diagnostic methods. In the studies of learning and understanding of physiological phenomena, the findings point to new aspects of a deep approach to learning, which have to do with the students’ ability to change perspective and adopt a variety of learning strategies to a phenomenon (Moving) versus a tendency to hold on to one explanatory model (Holding). The study also investigates the students’ ability to identify and apply fundamental physiological principles as well as how they conceive of the importance of detailed knowledge for understanding of physiology. The findings point to differences in the students’ conceptions of physiological principles. A problemising approach, which includes not only causally described relations, indicates a more complex conception of physiological phenomena. The study shows aspects of understanding which are seldom assessed in examinations.The findings indicate a connection between the students’ approaches to learning and the quality of their understanding of fundamental physiological principles. In the thesis, teaching interventions are proposed in order to stimulate dynamic learning and a learning environment where students are not afraid to challenge their conceptions in order to acquire a rich and nuanced picture of physiological phenomena.